Member-only story
Supreme Court Folly
Rejection of Roe v Wade is returning the US to the dark ages
When I was younger I assumed the whig approach to history. That is, one that presents a progressive grand narrative of the past, from dark towards greater light. Regression was not in the tea leaves. Just a relentless forward march from the oppressions and iniquities of our forbears towards a more enlightened present, so we may look forward to an even better future.
Okay. The idea is absurdly simplistic. And I didn’t gain it through considered thought. It was a matter of osmosis. What I absorbed over the years from my immediate surroundings.
The idea of moving forward is subjective in itself. Who says so? The undermining of liberal democratic values in the past few years maybe concerning for many, while for others it is a clarion call for change.
The recent decision of the Supreme Court in the US to strike down Roe v Wade (1973) is, no doubt, being greeted by the Christian Right as a huge step forward into the light, or their light. Yet for liberals who believe in the rights of woman to have final autonomy, it is a depressing, backwards step to the dark days of life-threatening, backstreet abortions and the misery of unwanted pregnancies. The dead hand of Trump is all over this, when he weighted the Supreme Court with reactionary…
