Thursday open thread: "If people actually believe that it's all political, how will we survive?"

Capitol Hill Protest Sign on Lamppost, by John Brighenti, CC BY-SA 2.0

That question was asked by Justice Sonia Sotomayor about the prospect of the Supreme Court voting to either gut or repeal the landmark Roe v. Wade decision which not only legalized abortion in the United States, but also stated that it did so because there was an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution.

The right-wing justices yesterday tipped their hand that they are willing to, for the second time in American history, rescind rights which had been granted. (The first time? Reconstruction after the Civil War. Read up on Plessey v. Ferguson.) Make no mistake: a repeal of Roe will not affect simply abortion rights. It will lay fire to any idea of a right to privacy. The two concepts are inextricably linked in the original ruling.

If the Court does away with Roe, it will open up a chasm it does not as yet foresee. This might be what finally gets white Republican women who are pro-choice off the fence for the 2022 elections. (White Republican men, as always, are hopelessly lost.) But in the interim so much damage will be done. So many lives will be ruined. All to impose a "Biblical" value held by a minority on a nation which doesn't want it. 

Now, to repeat, a repeal of Roe won't make abortion illegal in all fifty states. It will return abortion law to the status it had pre-Roe, where different states had different legalities for abortion. In states like California, abortion rights are codified. But it's that little part about the right to privacy being inherent in the Constitution which is the kicker. Repealing Roe repeals that reading of the Constitution. The can of worms that opens is unfathomable to contemplate. This, more even than the meat and potatoes of abortion, is what will destroy the Court. People who are against abortion also have drunk at the pool of privacy rights. The same people who are against abortion rights also argue that they shouldn't have to be mandated to vaccinate based on privacy rights. Of course, they don't realize this. We have an uneducated electorate. But that's the real sword of Damocles which will be unsheathed if the Court overturns Roe.

If Roe is repealed, it will be up to voters in 2022 to rectify the travesty. Just like it was up to them in 2014 when they handed the Senate to Republicans, which led to President Barack Obama being unable to name a successor to Antonin Scalia. Just like it was up to them in 2016, when Donald Trump was voted into the White House rather than Hillary Clinton, and he was able to cement the ultra-conservative Court majority. It's always been up to the voters; the last two times they had a chance to prevent what might happen with Roe they acquitted themselves woefully. But, sometimes a hard lesson has to be learned. Maybe, again, Republican pro-choice white women (and, hell, let's throw the men in there too, although I have almost no expectations out of that lot) will see this as the breaking point, and join the pro-democracy coalition next year and in 2024. One can hope.

If I seem bitter, it's because human beings have a very dangerous habit of making things worse before rallying to fix things at even greater cost. It's exhausting. It's no way to live a life. But this is the life we have. There's no use in crying over it. The work simply has to be done. That doesn't mean I have to clap my hands and dance a jig because of it. None of us should.

However, I'm with Propane Jane:

This is your semi-open thread.