The Supreme Court Has Set Womens' Rights Back Decades

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According to an initial draft majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, "The Supreme Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision."

Justice Samuel Alito, and the other conservative Justices; Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Neil Gorsuch, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett; are of the opinion that the issue of abortion is about states' rights, rather than women's rights.

In other words, it's more important to preserve the right of state governments police doctor/patient relationships than it is to safeguard the right of women to decide what happens to their own bodies.

According to The Guttmacher Institute, "The number of illegal procedures in the country plummeted from around 130,000 to 17,000 between 1972 and 1974. The number of deaths associated with illegal abortion decreased from 39 to 5 in that same time period; women who died as a result of illegal abortions typically were black..."

The GOP's stance on abortion isn't about states' rights, and it certainly isn't about protecting life.  Criminalizing abortion only drives desperate procedure seekers into proverbial back allies.  GOP law

makers are chomping at the bit to ban abortions, making no allowances for cases of incest and/or rape. 

A recent piece in The Huffington Post tells the story of 11-year-old "Sophia" (her real name withheld to protect her privacy) who was impregnated by a relative.  There was no question whether, or not, Sophia should carry to term.  The pregnancy was, of course, terminated.  However, if conservative law makers have their way, and it looks like they just might, victims, such as 11-year-old Sophia will be forced to see their unwanted pregnancy to its conclusion, despite the physical and mental health of the mother. 

If ultra-conservatives were truly concerned with safeguarding the sanctity of life, they would allow, and even champion, exceptions for rape, incest, and protecting think health of the health/life of the mother.  Protecting life isn't their true motivation though.  Keeping abortion illegal is a way to keep uppity women in their place by turning them into little more than baby factories.  They're literally saying, "No matter how a female (woman or girl) is impregnated, and no matter how said impregnation affects her health, she needs to shut up and pop that baby out."  When policy reflects such an attitude, women are reduced to second class citizens.