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The Divided States of America

Updated: Jul 12, 2022

By Naomi Serviss / New York City


A badly splintered, newly activist Supreme Court
A badly splintered, newly activist Supreme Court

The Supreme Court did WHAT to Roe v. Wade?

Who are these antediluvians?

What is wrong with those five, uber-conservative Supreme Court justices?

How did those right-wing strict constructionists have the gonads to rule over women (and girls’) right to legal abortion?

The breaking news enraged me hard.

What the actual fuck?” I said to my computer monitor. A wave of nausea beached me, dousing

my usual good mood.

We all know whose fault it is.

He loaded the bench by confirming three far-right-leaning justices.

America has lost its mind and morphed into Bizarro World.

This historical (for the wrong reasons) decision is upending lives from sea to shining sea.

Are you:

An expectant incest victim?

An eleven-year-old carrying a rapist’s seed?

No abortion for you!

As soon as Roe v. Wade was flipped on its head, the dominoes started falling. A number of states automatically outlawed abortion. Eleven states now ban or severely limit abortion; 11 others have laws not yet in effect that will do the same.


The termination of federal protection–after nearly 50 years–will affect millions of American women and girls desperate for a legal abortion.

An unapologetic, black-robed SWAT-team destroyed 50 years of progressive rights in a heartbeat.

They were no doubt PO’d by having their draft opinion leaked.

Vengeance was theirs.

Gallup poll numbers revealed that 55 percent of American consider themselves pro-choice.

Fifty years back, 1973’s Roe v. Wade was decided by a 7-2 vote. The tide had turned.

A more intelligent time on the court.

This current erosion of legal abortion rights did not spring fully grown, like Athena from Zeus’s head.

A religious movement (among other Republican proselytizers) steered the right-wingnuts into Camp Crazytown.

Took 50 years for their payoff.

Minions are still chugging the cult-y Kool-Aid.

Justices of our once-venerable Supreme Court have rejected what’s been constitutional for almost 50 years.

“What ridiculous ban will the justices enforce next, birth control?” I asked myself facetiously.

Good guess.

Oh, and same-sex marriage may be just a dream some of us had.

Friends were a mess this morning, texting disbelief and boiling anger.

Emotionally shaken, a little edgy, with an anxiety attack on deck.

We talked one another down. And said our goodbyes feeling hopeful.

I’m grateful to live in a state where women’s legal abortion rights are a given.

And I’m weary of witnessing history repeat itself, time after time.

I’m holding tight to my anger.


 






Naomi Serviss is a New York-based award-winning journalist whose work has been published in The New York Times, Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Highroads (AAA magazine), in-flight publications, spa and travel magazines and websites, including BroadwayWorld.com

2 comments

2 Comments


nancylerner
Jun 30, 2022

Well said!

We all need to hold tight to our anger. This is just the beginning.

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Guest
Jun 30, 2022

Thanks, Naomi, for venting on our behalves!! This is a frightening moment with

much broader implications for women. It didn't help any that RBG refused to

resign when it could have made a difference. Nor did it help that, in 2009, Obama reneged on a 2007 campaign promise when he said that the Freedom of Choice Act

was "not highest legislative priority." Yes, Trump was, and still is, a monster but the

Dems deserve some credit, too.


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