The Only Hope for American Women

I am sometimes stunned by the unreasonable rationalizations of fanatical people who can see massive social, cultural and spiritual oppression in every political setback they see. Sara Gould of the Ms. Foundation for Women wrote recently that the recent Supreme Court decision banning some forms of Partial Birth Abortion was the next to last step in a Nazi style approach to Women's Rights.

Wednesday's ruling was, under the guise of jurisprudence, nothing short of a political and quasi-religious referendum on the rights of women to make decisions about their own lives. In finding for the ban, Justices Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito have not merely endangered the health and well-being of women who seek to exercise their autonomous rights as citizens of this nation; they have also endangered the health and well-being of our democracy as a whole. . . .

The right to a full range of reproductive choices is only the beginning of what we, as a society, have lost in the Court's ruling. By entrenching ever more deeply into our society a belief that women are not due equal rights under the law--not even when it comes to deciding the fate of their own bodies--Justices Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito have put the lives of all women--not just those seeking abortions--in jeopardy.

In little over a week, the depth of misogyny embedded in our culture, and its violent consequences, have been writ large. The Imus incident once again laid bare the pervasive devaluation of women (not to mention blacks and gays) billed as "entertainment" by the very industry that creates and promotes racist, homophobic and misogynist messages. And, as New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote yesterday in his column on the shooting at Virginia Tech, the consequences of misogyny can be murderous indeed. The worst forms of violence in this country, Herbert reminds us, have "some debilitating form of misogyny . . . [as] a 'central component.' "

It would seem that on Wednesday, our highest court in the land proved that very point.

Partial Birth Abortion is partially delivering a baby after eight to nine months in the womb and then killing the baby by crushing its skull and sucking its brains out with a very strong vacuum cleaner. So, a child is brought to full term by a mother who then, for some reason, decides to kill it. She finds a Doctor who has pledged that he will never do harm to a patient and never induce an abortion. That doctor then kills the little fully formed and kicking baby as it hangs upside down above the mother.

Every other form of killing babies in the womb has been found to be secretly hidden in plain sight in the Constitution of the United States of America. But to Ms. Sara Gould, this tiny nod to keeping a few children alive has led to mass murders in Virginia, Don Imus type racism and a many attacks on women. (Despite the fact that 50% of all babies killed by abortion are females.)