What can women do after Roe? Maybe we should let things fall apart for a day
After the Supreme Court's decision to take away a woman's constitutional right to abortion, telling women to peacefully protest is predictable and infuriating.
Democratic leaders knew — as we all did — about the Supreme Court’s plan to overturn Roe v. Wade after the opinion’s draft was leaked in early May.
Given the notice we received, you’d think Democrats would have a plan by now. And yet, in the days since the decision to strip women of their constitutional right to autonomy, they have failed to take action, let alone provide us with a productive means of channeling our righteous fury.
As America ushers in a new era of open hostility toward women — and as we women boil over with anger — the notion that we can simply vote or march our way out feels woefully inadequate.
After all, to be a woman in America — especially one with children — is to watch this country smash your freedoms to the floor, revel in the mess and then force you to clean it up without complaint. Any nation where it’s easier to get your hands on an assault rifle than baby formula, where health care, child care and paid leave are considered luxuries rather than guaranteed rights, where the government would rather force birth (and possible death) than allow women to make decisions about our own bodies, is a terrible place to be a mother.
Instead, President Joe Biden asked us to stifle ourselves, entreating us to make our voices heard in the streets and at the ballot box, emphasizing the need for peace without acknowledging the violence of attacking the bodily autonomy of half of the nation. The court’s decision is an attack on women, so make no mistake that it’s mostly us who are being given these predictable and infuriating proposed salves.
Rating: 5