May 18, 2019
Every day brings news of yet another state passing a retrograde abortion ban; seeking to outdo one another in cruelty and control over women. We point out the glaring hypocrisy of laws purporting to protect lives in states with the worst infant mortality rates in the nation. We point out the inconsistency of banning abortion, yet leaving embryos in fertility clinics unregulated, only to be told by an Alabama legislator, “The egg in the lab doesn’t apply. It’s not in a woman.” We should know by now that it is futile to try to appeal to their logic or empathy. To the contrary, the proponents of these laws are leaning in to the dire consequences that will result. They are apathetic, at best, about the increased infant and maternal mortality that women of color will suffer as a result. They eagerly anticipate a future where they can control white women by controlling their fertility.
While we were playing whack-a-mole with the expanding roster of states banning abortion, staunch abortion foe, Wendy Vitter, was confirmed to a lifetime appointment as a federal district judge in Louisiana. Vitter made waves during her confirmation hearing for refusing to state that Brown vs. Board was correctly decided, (Source: “Senate confirms Wendy Vitter, abortion foe, to be federal judge in New Orleans,” by Drew Broach, Nola.com, 5/16/19). Vitter was part of a disturbing trend of 24 Trump judicial nominees “who refuse to state [whether Brown] was properly decided,” (Source: “Many Trump judicial nominees won’t affirm the Brown v. Board ruling. And that concerns some legal experts,” by Eugene Scott, The Washington Post, 5/17/19). Let’s be clear. As Sherrilyn Ifill put it succinctly, “if judicial nominees don’t support ‘Brown v. Board’ they don’t support the rule of law.
Given that we have a lawless executive branch that obdurately refuses to recognize Congress as a co-equal branch of government, and an Attorney General dedicated to the proposition that the President is in fact above the law, the installation of federal judges with contempt for the Rule of Law should be cause for alarm.
It all seems confounding unless we understand the link between the anti-abortion movement and white supremacy. The anti-abortion movement was conceived as a Trojan Horse to conceal Right wing evangelicals’ strident opposition to integration. As detailed by historian Randall Ballmer, Roe v. Wade did not immediately evoke opposition from conservative Christians. Heritage Foundation founder, Paul Weyrich, identified opposition to abortion as an ideal way to devise a politically palatable pretext for right wing opposition to Democrats, (Source: “The Real Origins of the Religious Right. They’ll tell you it was abortion. Sorry, the historical record is clear: it was segregation,” by Randall Ballmer, Politico.com, 5/27/14; h/t @CirriNottage).
Whether the goal is to force white women to give birth to erase some demographic disadvantage, or to increase the infant and maternal mortality rate among people of color, we need to be clear: anti abortion zealotry is the handmaiden of white supremacy. This is a war. We’d better know what we’re fighting.