The Truly Jagged Little Pill

 

 Abortion is now banned in these states. WAPO Map

The Truly Jagged Little Pill

Is the “Culture War” is Really a Religious War

There are way too many right-wing activists in state legislatures with an aversion to the checks and balances inherent in three independent governing bodies: executive (governor and underlying state agencies), legislature and state courts. The Brennen Center report (December 2022) reviewed “bills considered this year [that showed] legislators in at least 25 states introduced at least 74 bills that would have politicized or undermined the independence of state courts. Of these bills, at least five were signed into law across three states (Iowa, Oklahoma, and Wyoming)… An additional 22 bills advanced in a significant way, either passing favorably out of a committee or subcommittee, receiving a hearing, or passing through one house of the legislature.

“In 2022, legislators in at least 25 states considered at least 74 bills targeting state courts, 5 of which have become law in 3 states.

• Thirty-nine bills in 16 states would have either enabled the override of court decisions or prohibited state officials, including judges, from enforcing particular laws or court decisions. Four such bills were enacted.
• Eight bills in five states would have put pressure or restrictions on judicial decision-making or reduced judicial branch resources in response to decisions that displeased the legislature. No such bills were enacted.
• One bill in one state would have changed the judges or courts that hear high-profile cases against the government. No such bill was enacted.
• Seventeen bills in nine states would have injected more politics into how judges are selected. One such bill was enacted.
• Two bills in one state would have shortened judicial term lengths, subjecting judges to more frequent political pressures. No such bills were enacted.
• Seven bills in seven states would have allowed more guns in courthouses, even if courts themselves wanted to prohibit weapons. No such bills were enacted.”

One issue stands out, lurking everywhere. Nothing annoys antiabortion activists more than women finding loopholes or workarounds to regain control over their own bodies, the overwhelming sentiment of Americans across the land, to effect abortions. Of particular annoyance are those who order “abortion inducing” pills from providers in other states. The above map from the Washington Post shows where state laws have ended a right to abortion, and it is pretty obvious where one can order those jagged little pills by mail.

Given the overwhelming public sentiments against the reversal of Roe v Wade (in Dobbs vs Women’s Heath), a lot of law enforcement officers and district attorneys have been loath to press an all-out effort to arrest those engaged in the transmission of these pills, both in states that ban abortions and those from which those pills are sent. Like the most conservative parts of Texas. Writing for the Post (December 14th), Caroline Kitchener writes: “The largest antiabortion organization in Texas has created a team of advocates assigned to investigate citizens who might be distributing abortion pills illegally.

“Students for Life of America, a leading national antiabortion group, is making plans to systematically test the water Erin Brockovich-style in several large U.S. cities, searching for contaminants they say result from medication abortion… And Republican lawmakers in Texas are preparing to introduce legislation that would require internet providers to block abortion pill websites in the same way they can censor child pornography.

“Nearly six months since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, triggering abortion bans in more than a dozen states, many antiabortion advocates fear that the growing availability of illegal abortion pills has undercut their landmark victory. Now they are grasping for new ways to crack down on those breaking the law.

“Antiabortion advocates had hoped the June decision would significantly decrease the number of abortions in the United States. But abortion rights activists have ramped up efforts to funnel abortion pills — a two-step regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol that is widely regarded as safe — into states with strict new bans, working with rapidly expanding international suppliers as well as U.S.-based distributors to meet demand.

“Now many conservatives are complaining that the abortion bans are not being sufficiently enforced, even though much of the illegal activity is happening in plain sight, as abortion rights advocates seek to reach women in need. Leaders interviewed on both sides of the debate had not heard of any examples of people charged for violating abortion bans since Roe fell, a crime punishable by at least several years in prison across much of the South and Midwest.

“‘Everyone who is trafficking these pills should be in jail for trafficking,’ said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, who has started to speak with Republican governors about the prevalence of illegal abortion pill networks. ‘It hasn’t happened, but that doesn’t mean it won’t.’… Abortion bans include penalties only for people involved in facilitating illegal abortions, not for the pregnant women themselves.

“The push on the right for enforcement reflects the extent to which both sides of the abortion battle are recalibrating after a tumultuous year that has challenged many long-held assumptions about the politics of the issue — and left the state of abortion access in the United States hard to assess. Interviews with more than 30 of the most influential advocacy group leaders, policymakers and litigators on the abortion issue found that far from settling the decades-old abortion question, the fall of Roe has triggered a major new phase of combat set to play out over the next few years in courtrooms, state capitals and the next presidential election.”

Will older men who overpopulate the state legislatures and overzealous antiabortionist women garner the support of red state lawmakers and enforcement officers to deal in this interstate quagmire? Will the US Supreme Court allow red states to reach into blue states supplying those pills? Does US Postal Service, as a federal agency, have an exemption? When it was put to a vote in mostly red state Kansas, antiabortionists lost. Are those states going to sustain a coat-hanger- desperate workaround that is one of the reasons Roe made sense in 1973?

I’m Peter Dekom, and zealous extremists continue to insist that everyone must share their values… and that courts lack the power to change their autocratic mandates.