DREW ANGERER / GREG NASH / SAUL LOEB / AFP GETTYIMAGES
I could have died 48 years ago if abortion had not been legal. I was 30 years old, recovering from a rare and severe form of hepatitis and a top television newswoman in Boston. When I realized I was pregnant, my doctor told me that having the baby would kill me or my body would kill the baby. Roe v. Wade was one year old.
Months earlier I had been in a coma and was on massive doses of medication with a marriage about to end. Knowing that the pregnancy would have to be terminated was devastating even though I knew the timing was all wrong. I had always wanted children. I had been reporting on the abortion issue for three years and intellectually knew what I had ahead of me. But the reality was filled with an overwhelming mix of emotions as hormones and thoughts combine in ways hard to anticipate. I remember being wheeled into an operating room that had been set up with life-saving support by a nurse who said, "I watch you every day. You're terrific." I was stunned and upset that she recognized me at that very vulnerable moment. I had been worried people would find out I was having an abortion because I wanted my private life to remain private.
It all was like yesterday. The effect on me was profound. The effect on every woman who has an abortion is profound. It is one of the most personal and private decisions a woman can make. The choice not to carry a pregnancy to term needs to be kept safe and legal just as it was for me 48 years ago.
That abortion has been politicized speaks to the fact that it's a woman's issue. A woman's body. A woman's life. I have said it many times - if men were the ones to get pregnant abortion would not be an issue.
But how did we get to where we are today?
It's the Court folks. The Supreme Court has become as broken as our political system. It's not about the leak of the draft of an historically important legal decision that would reverse Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of legal precedent protecting abortion rights. It's what's gone on behind the scenes of our nation's highest Court that is exposing the smoke and mirrors game that's been played.
The Court has been held to a standard unlike any other. It's Justices are appointed for life. But the process by which they are chosen has been made a mockery.
Supreme Court Justices are political appointees. Few people routinely think of them that way, but it's how they got their jobs. Presidents nominate Justices and the Senate votes to appoint. The Court has cultivated a unique veil of secrecy over many decades to make it appear as if they are non-partisan with brain power that is above reproach. Except when their personal issues are exposed. Think Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh both of whom have been accused of sexual assault..
The power that President Donald Trump wielded in his appointment of three Supreme Court Justices is now being felt by every woman in the country. Trump and his Republican cohorts in Congress wanted to make sure they put three judges on the court that would do exactly what they are doing - overturn Roe v. Wade. Trump campaigned on the promise to do just that.
Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett were the conservative judges nominated by Trump, and they lied or danced around their beliefs during their confirmation hearings to get their highly valued jobs.
Gorsuch during his hearing said publicly that abortion was "settled law." He also said "I accept the law of the land," when asked about Roe.
Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing said when talking about Roe v. Wade, "It's settled as precedent of the Supreme Court. One of the important things to keep in mind about Roe v. Wade is that it has been reaffirmed many times." He also said that a court decision to overturn precedent should be "rare."
Amy Coney Barrett as a private citizen signed on to a newspaper ad that said it was "time to put an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe. v. Wade." At her confirmation hearing she danced around the issue. She said that she "doesn't view Roe as a super-precedent." That's a term to describe a Supreme Court decision that is so widely accepted it's at no risk of being overturned.
The Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973 and made it safe for women in need has brought us to a grim new reality in 2022. We are now bearing witness to a near total destruction of the integrity of the Supreme Court. As one of the bedrocks of our democracy, it is outrageous to allow this to happen.
#abortion #supreme court
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POLITICAL & OTHERWISE the book is now available on Amazon in paperback or e-book. I hope you’ll get a copy. It helps put all the pieces of these past 6 years together succinctly. Here's a link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L8D56HH