Hillary Clinton warned us. She told us flat-out that the 2016 election was about Roe v. Wade, abortion rights and reproductive rights. But her emails, amirite. Now we’re living in a post-Roe country and it’s all because millions of Americans thought the white supremacist racist was the better candidate. Hillary has decades of experience as a reproductive-rights activist. I feel like even she felt defeated and exhausted on Friday.
Most Americans believe the decision to have a child is one of the most sacred decisions there is, and that such decisions should remain between patients and their doctors.
Today’s Supreme Court opinion will live in infamy as a step backward for women's rights and human rights.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 24, 2022
She posted the same thing on Instagram and she also posted this Onward Together donation link, where the donations will be spread out between Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL, and EMILY’s List. That was it.
Michelle Obama had a lot more to say. Michelle has two twenty-something daughters. Michelle is devastated that her daughters have fewer rights than she had at their age. I have no further commentary, beyond this: I can’t imagine what it must be like to be born before Roe, live and love through 49 years of Roe, and then have to see your children deal with a post-Roe world.
Dr. Jill Biden also made a statement.
Tomorrow, we will continue to fight — for our daughters and granddaughters, and for ourselves — until all women can decide our own futures once again.
— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) June 24, 2022
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
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- Hillary Clinton attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City,Image: 688275733, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Hillary Clinton, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Hillary Clinton attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City,Image: 688275744, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Hillary Clinton, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Hillary Clinton attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City,Image: 688275809, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Hillary Clinton, Credit line: – / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Washington, DC – President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden host a celebration in observance of Black History Month in the East Room of the White House. Black federal, state and local government officials as well as Civil Rights leaders are in attendance. Pictured: Jill Biden BACKGRID USA 28 FEBRUARY 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Hillary Rodham Clinton at arrivals for HILLARY Premiere, Directors Guild of America DGA Theater, New York, NY March 4, 2020. Photo By: CJ Rivera/
I am very frustrated. Conservatives kept their eyes on the prize, distracting the public with the Donald trump sideshow and “ but her emails” while liberals agonized over the tiniest fringe issue and trying to create a perfect world or not move forward at all. Progress is usually incremental and we let a bulldozer roll over fifty years of progress while trying to please everyone. And yes, there has been gerrymandering and yes, I am also furious with the women I know who benefited from safe legal abortions but voted Republican “but my taxes” but mostly I am furious that we could not coalesce on the big stuff and that twitter activism is nice, most confuse it with real work.
Also angry with all the women who voted for Trump. I don’t understand why people vote against themselves. Don’t you want autonomy and a life of your choosing? It’s incredibly frustrating.
I swear I know of at least three who did it for taxes…none of whom grew up with money and none of whom would have much of an income had they not had the abortion they obtained safely and legally. And don’t get me started on the Jill Stein /write in Bernie crowd
I don’t know anyone who is genuinely pro-choice who voted for Trump. The silence from some of my more conservative, well I’ll call them acquaintances now, on Dobbs has been shocking to me. Not all women are devastated by the ruling and I just don’t understand.
I am sure that most women (not brainwashed right-wing religious extremists but most women) do want bodily autonomy. I think the Republicans have lost the vote of white suburban women for a generation. We will see how much that hurts them politically.
I’m so frustrated. it’s like a nightmare come to life. I know they’re going to keep going after all our reproductive rights including birth control, and after all our sexual freedoms including same sex marriage and the decriminalization of gay sex and so on.
Sadly, the majority of white women voted for Trump & continue to vote for Republicans. If you know a middle class, white woman who has not been speaking out on social justice issue because they’re “not political” she probably voted for Trump; if she’s Republican and didn’t vote for Trump, she probably vote for Republicans on the rest of the ticket & continues to do so. The white people you know who claim to be libertarian and/or complain about both parties being equally bad, yep – they voted for Trump. Sadly, I know young white women who don’t agree w/the GOP on social issues (or so they claim) but still vote Republican because they don’t trust the federal government & don’t think the government should insert themselves with regulations into what they consider personal matters like Dems wanting to regulate crypto y’all! &, even if they’re not taking guns away, they do want some regulations on gun sales/ownership which, apparently, mean more to them than the civil rights of other people
We must never lose sight of the fact that 94% of Black women voted for HRC. It’s White women who are the problem, and I say this as a White woman. Far too many vote to maintain white supremacy and patriarchy, thinking that will protect them from the damage to women and girls. They’ll be seen as “different” than those other trouble makers. This is a delusion, of course. American misogyny runs deep and strong in all aspects of our lives, from politics to culture to economics. No woman is safe from the consequences of her sex in this society.
And the younger women who still think some man like chaos agent Bernie has their interests at heart are the ones who will suffer the most under the Dobbs ruling. I won’t say they deserve it because no one deserves the suffering some will experience, but it is ironic that they were so dismissive of the importance of female representation at the highest level of government. F**k around and find out, as they say.
All of this, @Brassy Rebel.
The sad thing is, white women have almost always leaned republican. And this article I’m linking to is a scary eye-opener about the recent shift towards republicans lately — and it’s not white women, who have always leaned republican anyway, it’s a shift among minorities: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/14/joe-biden-trump-black-latino-republicans
All minority groups — with the exception of Japanese-Americans — shifted towards Trump in 2020, even after seeing what he did to the country since 2016. The reason Biden was able to win, was because enough white men shifted away from Trump at the same time. So if the democratic candidate was anyone BUT a white male, does that mean Trump would have won, AGAIN? That is a scary thought.
Minority females are doing their part to keep the democratic party in the white house, but they need more numbers. White women need to wake up and overcome their brainwashing, and/or racism, and/or whatever it is that motivates them to vote for a party that hates women (including *them,* if they weren’t too stupid to see it). White women are the single largest group of voters in the USA, yet here we are.
Lots of white women let this happen. (Of course the men are to blame too, but for them it isn’t a loss of bodily autonomy). The ones who voted GOP because of taxes, or other nonsense, or the ones who didn’t vote at all. The ones who thought Hillary was the same as Trump. All of them are the problem here.
And these white women need to be called out on it. If you are a progressive white woman and you aren’t calling them out on it, then you are letting them feel comfortable with their decision to let all women lose control of their bodies. Because it won’t just be red states. As soon as the GOP get a majority, all women are fucked. So these white women who didn’t vote or voted anything but Dem need to be reminded of what they made happen.
The ones who are religious idiots wouldn’t have done anything different, but the ones who act like they are modern, but ignored the red flags need to be told what they did. Some might even change their mind. The Ivanka Trumps, the centrists… they all need to be called out.
MRS.KRABAPPLE, Biden did worse in Florida in 2020 than Hillary did in 2016, mostly because he didn’t do nearly as well in south Florida with Hispanics. This also happened in Texas along the border. The Democratic party better be working on this or things will be getting a lot worse.
Elsnolenska weirdly it’s the same everywhere! Where I live the right have mostly gotten in to power for these exact reasons (though not your supreme court /orange cheeto reasons). But the left wring their hands and stumble when they should be strong just in case they get it wrong, while the right just lie proudly. It happens all the time. I’ve seen it in my 45 years as a voter and I see it everywhere. The left need to don the steel caps too. They just don’t know how.
ETA plus I can’t say enough about right wing media influence and concentration of media ownership which gets discussed here a lot. But it still bears repeating.
The corporate consolidation of media and right wing bent of their owners is exactly how we got here.
I agree re: the right wing media. Let’s be honest, all the most accessible outlets are owned by corporations who are right wing. They use the GOP’s framing and preferred terms.
Olivia Rodrigo calling Lily Allen on stage with her at Glastonbury to publicly call out the 5 shithole humans on SCOTUS by name and dedicating F* U to them was giving me life last night.
It needs to be more than words. It needs to be donations. I hope they’re donating and not just talking. There needs to be direction.
AOC was on IG yesterday with action steps for voting and beyond and was fundraising for abortion services at the same time. She also linked to Olivia and said culture and moments like this matter.
Olivia speaking to 200,000 at the Glastonbury festival and the crowd roared back in agreement ❤ God, that was a beautiful moment. Even Harry Styles said it was a dark day for the US.
I’ve been thinking about this all weekend and it’s just caused me to grow more furious. I’ve never wanted children and have considered getting sterilized to ensure there’s never a pregnancy scare. This may be what finally makes me take the plunge (before the procedure itself becomes illegal as well). I’m also signing up to volunteer on the campaigns for the Democrats in my state.
I’m supposed to go to a family gathering today, however I’m thinking of skipping. Both of my parents voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. My oldest sister who once told me she’s all for “tearing down the patriarchy” voted for Trump in 2016 because she “couldn’t stomach” the idea of Hillary becoming president (even though she also felt Trump was abhorrent). She voted third party in 2020 because she didn’t like either Biden or Trump. Our other sisters voted third party or didn’t even vote at all in either election. One sister had an abortion when she was younger. It was paid for by our parents and our oldest sister escorted her to the clinic. The family who ensured my sister wouldn’t have to parent a child she wasn’t ready for all voted for Trump and supported his decisions while in office.
Last night my sister texted me saying she “gets it now” and will be voting blue from now on. I love my family but I feel like I don’t want to see them right now. I’ve been telling them since 2015 (when Trump announced his candidacy) how much would change if he were elected. They all scoffed at me.
White privilege got us here. Whether you remain willfully ignorant to how it benefits you or you act out of the fear of losing it, that’s why we are where we are today in the USA.
Oh, and the Republicans aren’t even hiding it anymore:
https://twitter.com/johncornyn/status/1540689961040482306?s=21&t=DUQ8YX-hObQSrtuCx6H72A
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1540852015693037568
Sean good on you. I wouldn’t go either, you owe them nothing at the moment. Everyone needs to look after themselves. The pain, the trauma and the betrayal is real.
I’m with you, I will be avoiding my mother for the forseeable future. She’s been forbidden from talking to me about politics if she wants to see her grandkids (she’s a full Q-Anon nut job, this wasn’t done lightly and is mostly so my teenage girls don’t have to endure her BS). I know she won’t be able to contain herself for awhile.
Hugs to you, Lululu
I am on the other end of the spectrum. My son married into one of those whacko MAGAT families…..
I haven’t seen my 3 grandchildren due to their refusal to vaccinate, as I have a suppressed immune system.
I can’t get them to SEE what they are doing is destroying everyone’s rights!! They believe ALL of the f#cking lies that Drumpf spewed. I just can’t stand to listen to their utter f#cking garbage!!!!
Every single person that DIDN’T vote, or didn’t vote at ALL, is to blame for EVERY injustice that is occurring today!!!
Sean, my heart goes out to you. It must feel like screaming into a void trying to get your family to see what’s happening. Over the years I’ve slowly realized that I’m better off connecting and nurturing relationships with those I choose rather than try to change the minds of those I didn’t choose (blood relatives). Virtual hugs to you.
@The Voice. Thank you. Unfortunately my story is not uncommon. Many readers/contributors here are in the same boat, no doubt.
With regards to what you wrote about nurturing relationships with those you choose vs those you don’t, Pastor John Pavlovitz wrote a great piece on loving toxic people from afar:
https://johnpavlovitz.com/2022/02/06/how-do-you-love-toxic-people/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=johnpavlovitz
The concept of anyone LOSING rights is unfathomable. But through an historical lens, all women’s rights are still very, very new. We need to keep fighting for them, and strengthening them. Women’s rights and civil rights are still pretty fragile. History can turn on a dime.
I believe the abortion issue hits a deep vein of denial in the human psyche, because it involves placing greater value on one human life over another, and that feels uncomfortable—except in certain cases, such as war. With war, each side feels justified in placing less value on the lives of enemy soldiers and civilians. With abortion, the choice is placing a higher value on the pregnant girl/woman’s life vs the life of an unborn embryo or fetus.
Why shouldn’t a living human being have the right to place a greater value on her life and her future, especially during the first trimester? Why should the future life of an unborn mass of cells, perhaps with a heartbeat but no viability outside the womb, have more value than the life of a living girl or woman not wanting or able to birth and raise a child at a given moment? These are questions that need to be openly debated, unpacked and resolved.
The root of the anti-abortion movement is white supremacy. That’s all people need to know.
On Friday my boss kept saying “why are they focused on abortions? Why not maternal Healthcare? Lactation consultants? Childcare?” And finally I had to say “because they don’t want to pay for Black kids and sure as hell won’t pay for Black moms to have all those things.”
@Meghan: Yup. It’s racism. That’s why.
After the ruling on THURSDAY about individual gun rights paving over states’ rights to govern gun ownership and usage, their rights to protect their citizenry, all the anti-abortion, anti-choice people, organizations, politicians needs to dump any piece of “pro-life” propaganda they ever trotted out and be struck by lightning if they ever try to speak the words pro-life again.
Like Michelle Obama, I am heartbroken. I am also angry. I’m of a generation that has benefited greatly from both civil rights and women’s rights, and, indeed, human rights, as all of these ideals and efforts intersect. I’ve also been painfully aware that there have been successful efforts to chip away at our rights even before these rights have been fully realized.
We still have power: political power, economic power, and social powers. If we use our powers and our strengths together…. IF. Such a little word in the face of monumental selfishness. Sigh.
I’m gutted. And recalibrating. And gathering strength from reading the words of Maya Angelou.
And very very grateful for this site. 🙏🏽
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise
I suffered from an ectopic pregnancy when I was 20, and I worry about the vague language in some of these bills. I would have died without surgery. And now, if this happens to someone now, what will happen? Will the dr’s delay treatment? Will women die?
This is terrifying.
Yes, women will die.
I went to college in South Bend (Amy Coney Barrett’s old stomping grounds), graduated in 1989.
My freshman year a woman gave birth in the bathroom and the baby was found dead-was it stillborn? The woman worked to conceal her pregnancy, denied it to her very concerned roommates.
And she was not the only woman wearing big sweatshirts and trying to hide-since there were NO options other than to remain pregnant at our Catholic school.
Women will die in secret childbirth, women will die from botched terminations, women will die by suicide because their access to reproductive healthcare is limited.
My 54 year-old self cannot believe this is what we’re going back to.
Yes. People will die. They do not care. It’s “God’s will” or you weren’t a worthy vessel and your husband can just go find some younger white woman…or child, as child marriage is still legal in 44 states. This is exactly what they want.
Leaving this decision to the states is nonsense. In my very red state, 51% believe abortion should be legal, and yet we have the strictest abortion law in the US. Go figure.
We need to change systems such as the electoral college. We won the popular vote! We always win the popular vote. So the majority of people are being governed by the minority.
Still too many people are brainwashed to vote a certain way. I can understand the religious nuts. But educated middle class women? Wtf is wrong with them???
Many of the educated middle class women know that they will continue to have access to abortion, birth control, and other types of health care for themselves and probably for their daughters. “Wtf is wrong with them” is simply selfishness, or, self-centered-ness. They, personally, will be fine. And, if they even bother to think about it, they’ll have a multitude of reasons to justify their actions.
Oh, and the ones worried about their “taxes” apparently aren’t worried about the medical care, education, and other costs that will begin to be in huge demand quite soon.
This. They will always have access to safe abortions. The ones they have taken the rights from do not.
Are they going to increase free contraceptive care and benefits for all the children that women will be forced to have? Because they need to make IUDs and birth control available and easily accessible to everyone, regardless of insurance status. There needs to be safety nets for everyone involved. How are they setting up the structure to support such a nation-changing decision?
I have two kids and until my husband and I can agree on having a third, I am meticulously family planning to minimize surprises. If I decide not to, IUD for life. If we decide to and something shows up on the sonogram, I live in a state where I have options. Carrying babies to term took such a toll on my body and my pregnancies were considered smooth and easy; to be forced to go through with a nonviable pregnancy would truly be a form of torture. So many people don’t have the access or the education to make such decisions. My heart goes out to all of us as we will all be affected in one way or another.
No. They explicitly said that they are coming for contraception, sexual privacy, and marriage equality next.
I have to wonder what Uncle Thomas is REALLY hoping will happen when, inevitably, the Loving case gets revisited by the bench. It has crossed my mind that he might be planning for the long range goals of keeping his hands clean, while removing a liability.
Losing basic rights is unbelievable. What I fear now is that women who truly understand the implications are the ones talking sterilization which means fewer babies who may also believe in basic human rights. Meanwhile, there will still be more babies born due to the lack of abortion rights who could be indoctrinated in the cult of Republicans.
It makes me think of the FLDS where they believed in having more wives and children but it also served another purpose. To have more people born into a closed system who you could control. And it’s happening in plain sight.
This will impact access to higher education and many career opportunities for women, and accelerate the income inequality. The lives of most privileged people won’t change very much. As debt of all kinds increases, so will the pool of desperate, lower wage workers.
Suicide, homicide, and domestic violence are likely to increase, particularly in communities that already lack adequate social services and safety nets.
I wish these things didn’t feel so inevitable. Didn’t Fauci once say something like: I can’t explain to you that you should care about other people?
How many goofy 12 year old boys are going to play around with the 9 or 10 year old girl who has had early puberty? This kind of thing will happen. Would that girl be permitted to adopt a child?
I am furious with the tRumpers and their acolytes. Our county is now a kleptocratic theocracy.
https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2017/01/13/cost-raising-child
Will SCOTUS give everyone that money? It’s an awful lot! $284,570
How about getting every male to get a vasectomy at puberty? Then he can have it reversed with the proper medical intention that he will pay the cost of raising a child.
As a middle class white woman who voted for HRC, I’m getting tired of being painted with this brush. I’m not worried for me, I’m worried for my nieces and my neighbors’ black daughters. Think before you generalize, and please remember compassion. We’re all scared.
Nah. We’re not doing “not all white women” today or any other day.
Yes… let’s divide even more, that makes sense. In absolute numbers these brainwashed anti-feminists are a lot less than the white women who fight for women’s rights.
Canadian here — can someone tell me if a potential ban on contraceptives includes condoms for men? Or is this strictly a prohibition for women? If so, it shows a terrifying level of misogyny to allow men to use prophylactics (most of whom don’t even want to) while withholding birth control from women.
I believe what we’ve seen in the last few days is exercising control over women by controlling their body an limiting their choices. I don’t believe this has anything to do with interpretation of the constitution or giving power back to the states. Contraception is aimed at both sexes but it’s women who pay the price of withholding prophylactics from men. This is a war against women and minorities who have come too far, achieved too much and are now a threat. Sorry if I sound paranoid but I believe we all need to be worried.
💯
And I’m with everyone else who is tired of the super extreme examples of children giving birth as a reason this ruling is bad. Children giving birth is morally reprehensible full stop. But women/people with a uterus do have a basic human right to be sexual beings without having to procreate as a result even if the only reason is they don’t want to be a parent. It’s just as ridiculous as telling gay people to just not have sex or enter into relationships in order to survive in our violence worshiping, bible thumping society.
I believe that many will want condoms banned. Never forget that Mike Pence caused an HIV crisis in Indiana when he was governor.
I’m so f*cking incensed, sad and despondent; there are really no proper words I can think of to adequately express my disillusionment.
These HANDMAIDEN TALES-minded people are trying their damnest to bring the USA back into the dark ages. They are so intrigued about past society functionings from the 1800s and prior decades. It’s really harrowing that these REACTIONARY REJECTS want our country–and if they can influence the rest of the Planet–to revert to past times where there are no rights for women, children, men who are socially conscious plus other aspects which make life much more easier and convenient. Since this is the case, everyone who wants to maintain TRUE DEMOCRACY should continue to fight the fine fight so that we can have semblances of PEACE! 👆👏🏽✊🏽🌈💖
I was watching Keep Sweet, Pray, and Obey on Netflix about the FLDS cult, and I couldn’t help but think this is where the Republicans want to take us.
The voters who voted for Bernie and Jill Stein because they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Hillary—- ugh!
The supreme court has thrown substantive due process out the door. That means “rights” people think they have, do not exist. The right to choose your own marriage partner? That’s not explicitly in the constitution, so it is not a “right” according to the court and it’s up to states to legislate it. The right to choose your profession? That’s not in the constitution. The right to have children? That’s not in the constitution either, so what stops states from requiring sterilization as a condition on welfare, or for the mentally disabled, etc. Birth control is not expressly in the constitution. The right to medical treatment of any kind is not in the constitution. The right to join a union is not in the constitution. The right to go to school is not in the constitution. Think of all the “rights” Americans assume they have — most are not expressly stated in the constitution. The damage done by republicans is not limited to abortion, this decision has more far-reaching consequences than the press is reporting.