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SCOTUS is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. What should liberals do?

May 05, 2022

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The leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade has sparked endless debate, not just over the leak itself, but over who is to blame and what the immediate impact would be. For liberals, the key question now is: What, if anything, can be done about it? Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman delves into the options.

Many people have been writing to me…what should leftists do? Should leftists all leave these red states, sort of vote with their dollars and go to blue states? Well, sure. If that’s what you want to do, but many people can’t afford to do that. And that’s fundamentally where a lot of this problem is. Laura Ingraham, a Fox News host said on the air minutes after this story leaked that you can now just move to a state that has abortion if that’s what you want. Well, the whole point is a lot of the people that already struggle to afford medical services can’t afford to move to another state. That’s part and parcel of one of the problems we have in this country when we say vote with your dollar and move. Many people can’t afford to.

The counterpoint would be, no, the leftists should flood the red states, vote for Democrats and leftists, and have them change the laws when it comes to abortion. Well, that’s a fine plan. I have no problem with that, but understand that that takes years. And what happens in the meantime to women who would seek such services, but will be unable to? It’s a very personal decision. There’s not one right answer, and I can see both sides. But immediately in blue states, nothing will change in some red states, nothing will immediately change, but there are places, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and others, where things will become medieval very, very quickly.

We only have sort of a certain number of truly massive political stories each year in the United States. And one of those stories this year, and you could even argue of the last five years of the last 10 years, is that it is leaked.

Thanks to a political reporter that the Supreme Court, as of right now does plan to overturn Roe V. Wade, as well as Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

These are the two big pieces of legislation that in the United States make abortion a right and accessible to women in most cases, without placing an undue burden on them. And this is where that’s the, the bit of the law that is subject to interpretation. When we say here’s a state abortion law, does it violate Roe v Wade or doesn’t it? Well, the Supreme court, unless things change, unless the opinion changes between now and when they ultimately release it, which could happen, but is not super likely, will be overturning that precedent.

This will uphold the anti-abortion law in Mississippi. This will leave in place the recent Kentucky and Oklahoma anti-abortion laws. And this is a major, major thing. 

A few important things to talk about here.

Who’s responsible for this? Well, we have to always assign blame or responsibility in proportion. There are some who have written to me and said, David, this is, this is the fault of the people on the left who in 2016 didn’t vote or voted third party, wrote someone in or even people who said, I, I dislike Hillary so much that even though I’m on the left, I’m gonna vote for Donald Trump. We have to go in order.

The people primarily responsible for this Supreme Court decision are the people who voted for Donald Trump.

Donald Trump himself for selecting these Supreme Court justices and the justices for making this decision.

That’s where the primary blame goes.

And yes, it was such a tight election in 2016 that we also would say, well, if there had been more people on the left who recognized the urgency of the situation, people like me who were saying, Trump could get two or three Supreme Court picks, and then that Supreme Court might ban abortion, or at least overturn Roe v. Wade.

It, it doesn’t ban abortion. It overturns Roe v. Wade, allowing states to ban it. If they so choose. And many of you wrote to me and said, that’s not that big of a deal. It’s not likely to happen. And, or it’s not that big of a deal. Well, now we see that it is. So let’s assign blame proportionately.

Now, on the other hand, it’s also important to remember what this decision will and won’t do. This decision will not make abortion illegal anywhere, but it will allow states to do that.

So if you live in a blue state that has pro-choice, a pro-choice framework currently, that is not going to change as a result of this decision. What may change is that the anti-abortion activists in your state become more emboldened and more impassioned at harassing women going to family planning clinics. That may happen, but strictly speaking, this won’t change the law in blue states. It also doesn’t automatically change the law in red states in that many of those states don’t have oppressive anti-abortion legislation on the books because they’re aware of Roe v. Wade. So even in red states, nothing immediately changes except in cases where anti-choice bills have been passed and have been in the court system and have been in the process of being legislated. Or there are states that have old anti-choice bills on the books as law, but they’re not enforced because they violate Roe v. Wade. Those will go and immediately be active and enforceable right away.

So one question, many people have been writing to me about is what should leftists do? Should leftists all leave these red states, sort of vote with their dollars and go to blue states? Well, sure. If that’s what you want to do, but many people can’t afford to do that. And that’s fundamentally where a lot of this problem is. Laura Ingraham, a Fox News host said on the air minutes after this story leaked that you can now just move to a state that has abortion, if that’s what you want. Well, the whole point is a lot of the people that already struggle to afford medical services can’t afford to move to another state. That’s part and parcel of one of the problems we have in this country when we say vote with your dollar and move, many people can’t afford to.

The counterpoint would be, no, the leftists should flood the red states, vote for Democrats and leftists, and have them change the laws when it comes to abortion. Well, that’s a fine plan. I have no problem with that, but understand that that takes years. And what happens in the meantime to women who would seek such services, but will be unable to? It’s a very personal decision. There’s not one right answer, and I can see both sides. But immediately in blue states, nothing will change in some red states, nothing will immediately change, but there are places, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and others, where things will become medieval very, very quickly.

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