Wednesday, April 18, 2007

5 dicks, 5 votes

The price of being politically aware is that frequently you are so angry you can see red.

Literally. Everywhere. Reds and their ignorant, bullshit ideas about what women should be, and what life is, and who gets to say what goes on in one's very own womb.

In a not-so-subtle "in your face, fuckers" toward the majority opinion that today upheld, despite 6 lower court rulings to the contrary, a NATIONWIDE ban on an intact D&E abortion procedure erroneously known as a "partial birth abortion," Justice Ginsberg read a summary of her minority opinion FROM THE BENCH:

In keeping with this understanding of the right to reproductive choice, we have consistently required that laws regulating abortion, at any stage of pregnancy and in all cases, safeguard not only a woman’s existence — her life — but her health as well. Faithful to precedent unbroken from 1973 until today, the Court held seven years ago in Stenberg v. Carhart, that a state statue banning the very procedure at issue today — intact D&E — was unconstitutional in part because it lacked a health exception. If substantial medical authority maintains that banning a particular abortion procedure could endanger women’s health, we held, a health exception cannot be omitted by the legislators.

Despite our unambiguous ruling, Congress passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act — without an exception for women’s health, a ban that would operate nationwide. After lengthy trials and thorough review of volumes of medical evidence, each of the District Courts to consider the statue found that it was unconstitutional for the same reason: Significant medical authority identified intact D&E as the safest procedure for some women.

In an alarming decision, the Court today reverses the judgments other federal courts have uniformly made. Today’s decision refuses to take Casey and Stenberg seriously. The Court’s opinion tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. For the first time since Roe, the Court blesses a prohibition with no exception protecting a woman’s health...

...
In candor, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and the Court’s defense of it, cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to chip away at a right declared again and again by this Court — and with increasing comprehension of its centrality to women’s lives. A decision of the character the Court makes today should not have staying power.

In other words, in as much as the majority has ignored the precedent set in 1992, so should this ruling be discounted as a precedent.

That's legalese for "fuck you, assholes."

12 comments:

SkylersDad said...

Instead of 5 dicks, 5 votes, I think the rule should be:

If you have a dick, you don't get to vote on this issue.

Megan said...

Ginsberg is now my favorite Supreme Court justice. Imagine how angry SHE must be.

I know we've both covered this ground before, but it's worth saying again: people who truly value the sanctity of human life don't impose policies that jeopardize people's lives, even if the people in question ARE merely women.

OK, I have to go shed tears of rage now.

Anonymous said...

We're one step closer to becoming chattel.

bubbles said...

We have laws that apply to the private sector with respect to representation, yet our government is not held to those standards. Our rights in the country are being whittled away - quickly, not slowly. I have to go take a deep breath.

Johnny Yen said...

The next time some so-called "progressive" tells me that it doesn't matter whether you vote for Republicans or Democrats, I'm going to punch them in the face. And the next time some so-called "independent" tells me that they vote for the person, not the party, I'm going to pour hot coffee on them.

GETkristiLOVE said...

Why can't we move forward in time on this, instead of the assholes trying to chip away at what they (hopefully) can not change?

The health of the woman and fetus should always come first, not overlooked.

On moving forward, how about free birth control, or at least bringing the price down to $5/month instead of $45 and up!

Cheer34 said...

The law will keep getting whittled away until nothing is left.

vikkitikkitavi said...

SkyDad: I am tempted, against my better judgement, to agree with you.

Megan: Yes, the hypocrisy of the pro-life movement is truly stunning. They base their whole argument around the sanctity of life, period, and claim that a fetus is equal to a woman, except when that woman is a sinner in the eyes of their god, of course.

Kirby: You know what? I'm pretty fucking sick and tired of one step forward, two steps back.

Kiki: "Pack of cunts." Excellent, Kiki.

AB: "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." - Thomas Jefferson, of course.

vikkitikkitavi said...

JohnnyY: And the next time I meet someone who doesn't regret voting for Nader, I'm going to send him to Iraq.

Pops: Lyndon LaRouche?

GKL: Women should stop buying birth control and make they guys do it, then maybe things would change.

Cheer34: Sing it with me now: "Oh, Canada..."

Pezda's Ghost said...

It's a non-stop hit parade assault on our rights, our senses, our dignity, our country, and our world. It is so incredibly fucking amazing that the current administration could possibly have any supporters left, but oh wait, grease the right palms, and you control the media, who feeds the masses brain sludge, and gets them singing "God Bless America", and if you are not singing along then you are obviously a terrorist and need to be dealt with. The complete loss of civil liberties is nearly at hand. Aaaarggghhh! I need to go hit something now.

Larry Jones said...

The oligarchy that runs the world doesn't care about abortion. Their daughters (the ones who have sex with men) will always have access to safe abortions in clinical settings. They have rigged the Supreme Court in favor of the religious goofballs because that was the tradeoff to get votes, and because the law doesn't matter to them. They are above it, as they steal everything of value, and burn the rest.

SJ said...

I happen to know 3 women who would be dead now if this law were in place at the time. Myself, very nearly being a fourth.