Political Panoptical Policing: The Overturning of Roe v. Wade
On Friday June 24th, 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that ruled in favor of a woman’s right to choose whether to have an abortion. At a 6-3 vote, abortion at the federal level has become dissolved and now falls on each individual state to decide to protect instilled laws put in place to protect abortions or move forward to ban and criminalize a woman’s right to choose.
The ruling comes after an initial draft written by Justice Samuel Alito illustrating the intention to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked to the media, sparking a national debate on this 50 year stance.
Writer Maria Cramer, in her 2022 article for The New York Times, “Here Are Key Passages from Leaked Supreme Court Draft Opinion”, writes, “Justice Samuel Alito Jr. who wrote the draft opinion for the Supreme Court overturning Roe. v. Wade, said in it that nothing in the text of the Constitution supports a right to abortion and that the authority to regulate abortion belong to the states.”
The controversial decision sent shockwaves throughout the United States with protests and commentaries happening simultaneously. District 23 Texas State Senator Royce West, in a press statement released Friday, said, “today’s decision by the U.S Supreme Court, is a setback for women’s rights and the right to privacy in this country… an attack on women’s rights today, will result in attacks on the rights of others tomorrow”.
Abortion had always been a controversial topic; one that never seemed to get both Democrats and Republicans to agree. The basis of the disagreement centered on various situational circumstances such as in the case of rape or incest or even the mortality of the mother, there were various opinions that lasted well after the initial ruling happened 50 years ago.
Writer Moira Donegan, in her article for The Guardian, “Roe v. Wade Has Been Overturned. Here’s What This Will Mean”, writes, “the real story is about thousands of these women, not just now but for decades to come – the women , whose lives will be made smaller and less dignified by unplanned and unchosen pregnancies, the women whose health will be endangered by the long and grueling physical process of pregnancy; the women, and others, who will have to forgo dreams, end educations, curtail careers, stretch their finances beyond the breaking point, and subvert their own wills to someone else’s.”
The overturning of Roe v. Wade marked the first time in United States history that a right voted on by the Supreme Court had been taken away. The severity of this is far beyond words and the ramifications of what this could mean for the future invokes a great deal of fear in the hearts and minds of millions of United States citizens. Not even an hour after news broke of the overturning, Justice Clarence Thomas proposed examining overturning same-sex marriage, private same-sex acts, and a woman’s right to contraception.
The fight for equality continues. For generations, there has been a glass ceiling millions of women have had to shatter in order to be on a level playing field to men and reproductive justice is no different. This issue goes far deeper than pro-life or pro-choice. This issue goes far beyond gender. This issue is about control. Taking away anyone’s rights is about indoctrinating an antiquated system of political and panoptical policing at the price of women, LGBTQIA and minority alike, in America. In a country that historically has prided itself on freedom and equality, the United States of America has become a democracy of hypocrisy.
What does this mean for the state of Texas? Since Texas is a Republican state, it is clear the right to abortion will not be protected for those who live in the Lone Star state. According to a press release from the Texas Freedom Network, within weeks, elected officials in Austin will unveil their plan to continue to outlaw abortion.
Still, the resolution is not that easy or simple. With the November midterm elections looming around the corner and the very nature of politics becoming more ruthless, there is a lot of division and at the epicenter of all this chaos are largely white radical conservative politicians hell-bent on seeing the United States of America be destroyed if it means they maintain their agency, traditions, and privilege.
