Contraceptives banned. Miscarriages prosecuted. Pregnant people under surveillance. Is this the future Americans want?
 |
| By Ann Telnaes |
Far-fetched?
Not the way things are going. When it comes to extremism, Republican
politicians are racing each other to the bottom.
Once
we thought that otherwise anti-choice Republicans favored allowing girls and
women who were victims of rape or incest to get abortions. But there are no
such exceptions in the laws Republican
legislatures have recently enacted.
Many Republican officials
now even oppose an abortion exception for
protecting the life of the mother. And already in some states, women have been
prosecuted for stillbirths and
miscarriages deemed suspicious and charged with child neglect
or abuse for allegedly causing their pregnancies to end.
We
also thought that Republicans acknowledged that the decision to use
contraception was a constitutionally protected, private decision. But that’s
also now up for grabs.
When
an anti-abortion law says a fertilized egg, not yet implanted in the womb, is
an “unborn child,” a woman who uses an IUD to prevent pregnancy can be alleged
to “murder” the supposed “child” (actually a microscopic clump of cells).
As
for other contraceptive methods, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
has invited cases to be brought to cancel the constitutional
right to use any form of contraception. Is it difficult to imagine that people
with certain religious beliefs might demand the GOP outlaw selling contraceptives
to unmarried couples or teenagers?
A
Republican-sponsored federal anti-abortion
bill is certainly in the cards — even though 62 percent of Americans
disapprove of the Supreme Court’s overruling Roe v. Wade, and
a solid majority believe
abortion should be legal in all or most cases. But the Republican Party prefers
to follow instead the view of a religious minority that believes they are
entitled to impose their religious views on everyone else.
This
desire to impose religious orthodoxy is at the root of the issue.
Certainly it’s hard to imagine any justification for asserting — other than religious beliefs held by a minority — that a blastocyst of six to ten cells (which is all there is three days after an egg has been fertilized) is an “unborn child,” let alone a person with full constitutional rights.
How
might a nation-wide anti-abortion law be enforced? A federal pregnancy registry
is one possibility. The government could require all doctors and clinics to
report all pregnancies and require follow-up reports on how the pregnancy
ended. Claims of miscarriages might warrant investigation.
Another
possibility was offered by the Texas law deputizing private individuals to seek
a $10,000 fine from anyone who provides or facilitates an abortion. Congress
could pass a federal law along the same lines.
Bounty
hunters could use modern technology to track women’s movements. With cell phone
location data that’s already available, it is possible to track individuals
from place to place.
For
a small fee, data brokers can provide bounty hunters — and today’s
anti-abortion vigilantes — with data for an abortion
clinic, showing how often people visit, how long they stay, and
where they came from.
In
fact such information is for sale today. It doesn’t yet include the names of
clinic visitors, but it’s technologically simple to “de-anonymize” the data and
identify each person by name and address. The same technologies can identify
pregnant people who travel to another state for an abortion.
Contraceptives
limited or banned. The government surveilling your pregnancy. Prosecutors
investigating miscarriages. Bounty-hunters seeking $10,000 fines from you.
Private anti-abortion fanatics tracking your movements.
Voters must decide whether they welcome or fear this future.
Mitchell Zimmerman is an attorney, longtime social activist, and author of the anti-racism thriller Mississippi Reckoning. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org. CLICK HERE to read Progressive Charlestown's review of Mississippi Reckoning
