The Naked Truth/Jamala Rogers
We Knew It Was Coming
The news about the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade was like hearing that my dad with colon cancer had died. We knew it was coming for six months. But still. When hit with the resolute fact, it’s a punch in the gut. We saw the draft opinion back in May and knew it was coming. But still.
The ruling allows states to ban abortions. Twenty-six states are anxiously waiting to impose the ban and half of those had already passed so-called trigger laws that would automatically make abortion a crime with the overturn of Roe.
The vote breakdown was no surprise. The court ruled 6-3 to uphold the Mississippi ban and 5-4 to overturn Roe, a constitutional right in place for nearly 50 years. The ruling brought the rage and contempt of pro-choice advocates; abortion rights opponents were overjoyed by the victory.
Massive protests were to be expected across the country. However, I was surprised to see how some sectors of Corporate America responded to the court’s regressive and oppressive action.
Women seeking abortions will now have to travel to the few states where abortions are still legal. Some companies like Apple, Amazon and Tesla announced expansion of their abortion rights health coverage to include travel when the intent of SCOTUS was leaked. Several others followed their lead — JPMorgan Chase, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Facebook, Yelp, Disney, MasterCard, Netflix, Microsoft, CVS and more. Lyft and Uber upped the ante and also vowed to cover legal costs should their drivers incur charges for transporting women to abortion clinics.
All this sounds well and good. We must hold these bandwagon-jumping companies accountable to make sure they actually put their money where their mouths are. Too many of these same corporations made similar pledges after the George Floyd murder by police, making empty commitments to fight racism inside and outside the company.
Justice-seeking people like me have been warning of the slippery slope that conservatives were creating as they steamrolled over human rights and undo laws that have long been in place. That slope is looking more like a precipitous cliff.
Justice Clarence Thomas generally sits on the bench like a bump on a log. Now, he wants to seize the right’s momentum and look at smashing other laws like same-sex marriage. Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson ripped Thomas in a tweet: “How’s Uncle Clarence feeling about Overturning Loving v Virginia??!!” This was a reference to a landmark case that made the ban on interracial marriage unconstitutional and affects Thomas personally. His wife is white. The ‘uncle’ reference clearly was not one of familial affection. It is derogatory. Uncle Tom is a Black person who sells out their people’s interests to white supremacy.
The Congressional Black Caucus is urging President Biden to declare a national emergency but I’m not sure what that changes. The Democrats should’ve had a better plan for court appointments. The trump administration surely did.
There’s enough outrage out there to cut with a butter knife. The struggle for safe and accessible abortions needs to move to the state level where we can duke it out with lawmakers closer to home. All the big talk and the dollars have to be translated into a serious strategy for victory. This is a temporary setback. The fight for reproductive justice is far from over.
