Now that the dust has settled on the Supreme Court’s anti-choice, anti-woman ruling last week, the Women’s community has shed its polite and considered posture of reviewing the decision carefully to call for a full frontal assault on the hypocrites and religious fanatics now clearly in control of our highest court in the land.
The Bush administration, not content with its former control of Congress, the Executive Branch and the media, has pushed full-speed-ahead at dismantling the last protections of the Bill of Rights and fundamental freedoms our country has fought long and hard to achieve and preserve. It has now successfully packed the U.S. Supreme Court with right-wing judges committed to imposing its political agenda. This is NOT the proper role of the Judiciary. But that has never been of concern to an administration determined to rule rather than govern. This failed ideology has, alas, achieved its goal or at least begun its intended goal of dismantling the hard-fought battles for civil and human rights — starting first with women.
Many articles are now appearing in well-respected journals and newspapers acknowledging that the Roberts Court is composed of right-wing religious fundamentalists who are imposing their own personal and religious moral standards on the rest of America, under the guise of Constitutional interpretation. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg so eloquently pointed out, this is nothing more than a thinly disguised effort at overturning years of Court precedent to undermine women’s reproductive freedoms.
Well, this just won’t stand. And to emphasize that, women’s groups throughout the country are calling for a day of protest and objection to the five overly-ideologically motivated justices who are trying to co-opt and return our country to the days of back-alley abortions and deaths of thousands of women. They have the power now and they are determined to exercise it. They’ve ignored the rules of jurisprudence and precedent to do so, but that is of little concern when the goal is to impose its extremist ideology on the entire country–such is the power of the Supreme Court. Their goal is to create a theocracy where religion trumps individual freedoms, where corporate “rights” trump the people’s rights and where government abuse trumps the Bill of Rights.
Today, around the country, comes a call to raise our voices yet again for Choice as we recognize and honor the historic March On Washington for Reproductive Freedom of April 25, 2004. That demonstration of determination and freedom saw over 1.2 Million Americans- men, women, children, old and young take to the streets of Washington to affirm a woman’s fundamental right to control her own body and reproductive decisions. It was, and continues to this day, to be the largest single march in our nation’s history. It obviously fell on deaf ears, but serves as the energy today to replicate that unmistakable call for reproductive choice.
The goal of today’s call-to-action is to demand that Congress pass a Freedom of Choice Act to ensure that women throughout the country and have access to legal abortions so that this Supreme Court cannot take this right away, bit-by-bit as it has been doing for years, and now is doing with greater speed and determination. Although we have such a law in California, as Roe v. Wade was codified into California law in the early part of this millenium to prevent against possible erosion of Roe,the country at large needs the same protections that we in California correctly anticipated would be necessary. Given the record of this administration on human and civil rights, and this Supreme Court’s recent rulings, there is little doubt that such a measure is critically important.
We can be silent no longer. Today and every day this Administration and its lackeys are allowed to make decisions that will affect our rights and freedoms, we must speak out. Whether we are secure in California with laws that protect our basic rights, federal law always presents a threat and with a court such as the one the Bushies have been able to put together, that threat has never been more real.They will do anything to insert their religious beliefs into the Constitution at the expense of the People. It is now time for the People to speak out loudly and unequivocally. After all, this is OUR country and we simply can’t let the failed and corrupt policies of this government take that away from us.
Today is a day of action. Our voices must be heard.It is time again to demonstrate,call our elected officials in Sacramento and Washington and tell them they will only get your support when they protect reproductive rights of America’s women. We have been silent and too polite for too long. Act today–and tomorrow, and next week, and as long as necessary to protect our hard-fought gains. Let’s make sure the government understands when they do these things, they are not acting in our name.
