The Nation: Antichoicers on the March

[marmar]

Antichoicers on the March

Katha Pollitt
November 10, 2010


When the 112th Congress convenes in January it will have at least fifty-three additional antichoice Republicans in the House and five in the Senate. Some of the newcomers are particularly extreme: Senator-elect Rand Paul and incoming Representatives Mike Fitzpatrick and Tim Walberg oppose most common methods of birth control, in vitro fertilization and stem cell research, and join Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey in opposing abortion even for rape or incest; Toomey supports jailing doctors who perform abortions. Supporters of reproductive rights are looking at the most hostile Congress since abortion was legalized in 1973.

For years pundits have been reassuring prochoicers that conservatives don't really want to get rid of abortion. Like fulminations against "the gay agenda," porn and Hollywood, vows to ban abortion are just theater, according to this view, meant to distract gullible rubes from the right-wing economic agenda. As Thomas Frank put it in What's the Matter With Kansas?, "The trick never ages; the illusion never wears off. Vote to stop abortion; receive a rollback in capital gains taxes." To overturn abortion rights would be to turn off the golden faucet of donations, volunteers and votes and also shift the passion to now-complacent prochoice voters.

I've never believed this theory. For one thing, it's too rational. It assumes that elections give voters a clear shot at each issue, that true believers can be controlled once elected, that political debts need never be paid and that promises can be forever postponed with no one the wiser. For another, it sets the bar too high: the overturn of Roe v. Wade, federal restrictions, a national ban. Most antiabortion activity is focused on smaller measures and takes place in the states, where some 600 antichoice bills were introduced last year, and where Republicans will now hold twenty-nine governorships and both houses of nineteen state legislatures. Add up enough small victories and eventually you've changed the reproductive rights landscape, both as a matter of law and on the ground, without ever engaging in the kind of wholesale ban or fertilized-egg-as-a-person legislation that energizes the opposition and that voters, like those in Colorado this year, have consistently rejected. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/article/156382/antichoicers-march

[niyad]

1. who would unrec this piece? do we have pro-forced birthers here?

[polichick]

3. People unrec everything here - crazy. nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. Yes.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Sometimes the unrec is based on who posts the OP

It's just petty bullshit.

[duhneece]

2. I trust women Period

I trust women to know what is best for them and their families.

[iamjoy]

4. I Agree

I always figure that they do intend to ban abortion, but they have been patient to make sure it sticks/survives legal challenges. In a sense, Roe vs. Wade was already overturned when SCOTUS upheld the so-called "partial birth" abortion ban. This law had no exemption to save the life/health of the mother and yet it was not overturned. This case was heard in 2007, after Sandra Day O'Connor (who had more or less upheld Roe) had been replaced by abortion foe Samuel Alito.

After they have finished overturning most (if not all) surgical abortion, expect them to target medical abortions, including the morning after pill (which may or may not be an abortoficant). Then expect them to tackle many forms of birth control (anything hormonal, the IUD). You can also expect enforcement of legislation that medical professionals (including pharmacists) can refuse to provide medical services related to abortion or birth control should they morally object.

[polichick]

5. Sometimes it really feels like this country is going backwards, while the rest...

...of the world moves forward - the U.S. is becoming an embarrassment.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. I agree with Thomas Frank

This is just an issue that gets the voters to the polls.

But we can't discount the power these asshole anti-choicers have. They turned Wichita upside down politically and it has yet to recover. They will also likely ban abortion entirely in Kansas now that Brownback is the new governor.