Roe vs. Wade is Reversed

The Friday Flashpoints!

***Alas, after four decades of plotting, planning, and praying to their version of Jesus Christ, social conservatives are rejoicing this evening that a woman's right to choose an abortion is no longer protected under common law!

Well, we knew this day was coming way back in 2016, when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton en route to becoming the 45th President of the United States. While Trump had spent the bulk of his life as a Democrat or moderate Republican, he promised social conservatives in the 2016 GOP Primary that if they elected him, that he would appoint conservative justices who would reverse Roe vs. Wade. 

Let the record reflect that Trump surely kept that promise...

Then President Trump announcing the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court—two months before he was beaten by Joe Biden in the 2020 election…

For those weeping and wailing today while knowing that you refused to vote for Clinton in 2016 for whatever reason that moved you, well, stop all that crying because we ALL knew back in 2016 that the next president would appoint two to three Supreme Court justices! Mr. Trump did just that by adding Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the nation's highest court during his singular term in office.

Today, those three Trump appointments joined Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito in the 5-4 vote to reverse Roe. Chief Justice Roberts voted with conservatives in upholding the Mississippi law at issue, while refusing to overturn Roe outright. And for those keeping count, had Mrs. Clinton beaten Trump in 2016 and gone on to nominate three justices, the Court's liberal wing would hold the 6-3 advantage—and Roe would still be intact! 

***Yes, today is a sad day for women's rights, but for those unaware, today's ruling means that each state has a right to choose whether to give women the right to have an abortion. So, if you live in a Republican dominated state, like most of the ones of the old Confederacy and others across the Union, abortion on demand soon will be null and void; if you live in a Democratic dominated state, abortion rights will remain secure.

Thus, women and girls who desire such procedures will have to bear the additional burden of heading to a state that provides safe and legal abortions. 

***I have always fancied myself a modern day Transcendentalist, mostly because I've always been enthralled by the writings of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I find myself reading and re-reading Thoreau's Civil Disobedience more and more as I age, as I also read the works of those who he inspired, like Dr. Martin Luther King.

I share this glimpse into Hobbs to add that perhaps, just maybe, it's time to reinstate some civil disobedience into the public realm? I would just love to see abortion providers and women in need of services refusing to be dictated to by religious zealots who refuse to adhere to the separation between church and state that is expressly written into the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution!

May those so willing to resist have their consciences guided by Thoreau's thoughts that, “Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice,” which were followed over century later by Dr. King’s famous quote: "One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws..."

Yes, we must!

***While Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion to reverse Roe, Justice Clarence Thomas is receiving much media buzz this evening for his separate concurring opinion that portends a "coming attractions" of reversals that will excite the zealots on the religious right. 

Thomas noted that the very reasoning that the Court was using to conclude that the Constitution provides no right to an abortion per the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, that the same logic should invalidate Griswold v. Connecticut, the 1965 decision that made contraception legal; Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 ruling that struck down sodomy laws and made same-sex relations legal; and Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case that granted marriage rights to same-sex couples. 

After reading Thomas's concurring opinion, one that could soon impact how and with whom the public expresses love, I couldn't help but shake my head—once more—at how a 74-year-old Black man who was raised in Jim Crow era Georgia can so readily identify with ideological principles that marginalize other minority groups?

Now, when it comes to Justice Thomas's aversion to same-sexual relations and marriage, I am not surprised in the least because a good many Black folks swear that "their Bible" tells them to oppose gay rights—even if that opposition places them in league with conservative white Republicans who are also equally opposed to Black civil rights 😠! 

Further, as I reminded on Facebook earlier today, if you've read My Grandfather's Son, the autobiography of Justice Thomas, then you know that his consistent siding with oppressive/repressive ideology boils down to a few factors from his younger days:

1. While he was smart, he claims that his little classmates made fun of his Gullah dialect during their elementary to high school days (which is why he still is reticent to speak in public)...

2. While he was accepted and wanted to attend Morehouse College in the 1960's, his Grandpa frowned upon "those Black schools" and forced him to attend Holy Cross instead...

3. While accepted to Yale Law School, an admissions director told him that his grades and LSAT scores were not high enough for competitive admission—and that he was granted entry "due to affirmative action" (which is why he despises quota and affirmative action programs to this very day...)

4. While he had a Black wife initially, after they divorced, he claims that single professional Black women made fun of his lips, his dark complexion, his short/stocky build, and would not go out with him on dates...

Self-Esteem stems from a true knowledge of self. Unfortunately, Clarence Thomas, despite all of his worldly successes, has spent a great majority of his life despising the reflection that he sees staring back at him in the mirror--to the chagrin of so many people in these United States.

***When I have faced life's disappointments, as we all have or will at some point, I always remember the words from my childhood that were expressed by my mother: "go to bed, son, and things will look much better in the morning."

Momma’s words have never failed me, and I share them with my readers who are distraught by today's Supreme Court ruling on abortion.

Yes, this is a set-back, but please keep in mind that women will still be able to have safe procedures in certain parts of the country without fear of prosecution or persecution.

Yes, it is deplorable that women will have to incur significant expense to travel for abortions, but it is better than a blanket law outlawing the procedures across all of America. 

Should you take my Momma’s advice, when you awake tomorrow, do so with the passion to do something to express your displeasure! Write a letter to the editor or letters to your state legislators; form a group of concerned citizens who pledge to sign up at least five new voters for the next election; attend rallies in your cities and towns and share your thoughts or personal stories so that we, the people, can take back liberties that only a small but committed minority of zealous so-called Christians have stripped away! 

***If you follow my writings and don't like it when I talk about "so-called" Christians, do know that I do so with the same disdain that Christ had for the Pharisees.

You see, while I understand the nature of sin and the need for forgiveness as I sometimes err and need forgiveness, I don't like hypocrisy and I cannot stand hypocrites who can tell you all about your faults—while ignoring their own! I just happen to know that far too many holier than thou so-called Christians are wholly immoral beings—but they look down on others like they are the spotless little lambs of God!

So yes, it trips me out when these same hypocrites offer these long prayers in public one minute, discuss protecting the "sanctity of life" by banning abortion another minute, and then take a "hear no evil, see no evil" approach every time some miscreant with an AR-15 shoots and kills innocent men, women, and children. Or, the hypocrites tout being "pro-life" in public—but have had abortions, impregnated women who have had abortions, or have driven their own children to have abortions in private!

Again, it's the hypocrisy that angers me to apoplectic levels—and causes me to call out so-called Christians who glorify God with their mouths—but are far from His grace, compassion, and mercy in their deeds! 

Lest we forget…