I recall the fable of a frog placed in cool water which is slowly being brought to a boil. Because the change is so gradual, the frog does not realize the danger it is in and will be cooked to death.
So just because it looks like the Supreme Court seems skeptical about banning the dispensing of the abortion medication, mifepristone, hold off on your collective sigh of relief. The proverbial water is nevertheless being slowly brought to boil. Their decision likely won’t be based on the safety or efficacy of the drug, nor even the religious objections – for now.
Assuming they rule against this lawsuit, it will be because the anti-abortion doctors lack the legal standing to sue. But, as soon as someone with legal standing resurrects this lawsuit further diminishing the power of women to control their own bodies, you might find out how badly this country wants to keep women in – well – that pot of slowing boiling water.
Remember when the Supreme Court promised that repealing Roe v Wade was a states issue? Not long after the Dobbs ruling, anti-abortion doctors in Texas wanted to further restrict a woman’s choice by getting a court order to overturn the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, which has been in use in the U.S. for 24 years with a stellar safety record. These doctors weren’t just suing for Texas; they were going for a national ban.
Erin M. Hawley, a lawyer for the conservative Christian Alliance Defending Freedom, argued for banning this medicine. She used arguments such as side effects that would cause a woman to seek treatment in an ER by doctors who oppose abortions. But pay attention to whom she represents – it’s a religious group with an ironic name. Whose freedoms are they defending and conversely, whose freedoms do they wish to erode?
Going from latent to blatant, we are seeing an ever-growing field day attack on women’s bodies. From Roe v Wade to this lawsuit about mifepristone, they may be angling for even further curtailing our reproductive lives. Keep in mind that Hawley represents a Christian group. Keep in mind what was written in Genesis 3:16. God punished Eve for her sins by dooming all women to severe pain during childbirth.
So also keep this in mind when you go to the polls in November. First they went after your right to a surgical abortion. Now they’re going for your non-surgical abortion pills.
I don’t know, but if Christian extremists can wield the power that they seem to be doing, and with what God promised all women in labor should endure, it just seems like a slippery slope until they go after your epidurals.
