Reproductive rights activists vigil at Supreme Court on anniv of Roe arguments

On the 13th of December 1971,the Supreme Court's heard oral arguments in the landmark Roe Vs Wade case that legalized abortion in those places in the US that banned it. Fifty years later, as the Court appears poised to reverse Roe, activists held a vigil in the dark, vowing to do whatever it takes to make upcoming bans on abortion, contraception, and other reproductive rights ineffective.

This protest was the first of a series and was the nice face of the reproductive rights movement. Other not so nice protests may occur here in DC if the Supreme Court proceeds to legalize police witch-hunts against women for receiving abortion services or doctors for providing them. Already attention is being paid to the distribution of abortion drugs via online pharmacies not gatekeepered by US licensed doctors. There will be underground transportation services for women who do not have cars and gas money to go out of state, in many cases hundreds of miles for abortions. People are not going to submit, Christian Fundamentalists will get not victory but a long, hard conflict if Roe vs Wade is overturned. It will be very ugly, with serious costs for both sides and will not be cheap or easy for anyone.

Some expect that police in antiabortion states may use phone and other digital records to find and prosecute women for getting abortions illegally, in particular for ordering abortion drugs online. A recent article postulated that police may combine tactics from anti-sex work stings and the War on Drugs in a new War on Abortion. This was mentioned at the rally, along with the expectation that contraception and marriage equality will be next in line. All of this is happening because Trump was in the White House for four years after Mitch McConnell prevented the Senate from considering Obama's final-year Supreme Court nominee. Now this is part of the push for absolute white male dominance over every man, woman, and child in the US by the blend of theocrats, corporatists, and white supremacists known as the GOP or Republican Party. Hang on-this will be a very rough ride! Whatever it takes...

Creative Commons Licence