ChezLark

There’s a great feature piece in Mother Jones on abortion. It’s worth reading from start to finish:

[W]hether we like it or not, humans, married and unmarried, will continue to have sex — wisely, foolishly, violently, nicely, hostilely, pleasantly, dangerously, responsibly, carelessly, sordidly, exaltedly — and there will be pregnancies: wanted, unwanted, partly wanted, partly unwanted.

A society that does not accept the facts is a childish society, and a society that makes abortion illegal — and I believe that the [Partial Birth Abortion Ban] is a calculated step in exactly that direction — is a cruel and backward society that makes being female a crime. It works in partnership with the illegal abortionist. It puts him in business, sends him his customers, and employs him to dispense crude, dirty, barbaric, savage punishment to those who break the law. And the ones who are punished by the illegal abortionist are always women: mothers, sisters, daughters, wives.

Why is this piece particularly topical? Well, South Dakota is gearing up to pass a bill banning nearly all abortions. Isn’t this contrary to Roe V. Wade, you ask? Well, certainly, it is, but:

If the bill passes a narrowly divided Senate in a vote expected on Wednesday, and is signed by Gov. Michael Rounds, a Republican who opposes abortion, advocates of abortion rights have pledged to challenge it in court immediately — and that is precisely what the bill’s supporters have in mind.

Optimistic about the recent changes on the United States Supreme Court, some abortion opponents say they have new hope that a court fight over a ban here could lead to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal around the country.

“I’m convinced that the timing is right for this,” said State Representative Roger Hunt, a Republican who has sponsored the bill, noting the appointments of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the court.

“The strong possibility of a third appointee sometime soon makes this all very real and very viable,” Mr. Hunt added, a reference to conjecture that Justice John Paul Stevens, 85, might soon retire. “I think it will all culminate at the right time.”

Dan Savage has said it before, and I imagine he’ll say it again: the reason right-wing moral authoritarianism is dangerous to everyone, not just minorities like gays and lesbians, is vividly illustrated by what’s happening to our Supreme Court and at all levels of our government. First, the conservative right gets state constitutions amended to bar gay marriage, but when they’re done with that, they come for the straight people. If abortion is banned again in this country, it will be the triumph of a Christian majority imposing their moral views on everyone.

Are you really prepared to live in the society these people have in store for you? It’s a world where sex education is banned in favor of a blanket abstinence-only message, foreign aid to Africa is contingent on not funding the single most effective weapon against the spread of AIDS (condoms), abortions are illegal, and schoolchildren are led by their teachers in Christian prayer.