Texas’
medieval anti-abortion law won’t stand. That’s my silver-lining prediction.
The law,
which if you’re reading this you already know its particulars, is so draconian,
so cruel, so anti-democratic that it cannot stand. Not in a country where
justice and human rights matter. The law will eventually reach the Supreme
Court, to be decided on its merits. Notwithstanding a couple of conservative
assholes led by Justice Thomas, I don’t believe a majority will uphold Texas’
overreach.
Maybe
Kavanaugh will switch? I don’t know. I just don’t see how such a piece of garbage
can stand. You gotta hand it Texas – this is as BIG as legal horseshit gets.
Texans have
been trying for years to strip rights from women (just as they are trying to
strip voting rights from Democrats of the state). They think they finally
found a way. Texas has deputized all its anti-abortion lunatics, while offering a cash
bounty on the head (or uterus) of anyone who gets or abets an abortion (beyond
six weeks pregnancy). You sue and win – you get at least $10,000, plus costs.
You lose? You just walk away to try again.
I’ve never
been a fan of Texas. However, this law seems about as un-Texan as that state’s braggarts
boast. You know. Wide-open spaces. Rugged individualism. Don’t mess with
Texas. Zoning? We don’t need no stinking zoning!
I know, I
know. Texas is full of fine people, proud of their state, who think the Republicans
in Austin, and some of the laws they pass, are nuts. They cry that such laws
are not their fault; most in Texas accept abortion as legal and necessary. Yet
somehow, this puffed-up place keeps setting the pace in the race for the worst
laws in the country. How about we all just acknowledge that Texas is a
hopeless, regressive backwater and be done with it?
Prior to
this abortion shutdown, a waitress took time off work and drove 300 miles to
McAllen, her closest abortion provider, along with her two kids. Because Texas
requires two visits, she had to stay overnight. They slept in her car. She paid
for her abortion with ones and fives from her tips.
As hard as
that was, what would such a woman do today? I wonder about any young girl who
last week finally had reached the agonizing decision to end her pregnancy. She
got advice from everyone who knew her plight. She talked about it with God. She
cried buckets. But for all kinds of reasons I might not understand, she made
her decision. Then, after all that, she now learns that she is past a magic
date decided by a bunch of mostly white men in Austin. They decided that she
will be having a baby, after all. What are the chances of that being a good
thing? What are the chances of that baby, literally unwanted by its mother,
having a happy life? What will happen to that girl?
I
acknowledge that my record in political prognostication is dismal. I freely admit
it was beyond my capacity to understand how Trump could get elected. In no way
can I explain to myself the miasma of lunacy adrift in our land. I can’t
understand anti-vaxxers or the Jan. 6 insurrection. So what do I know? Maybe believing
that the Texas law won’t last is just wishful thinking.
Here’s one
prediction I know absolutely will come true. On Sunday morning, the pulpits of
Evangelical churches, in Texas and across the country, will thunder with sanctimony
and thanks to God for delivering this victory. Some might even acknowledge how
tough it has been to root for a lying, womanizing grifter in the White House in
order to get their anti-abortion judges appointed. But the Lord works in
mysterious ways, so thank you Jesus! The wisdom of our moral bargain with that
evil man has been vindicated.
We’ll see about
that. And we’ll see what happens to this awful Texas law. But in the meantime, I’ve
said it before and I’ll say it again: Fuck Texas!
