Congratulations, women--you are officially second-class citizens!

[Nunavut Pants]

So, the Supreme Court has decreed that women no longer have bodily autonomy in at least one circumstance. That states have the right to force women to give birth.

Congratulations, American women, you are officially and openly second-class citizens. I wonder when they'll start working on your ability to have a checking account in your own name, rather than your husband's name?

And don't tell me it's about "the children". If it were about the children, we'd have low- or no-cost prenatal care, mandatory maternal/paternal leave, and more.

If it were truly about reducing the number of abortions performed, we'd have free easy access to birth control, mandatory sex education, and more.

Nope, it's about none of those things. It's about punishing women for having sex.

Fuck you, Supreme Court. Fuck you, Donald Trump. Fuck you, Moscow Mitch.

[Ghel]

Completely agree. Next they'll roll back marriage equality. Both same-sex marriage and interracial marriage. We can't be sure of any protections any more.

[Nunavut Pants]

No, they won't roll back interracial marriage. Because one of the people on the Supreme Court--one who is pushing these rollbacks--is a black man married to a white woman. And lives in Virginia. So he certainly won't be in favor of rolling back "Loving vs. Virginia".

But same-sex marriage? Yup! Access to birth control? Yes indeed.

I wonder if they're going to find some way for the state governors to unilaterally cast all of the state's electoral votes next?

[The Shadow]

As angry and as upset as I am about this, I have to say I'm not entirely surprised. The writing's been on the wall for some time now; even before the big orange monster was in the white house. I saw it coming not long after Bush was in power twenty-some years ago. But even though I'm not surprised, it doesn't make me any less distraught. And I'm not even American.

[Dreamstalker]

I wonder when they'll start working on your ability to have a checking account in your own name, rather than your husband's name?

My mom just asked (not entirely joking) if doing so--or just removing the ability to enter into financial contracts--would also mean that any debt owed by single women would be erased. After all, it is a legal contract that would be nullified and without a man's say-so to hold a bank account there is nothing to garnish for recovery.

[Meg1079]

My mom thinks they'll get rid of a woman's right to vote next. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.

As a Canadian, this is all terrifying. Our Conservatives are at the same level of bat-shit crazy as your Republicans. Your poison is already starting to spread here.

[MadMike]

I am quite pissed about this, for lack of better words. Interestingly enough, I was strongly on the pro-life side until fairly recently, and ten years ago I might have applauded this ruling. I don't know if anyone still here remembers when we had a "Hot Topics" section on the main board, but this topic came up several times, and when it did, I would chime in with why I thought abortion was wrong. So if anyone from that era is still here, I'm sure they're surprised at my change in opinion on this one.

I'm still not crazy about the idea of abortion. I still think that pregnancy is a risk you take every time you have sex, and you should take whatever preventative measures you can if you're not trying to make a baby. But over the years, I came to realize that these republicans won't stop with abortion. They'll also try to ban contraception, which if they really wanted to stop abortion, they'd be in favor of. Also, once the baby is born, they don't give a shit about it anymore. I can understand the mindset of taking responsibility for the pregnancy that happened because you chose to have sex, but it just seems... cruel. Worse yet is the extremists who want no exceptions in the case of rape or the woman's safety. Even at my most extreme, I never expected a woman to keep a rape baby, and I definitely didn't expect anyone to continue a pregnancy that would literally kill them. But what do the doctors know? They only spent eight or more years in medical school. Apparently now to be an expert in medicine or science, all you have to do is post on social media and/or become a republican. Interestingly enough, my stepdad is a hard-core republican, but he's also a retired doctor, so I'm sure he's experiencing conflicting beliefs now. I don't really talk to him about such matters though. He's one of those people who can't simply disagree. He has to talk down to you and act like you're stupid for having beliefs that contradict his. That's the reason I spent so much time in my room when I still lived at home.

I remember in one of the discussions that we had back in the day, one of the other members mentioned that he was "reluctantly pro-choice." That's where I am now.

[Dreamstalker]

My mom thinks they'll get rid of a woman's right to vote next. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.

I also think that that is next (or one in a pile of many things that they want to get rid of...but which one goes first?). Given their insanity about trans individuals, if women can no longer vote, would trans women be able to? (I presume no).

Many women are on the Pill for reasons not related to birth control. I assume any ban wouldn't even consider those "off label" uses. As is frequently mentioned on one of my politics-heavy sites, the cruelty is the point.

[Talon]

"If you're pre-born, you're good. If you're pre-school, you're fucked!" - George Carlin

[XCashier]

Interestingly enough, I was strongly on the pro-life side until fairly recently,...I'm still not crazy about the idea of abortion....But over the years, I came to realize that these republicans won't stop with abortion. They'll also try to ban contraception, which if they really wanted to stop abortion, they'd be in favor of. Also, once the baby is born, they don't give a shit about it anymore....Worse yet is the extremists who want no exceptions in the case of rape or the woman's safety. Even at my most extreme, I never expected a woman to keep a rape baby, and I definitely didn't expect anyone to continue a pregnancy that would literally kill them.

I used to be in a similar position, but even at my most conservative, I knew the world wasn't all black and white, that there were millions of shades of gray. I accepted abortion in case of rape, incest, severe birth defects or the endangerment of the mother. So even back then, I would've thought this law was way too extreme.

The Pill is not just for contraception; it's useful for treating dysmenorrhea and polycystic ovary syndrome. So if The Pill is outlawed, those women will suffer.

This isn't about "saving the babies". This is about punishing women for being women. To quote George Carlin, they're not pro-life, they're anti-woman.

[Nunavut Pants]

I've never been pro-abortion. I am militantly pro-choice. Basically, I am 100% certain that IT IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS if a woman chooses to have an abortion. Nor is it the government's business. Period, end of discussion.

I would love to see the abortion rate drop to zero, but I know that it can't happen in this world. But we can get it closer to zero, by making sure that every person who goes through puberty is educated about sex and the consequences thereof, and has free no-questions access to birth control. Time after time, we see that those two things do the most to drive down the abortion rate, while banning it has a far smaller effect.

[The Shadow]

I don't know if anyone still here remembers when we had a "Hot Topics" section on the main board, but this topic came up several times, and when it did, I would chime in with why I thought abortion was wrong. So if anyone from that era is still here, I'm sure they're surprised at my change in opinion on this one.

I remember one of those previous incarnations of CS (early to mid 2000s I think). What I *do* remember about that time is that whenever the topic of abortion came up, the mods and admins would always have to shut them down because it was one of two discussion topics that could never stay civil. I don't remember if it was prohibited as a topic, but the admins made it pretty clear they would prefer not to see any discussion on the topic. Interestingly the other discussion topic that always got heated was anything on George W. Bush's presidency. I remember that because I was moderator on another discussion forum and Bush's presidency was contentious for us as well. At the time, we thought there was never a more incompetent, unqualified and dangerous POTUS than Bush and no one could be worse. On that last point, we couldn't have been more wrong.

I'm still not crazy about the idea of abortion. I still think that pregnancy is a risk you take every time you have sex, and you should take whatever preventative measures you can if you're not trying to make a baby.

In spite of being pro-choice, I feel the same way. But I know two women who confided in me that they'd had abortions. One of them had been on the pill and was taking it regularly and as directed. And yet it failed her not once, but TWICE. Both times, she reluctantly got an abortion. The other one, I'm not really sure of her circumstances or how she became pregnant. But she made the decision to have an abortion and she admitted it was not an easy decision to make and before and after it put her through the emotional wringer. That doesn't exactly sound like she was the sort of callous and indifferent "baby-killer" the forced birthers would have us believe women who have abortions are.

I

Interestingly enough, my stepdad is a hard-core republican, but he's also a retired doctor, so I'm sure he's experiencing conflicting beliefs now.

My dad is a retired physician as well. (Cancer oncology though, not OB/GYN) He's not a conservative. In fact he's the equivalent of a U.S democrat. But he was raised in Ireland as a practicing Catholic, so that probably influences his views. But I'd imagine he probably has conflicting views about this as well