Well, here we are. Thanks to an unprecedented leak from inside the sealed tomb of America’s most unaccountable branch of government, we now know that, unless something radically shifts between now and the end of June, the Supreme Court is set to formally overturn Roe v. Wade.
There are thirteen states where abortion will be banned the moment Roe is overturned. Plenty more will surely follow. Many women will have their lives destroyed because of this. People will die. It is a travesty of incalculable proportions.
Here is a good list of abortion funds you can donate to from our friends at Defector.
The fact that this development has been widely anticipated didn’t make the revelation of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion striking down Roe any less of a gut punch. The fact that abortion is already severely curtailed in so many parts of the U.S. doesn’t make Roe’s imminent demise any less frightening. And the fact that the primary blame for what is about to happen lies in the hands of the five (or, if John Roberts signs on, six) justices who are going to defy the long-settled opinion of the American people to impose their fetid will on the country doesn’t mean that everyone else who helped to get us here should be able to evade responsibility.
Here is a brief and incomplete list of the people and institutions that can go fuck themselves this morning.
The Supreme Court
Naturally. Alito’s draft opinion is the work of a gleeful theocratic, woman-hating vandal, eager to begin the court’s ultimate project: tearing down the broader civil rights framework that has been in place in this country for generations. He says that Roe should be scrapped because the right to an abortion is “not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions”—a byzantine litmus test that would wipe out just about every modern civil rights protection you can think of, given the nature of American history. He forthrightly casts aside the notion that the court should be cautious about overturning decades of precedent. He sends unmistakable signals that other civil rights opinions, especially ones protecting gay rights, are in the crosshairs.
The final opinion could differ, but what we have in front of us is an extremist, illegitimate opinion from an extremist, illegitimate court, one that sees women as serfs and breeders, that sees queer people as subhuman, that sees minorities of every kind as dirt under its collective shoe. It is happily dragging us into the dark ages. Alito and everyone who joins him are evil people. No hell is too hot for them.
The Republican Party
Naturally. Congrats, assholes, you finally got what you wanted. Hopefully the fact that it is Alito—appointed by everyone’s favorite nice Republican, George W. Bush—writing this opinion, and not one of The Devil Himself’s appointees, should clue idiotic liberals into the truth about what the GOP has always been. They have been laser-focused on getting this moment for the past 45 years, and if they get Congress back, a national ban is surely on its way. I cannot think of a single institution that causes more harm in the world than the Republican Party. There has possibly not been one in the entire history of the planet.
Oh, and an extra fuck you to Susan Collins.
The Democratic Party
Democrats have coasted forever on the assumption that Roe would never be overturned, despite the GOP and its base openly saying that Roe should be overturned. They used this absurd middle ground to indulge anti-abortion rhetoric and policy and let the anti-abortion politicians within their ranks call the shots. They fundraised and campaigned off of fears around Roe while never lifting a finger to codify it into law. They refused to reform the Supreme Court in any way that would have prevented this outcome. It has been crystal clear that Republicans were doing everything they could to eliminate the right to an abortion in America. Democrats haven’t seemed to care all that much.
And they are still doing all of this. Right now, the Democratic Party is supporting anti-abortion politicians against pro-choice challengers. Right now, the Democratic Party is asking people for money so it can do…what exactly? Right now, top Democrats are issuing hollow, ahistorical statements. Thanks for nothing, you pieces of shit.
The “institutionalists”
You may have thought that the biggest problem with Alito’s opinion was that it is an assault on women’s freedom and an attack on fundamental civil liberties. Wrong! The biggest problem is that the sacred traditions of the Supreme Court have been violated. Sacre bleu! Over to this instantly infamous gem from SCOTUSblog:
Oh no, not the trust among the justices! What if John Roberts and Elena Kagan don’t hang out as much after this? What if Clarence Thomas becomes more suspicious??? Fuck you!!!! We are in this position precisely because outlets like SCOTUSblog place more of a premium on how our institutions function than on what they actually do. They can operate with intrinsic violence and impunity, but as long as they do so while still maintaining a veneer of civility, the SCOTUSblogs of the world are untroubled. I don’t want to harp too much on the “this is how fascism happens” stuff, but this really is how fascism happens: elites who are so focused on “rules” and “order” that they allow their basic morality to wither away, and blithely watch as the rest of us get trampled underfoot.
A special mention in this vein must also go to corporate slavery enthusiast Neal Katyal.
Megyn Kelly
No, she’s not the biggest problem, this tweet just sent me over the edge.
Even now, the woke mob manages to sneak into the discourse! There is nothing these people can’t cram the cancel culture narrative into. Shut the fuck up!
RBG
Sorry, but I will never get over it.
The “vote” people
Democrats are in charge right now and this is happening! So what is your actual plan beyond “vote,” Eric? Because “vote” seems to have done fuck all so far.
The United States of America
What a sick, rotten place this is, a cruel society built on archaic and immoral institutions and governed by the worst possible people. Our shame should know no bounds. Nor should our rage at what is being done. God damn this hell country.
"the party of lincoln and eisenhower"? go to hell, chuck and nancy
I swear they let Alito write the opinion just to spike the football.
And what an opinion! He references things that weren’t in the founding thoughts of the country or something. Like he’s inside the brain of James Madison or something. You could even say he made his ruling based on the Birth of a Nation.
And if I hear one more “vote” person I’m going to puke in my suit. We tried to vote, and they tilted the tables to mitigate that vote. Then they told us to vote for the person that benefitted from that tilted table and got mad when some people didn’t. They keep putting the biggest cowards on the planet up for election and then blaming us when we call bullshit.