Tag: Roe v. Wade

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News News Blog News Feature

Tennessee Leaders Discuss Reproductive Rights at White House

Photo by René DeAnda on Unsplash

Tennessee elected officials met on Wednesday at the White House to discuss reproductive rights in America. 

According to a statement from the Tennessee legislature, Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis), Senate Democratic Caucus chairwoman Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis), and Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville), were among 81 state legislators that were invited to speak on “Republican attacks on reproductive rights, as well as state efforts to protect and expand access to abortion care.”

This meeting came days ahead of the one-year anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

 “We are approaching the anniversary of the Dobbs decision and we are highlighting the importance of a woman’s choice at this convening,” said Akbari. “In Tennessee, there is no exception for rape or incest, fatal fetal anomalies, or the true health needs of the mom. We’re committed to the cause of reproductive freedom and we will continue this fight until every family can make these private health decisions for themselves — without interference from politicians,” she said.

On August 25, 2022, a Tennessee law went into effect that made providing abortions a felony. As the Memphis Flyer reported in August, the Human Life Protection Act “was passed in 2019 just in case the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade.”

The law only allows an abortion in Tennessee if giving birth would kill the pregnant woman or would prevent “serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function.”

There have been bills passed in the legislative session that Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood have categorized as a “forced” birth agenda such as SB0600 that “prohibits local governments from expending funds for the purposes of assisting a person in obtaining a criminal abortion.” Planned Parenthood has been vocal about their opposition to these bans, as they are also working to navigate through this legislation.

“We will keep fighting for a full repeal of Tennessee’s abortion ban, because that’s the only way to give people the options they deserve,” said Kristal Knight, board chair for Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood.

Lamar stated that reproductive healthcare is an important issue for her to advocate for, due to the “staggering state of women’s health in Tennessee.”

“At a time when women’s freedom has been stripped away in Tennessee, it’s more important than ever that we join forces with the executive branch to evaluate strategies to advance support for women’s access to healthcare,” said Lamar. “The White House recognizes the gravity of this moment and I’m honored to partner with them for Tennessee families.” 

Lamar and Representative Karen Camper (D-Memphis) sponsored HB0829, that sought to “delete and revise various provisions of present law concerning abortion and reproduction.” According to the Tennessee General Assembly, this would have deleted criminal offenses related to public schools, the Tennessee Abortion-Inducing Drug Risk Protocol Act, and a requirement that “induced terminations or pregnancy be reported to the office of vital records,” among other things.

While this bill failed, organizations such as Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood expressed their support for the bill, stating that “all Tennesseans deserve access to the full spectrum of reproductive care, including abortion.”

The organization also voiced their support for HB1084, which proposed that the offenses related to “criminal abortions,” should not include contraceptives such as hormonal birth control and emergency contraceptives. This bill also failed.

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News The Fly-By

Year That Was: Violence, Environment, and Health

Photo: Rowan Gratz

January

2021 was twice as deadly as 2020 for Covid-19 in Shelby County. In 2020, 903 died of Covid here. In 2021, 1,807 passed from the virus.

A consent decree forced Horn Lake leaders to approve the construction of a new mosque.

Family members wanted $20 million from the city of Memphis; Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW); and the Memphis Police Department (MPD) for the 2020 beating death of a man by an MLGW employee.

New DNA testing was requested in the West Memphis Three case for recently rediscovered evidence once claimed to be lost or burned. 

February

An ice storm knocked out power to nearly 140,000 MLGW customers.

The new concourse — in the works since 2014 — opened at Memphis International Airport.

Paving on Peabody Avenue began after the project was approved in 2018.

Protect Our Aquifer teamed up with NASA for aquifer research.

A prosecutor moved to block DNA testing in the West Memphis Three case.

March

A bill before the Tennessee General Assembly would have banned the sale of hemp-derived products, like Delta-8 gummies, in the state. It ultimately provided regulation for the industry.

The project to fix the interchange at Crump Ave. and I-55 resurfaced. Bids on the project, which could cost up to $184.9 million, were returned. Work did not begin in 2022 but when it does, it could close the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge (the Old Bridge) for two weeks.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee temporarily cut sales taxes on groceries.

April

The Mississippi River ranked as one of the most endangered rivers in America in a report from the American Rivers group.

Critics lambasted decisions by Memphis in May and Africa in April to honor Ghana and Malawi, both of which outlaw basic LGBTQ+ rights.

The federal government announced a plan to possibly ban menthol cigarettes.

Lawmakers approved Gov. Lee’s plan to update the state’s 30-year-old education funding plan.

Tom Lee Park (Photo: Memphis River Parks Partnership)

May

Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi prepared for the likely overturn of the Roe v. Wade decision, ending legal abortions in the state.

The Greater Memphis Chamber pressed for a third bridge to be built here over the Mississippi River.

Cooper-Young landlords sued to evict the owners of Heaux House for “specializing in pornographic images.” 

The Memphis City Council wanted another review of Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) plan to remove coal ash from the shuttered Allen Fossil Plant.

June

New research showed Memphis-area women earned 83 percent of their male counterparts income in the workplace from 2000-2019.

Gov. Lee ordered schools to double down on existing security measures in the wake of the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

MPD arrested four drivers in an operation it called Infiniti War Car Take-Over.

A key piece of the Tom Lee Park renovation project won a $3.7 million federal grant, which was expected to trigger nearly $9 million in additional funds.

Tennessee Republican attorney general fought to keep gender identity discrimination in government food programs.

Jim Dean stepped down as president and CEO of the Memphis Zoo and was replaced by Matt Thompson, then the zoo’s executive director and vice president.

Locals reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

July

Memphian Brett Healey took the stage at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Eating Contest.

One Beale developers returned to Memphis City Hall for the fourth time asking for financial support of its luxury hotel plans.

The Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) board placed Superintendent Joris Ray on paid leave as they investigated whether he violated district policies with relationships with co-workers and abused his power. 

The project to forever eliminate parking on the Overton Park Greensward got $3 million in federal funding.

Tennessee’s attorney general celebrated a win after a federal judge blocked a move that would have allowed trans kids to play sports on a team of their gender.

Tennessee’s top Pornhub search was “interracial” in 2021, according to the site.

August

A panel of Tennessee judges did not give a new trial to Barry Jamal Martin, a Black man convicted in a Pulaski jury room decked out in Confederate portraits, flags, and memorabilia.

Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert caught flak from the Tennessee Comptroller after traveling to Jamaica while her offices were closed to catch up on the controversial backlog of license plate requests from citizens.

MSCS superintendent Joris Ray resigned with a severance package worth about $480,000. Finance chief Toni Williams was named interim superintendent.

Officials said the Memphis tourism sector had made a “full recovery” from the pandemic.

A new bail system unveiled here was touted by advocates to be “one of the fairest in the nation.”

Eliza Fletcher (Photo: Memphis Police Department)

September

Memphis kindergarten teacher Eliza Fletcher was abducted and murdered while on an early-morning run. Cleotha Abston, out of jail early on previous abduction charges, was arrested for the crimes.

MLGW’s board continues to mull the years-long decision to, possibly, find a new power provider.

Ezekiel Kelly, 19, was arrested on charges stemming from an alleged, hours-long shooting rampage across Memphis that ended with four dead and three injured.

A Drag March was planned for the “horrible mishandling” of a drag event at MoSH. Event organizers canceled the show there after a group of Proud Boys arrived armed to protest the event.

October

Workers at four Memphis restaurants, including Earnestine & Hazel’s, sued the owners to recover alleged unpaid minimum wage and overtime. 

Shelby County was largely unfazed by an outbreak of monkeypox with only about 70 infected here as of October.

Animal welfare advocates called a University of Memphis research lab “the worst in America” after a site visit revealed it violated numerous federal protocols concerning the care of test animals.

While other states have outlawed the practice, Tennessee allows medical professionals and medical students to — without any kind of permission — stick their fingers and instruments inside a woman’s vagina and rectum while she is under anesthesia.

Joshua Smith, a co-defendant in the election finance case against former state Sen. Brian Kelsey, pleaded guilty in court.

The Environmental Protection Agency told South Memphis residents little could be done to protect them from toxic emissions from the nearby Sterilization Services facility.

West Tennessee farmers struggled to get crops to market because of the record-low level of the Mississippi River.

November

Groups asked state officials for a special investigator to review the “very real failures that led to [Eliza] Fletcher’s tragic murder.”

A group wanted state officials to change the name of Nathan Bedford Forrest State Park.

The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for juveniles were unconstitutional.

A plan to forever end parking on the Overton Park Greensward was finalized by city leaders, the Memphis Zoo, and the Overton Park Conservancy.

December

The Commercial Appeal dodged layoffs in the latest round of news staff reductions by Gannett.

Federal clean-energy investments will further ingrain Tennessee in the Battery Belt and help develop a Southeast Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (H2Hubs).

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee criticized Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (MLH) for canceling gender affirmation surgery for a 19-year-old patient.

State and local officials investigated an alleged milk spill into Lick Creek.

MLGW rejected Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) 20-year rolling contract but will continue to be a TVA customer “for the foreseeable future.” 

Former state Senator Brian Kelsey’s law license was suspended after he pled guilty to two felonies related to campaign finance laws last month.

Visit the News Blog at memphisflyer.com for fuller versions of these stories and more local news.

Categories
Art Art Feature

“CHOICE” Gallery Show

Artist Loveday Funck writes, "We are fighting a dystopian power struggle in which the powers that be would rather women die in agony than be able to possess any control or agency over their own bodies." (Credit: Courtesy the Artist)

According to the Pew Research Center, 61 percent of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 37 percent think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

Local artist Stephanie Albion falls in this 61 percent. Once the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade leaked in May, she knew she had to do something to express her anger, frustration, and sadness, so she turned to collage, her mode of communication. She also turned to Danielle Sumler in hopes of reviving the Nasty Women of Memphis.

In 2017, Sumler, along with Chelle Ellis, founded the Nasty Women of Memphis, joining a movement of other Nasty Women chapters throughout the country who were putting on pop-up exhibitions in response to the 2016 election. “The whole thing is, one, giving artists a chance to just express themselves and have a conversation,” Sumler explains, “but also, making it a fundraiser, too. The artist, when they submit their work, price it themselves, but each piece needs to donate at least 50 percent to Planned Parenthood, with the rest going directly to the artist. Some choose to donate more.”

For that first exhibition, Ellis and Sumler had met only a month before opening. “It was very fast,” Sumler says. “I think I was kind of shocked by how well received it was under that timeline. We were packed that opening night. It was really exciting — all the positive responses, not only from the artists who submitted but also all the people who came.”

Nasty Women of Memphis’ opening reception in 2017. (Photo: Nasty Women of Memphis)

That year, Nasty Women art exhibitions spread globally, raising money on behalf of women’s rights, individual rights, and abortion rights, but now most of the chapters are seemingly defunct, including the original New York City chapter. Yet in Memphis, the Nasty Women have put on three exhibitions since that inaugural year. 

The next exhibition opened in 2018 and addressed the Me Too Movement and Brett Kavanaugh’s U.S. Supreme Court confirmation. The third opened virtually in 2020, responding to all that was 2020.

“We actually closed on the day the election results came in, so that was pretty cool,” Sumler adds. After that, Ellis and Sumler had agreed that the 2020 exhibit would be their last exhibit, feeling that they had said all they needed to say. “We were kind of like, ‘We’ve done this enough, we’ve had our time with it.’” 

But then Roe v. Wade was overturned, and Stephanie Albion reached out to Sumler. “We were like, ‘Well, that’s a perfect reason to wanna do something.’” So on June 25th, the day after the Roe v. Wade reversal, they announced that another exhibition would happen — “another chance to express our rage through art and another chance to support Planned Parenthood.” The show would be titled “CHOICE.”

Angi Cooper’s Objectification Board (Photo: Courtesy the Artist)

The call for artists went out to women, people with uteruses, and all those who support reproductive rights. “It’s really important for us to make it an inclusive conversation because not only does this affect someone who identifies as female, but it affects everyone really.” From there, Sumler, Ellis, Albion, and artist Savana Raught worked together on a volunteer basis to select the more than 80 artists of various media and styles. In the end, the pieces, when put together, touch on a range of emotions coming out of the reversal of Roe v. Wade: frustration, sadness, fear, anger. 

Cheryl Hazelton, who is featured in the show, writes in her artist statement, “I’m terrified of what the future might bring. I need to do something … anything … to support the fight against this obvious aggression.” Meanwhile, Emma Self Treadwell writes, “If it were up to me, I’d line the walls of Congress with uteruses as a reminder that we are here, and we are all around you … so choose wisely what you do with our rights.” 

Mary Jo Karimnia’s The Fall 3 (Photo: Courtesy the Artist)

Overall, each piece points to the consensus that, as artist Jenee Fortier writes, “Access to safe abortion services is a human right. None of us are safe until all of us are safe.”

You can schedule a tour of the show here or by emailing nastywomenmemphis@gmail.com. The group will host a closing reception Friday, October 21st, 6 p.m.-8 p.m. You can also view and purchase work from the show online. Prices start at $10, and proceeds will benefit Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi. 

“CHOICE,” Marshall Arts, 639 Marshall Ave., on display through Friday, October 21st.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

On Christian Nationalists

Photo: Thai Noipho | Dreamstime.com

As keynote speaker at the Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit conference in Rome last July, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said that “religious liberty is under attack.”

Speaking at an earlier Notre Dame event, former U.S. Attorney William Barr claimed there is an “assault on religion … not decay. This is organized destruction.” When Barr and Alito — Roman Catholics — say religion, their concern is Christianity. They, along with evangelical ministers, regularly claim that their beliefs are under attack, that our modern society is decadent, and the cause of our moral decay is a decline in religiosity.

Were this claim valid, one would see moral decay paired with increased crime rates. But the data shows something very different. As religious belief has declined, so, too, have crime rates. And Denmark, Sweden, and other Western democracies that are far more secular than the U.S. have much lower crime rates. The correlation may be coincidental, but the statistics imply that crime and religious belief go hand in hand.

Few would think that, but Freakonomics economists Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner make the compelling case for an indirect relationship. They show that the fall in crime rate is a consequence of Roe v. Wade, which reduced the number of unwanted children who would have been more likely to go astray. Levitt and Dubner’s conclusion is controversial, but if they are correct, future generations will see a rise in crime, due to the Christian crusade, which overturned Roe.

But an even more compelling question is: Who is attacking Christianity? Though neither Barr nor Alito provides an answer, hate-crime statistics offer some insight. Fifty-eight percent of all hate-crime victims were targeted because of racial prejudice, 20.1 percent because of bias against religion, and 16.7 because of discrimination against sexual orientation.

In the religion category, bias against Jews was most significant at 60 percent, followed by anti-Muslim at 13 percent. Christian groups, including Catholic, Protestant, and other Christian branches, comprise 9 percent. So, of all hate crimes in America, crimes against Christians represent less than 2 percent. That is a serious matter, but while Jews are nearly seven times more likely to be the victims of hate crime, it is the Christians who complain. Shakespeare would think, “Christians doth protest too much.”

Yet as Christians portray themselves as victims, they have steadily gained power and influence. Six of the nine presiding Supreme Court justices are Christian. There was also a majority of Christian fundamentalists in the Trump administration. Christians have never been more influential than they were in the Trump administration, just two short years ago. And Christians still dominate the Republican party. Christianity is certainly not in any immediate danger.

On the other hand, the number of people who identify as Christian is declining. Christianity, especially fundamentalism, is threatened, not by a group of elitist liberals or some organized conspiracy. Religion is threatened by progress, the advance of civilization and science, especially the advance of secular humanism. Each generation in the U.S. is less religious than the previous.

From the Revolution onward, personal freedom and human rights have been steadily expanded, ending slavery, securing women’s voting rights, guaranteeing civil rights, permitting interracial and gay marriage, and securing rights for gay and transgender people. Rather than a moral decline, secular humanism has generated a more just society, one that is inclusive, that recognizes that people are simply what nature’s god wants them to be.

Thinking Christians understand that while Christ’s teaching of love thy neighbor is central to a meaningful life, the fundamentalist world views are no longer relevant. People haven’t lost their way; they have found better ways to understand and cope with the complexities of modern society. Reason and fact have proven more effective than myth and mysticism. Prayer may offer hope and comfort, but modern medicine cures.

The success of secular humanism is further reflected in our increased understanding of the physical world and the advanced technology. Whatever one believes God to be, it is certain that humankind has developed, or was given, superior intelligence and the ability to reason, which we appear obligated to use.

Christian fundamentalism may inhibit progress but cannot stop it. Banning books, concealing historical facts that make children uncomfortable, or requiring that creationism be taught along with evolution are wrongheaded and futile. The facts supporting evolution and the facts that led to the Civil War will always exist. Germany sets the right example. There, teaching of the Holocaust is mandatory. Teaching the history of slavery and our treatment of Native Americans should be required here as well. Americans can rightfully be proud of our heritage and aware of our achievements and our failings.

Christianity has impacted our culture in positive ways. Martin Luther King Jr., for example, awakened our collective conscience to the atrocities of Jim Crow. But if Christianity is to be a force for good in modern society, it must reconcile itself with reality and our reasoned understanding of the modern world.

That may be wishful thinking. Today white Christian nationalists would rather fight, openly opposing humanism. Despite having a secular Constitution, they falsely claim that America was founded as a Christian nation. They criticize Jefferson’s ideas of separating church and state, say that our laws should conform to Christian teaching, and work to restrict voting rights and personal freedoms. But then, freedom, equality, and democracy have never been the goals of Christianity.

By opposing secular humanism, Christian fundamentalists oppose the very thing that inspired the founding fathers and the foundation of America. With their confused and mistaken view of American history, white Christian nationalists attack what they claim to be saving. They are on the wrong side of history, and there is no stopping progress.

Bob Topper is a retired engineer and is syndicated by PeaceVoice.

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News News Blog News Feature

“Not Pro-Life, Pro-Baby, or Pro-Mom,” Abortion-Ban Critics Sound Off

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

Providing abortions in Tennessee is now a felony thanks to the state-Republican-led law that took effect Thursday with critics calling the law “dangerous” and a government overreach. 

The new law, the so-called Human Life Protection Act, was passed in 2019 just in case the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturned the landmark Roe. v. Wade decision that gave federal protection for abortions across the country. The reversal of the ruling earlier this summer allowed the Tennessee abortion ban to go into effect after 30 days.

The law does not allow abortions in cases of rape, incest, or any fetal abnormality that could prove fatal to the baby. The law only allows an abortion in Tennessee if giving birth would kill the pregnant woman or would prevent “serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of major bodily function.” Should an abortion be performed illegally here, doctors and healthcare workers would be held responsible, not the pregnant woman.    

Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi (PPTNM) was forced to stop abortion services completely on June 27th, said Ashley Coffield, the group’s CEO, in a news conference this week, as the state was under a six-week ban at the time. She said the law will make “doctors second-guess their medical training and expertise when choosing a treatment plan or risk a felony of criminal conviction” and that “now lawyers and hospital administrators will be weighing in on life-or-death scenarios.”

“Politicians in Tennessee intentionally created this climate of chaos, confusion, and devastation for people who become pregnant. Banning abortion doesn’t stop people from needing abortion,” Coffield said. “It only puts more peoples’ lives in danger. Governor [Bill] Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly want to control what we can and cannot do with our bodies at Planned Parenthood. We believe that you and only you should control your personal medical decisions and we will keep fighting for every person to regain that right here at home, no matter what.”

PPTNM is now focusing on its patients, directing them to abortion providers in other states. Through this patient navigation service, the group is also helping patients travel to other states and helping them to pay for the trip with gas cards, hotel vouchers, and more.

Tennessee Democrats sounded off on the new law Thursday, rebuking the move, calling abortion a “moral and personal issue” unfit for government interference, and stating “our caucuses are committed to reproductive freedom.”

“This government mandate on reproductive healthcare endangers the lives of women during a crisis pregnancy and gives rapists a greater right to choose the mother of their child than a woman has to control her own future,” reads a joint statement from state Senate Democratic caucus chairwoman Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis), House Minority Leader Rep. Karen Camper (D-Memphis), and House Democratic caucus chairman Rep. Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville). “There should be clear protections for mothers if their life and health are in danger, and a victim of rape should not be victimized twice.

“Pregnancy is no place for big government. Choosing to start a family is a moral and a personal issue. Women should be trusted to start a family when they’re ready — without interference from the government.”

Senate minority leader Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) called the ban “extreme” and said “our already high rates of infant and maternal deaths will go up. It’s not pro-life, pro-baby, or pro-mom.”

Categories
At Large Opinion

Triggered

photo: © Mikephotos | Dreamstime.com Demonstration in Melbourne, Florida, after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

So, it’s likely you read about the 10-year-old rape victim who couldn’t get an abortion in Ohio. The story came to light shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24th. Ohio’s six-week “trigger ban” came into effect three days later and prohibited the child from getting an abortion in her home state. Her pediatrician called a colleague in nearby Indiana and arranged for the traumatized child-abuse victim to have an abortion there. (Indiana legislators have since indicated they will pass an abortion ban in an upcoming special session.)

The Ohio case has become something of a flash point for the abortion debate. A sampling of commentary on social media: 

“My heart absolutely BREAKS for that child but who are we to question what God is doing?” 

“God has a plan and a purpose for everything, and it’s not our place to try and take matters into our own hands no matter how badly the situation hurts.” 

“Every life is precious in His sight.” 

Others see it differently: 

“Why did God create the doctors and medicines that allow her to have a safe abortion?” 

“Why is God’s will behind the rape and Satan’s will behind the abortion?” 

“If everything is God’s will and she has an abortion, isn’t that abortion then also God’s will?”

And on it went and on it goes.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves declared June to be “Sanctity of Life Month” in celebration of SCOTUS’ overturning of Roe v. Wade. Mississippi, it should be noted, has the highest infant and fetal mortality rates in the U.S. and the lowest life expectancy, so Reeves is totally on-brand with his pro-life bilge. 

And, to demonstrate that it’s not just Southerners who can utter evangelical garbage with a straight face, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem went on national television Sunday, mostly to fluff Donald Trump in hopes of enhancing her vice-presidential ambitions for 2024. But moderator Dana Bash had the poor taste to perform journalism and confront Noem with the case of the Ohio girl. It didn’t go well for Noem, who shuffled and deflected and avoided answering the question for several minutes. Which answered the question.  

Former Vice President Mike Pence came out of hiding long enough to speak the GOP’s fetal-attraction fever dream out loud, calling for a national ban on abortion, because God hates abortion — and also little girls, I guess.

Have any of these people ever actually known a 10-year-old girl? At 10, a little girl is in fourth or fifth grade. Fourth or fifth grade. Let it sink in. Think about a 10-year-old girl you know or have known — their innocence, their joy, their spirit. If they get pregnant, it is by definition because they were raped. It doesn’t matter if it was an uncle, a brother, a father, or a random evil stranger. An innocent child was the victim of a brutal, heinous crime. And now the law of the land in more than half of these dis-united states is (or soon will be) that that child deserves to be punished. 

The emphasis on child-rape and incest is helpful in illustrating the horrid absurdity of the SCOTUS ruling, but the most important thing to recognize is that the right to privacy and bodily autonomy for half the American population has been taken away. A 10th-grader, a mother of three with an ectopic pregnancy, a 40-year-old rape victim — all will be legally mandated to carry their pregnancy to term in much of the U.S. Their faith doesn’t matter — Jews, Muslims, Agnostics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Flying Spaghetti Monster worshippers. What matters is that American women are now required to adhere to a pseudo-religious tenet held by 13 percent of the country’s adults. A tiny minority has spent years working on packing the Supreme Court for the express purpose of overturning Roe v. Wade. They have succeeded. They have taken away an American woman’s right to decide what’s best for her body. 

It’s time to rage, folks. It’s time to get triggered and get organized and get loud. In a free country — in a real democracy — this cannot stand. 

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Roe Reactions: Locals Respond to Historic Supreme Court Decision

Ripples from the U.S. Supreme Court’s Fridy decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision protecting a woman’s right to choose an abortion will spread for years, no doubt touching many lives. Here are some of the immediate reactions from Memphis and Tennessee groups following the announcement of the decision. 

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee:

“Today’s landmark Supreme Court decision marks the beginning of a hopeful, new chapter for our country. After years of heartfelt prayer and thoughtful policy, America has an historic opportunity to support women, children and strong families while reconciling the pain and loss caused by Roe v. Wade.

“We have spent years preparing for the possibility that authority would return to the states, and Tennessee’s laws will provide the maximum possible protection for both mother and child. In the coming days, we will address the full impacts of this decision for Tennessee.”

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery:

“Today, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. It overruled the Roe and Casey decisions establishing a federal constitutional right to have an abortion. Today’s decision restores to the states their authority to regulate and prohibit abortion.

“Tennesseans, through the affirmative vote of their elected representatives, amended the constitution a few years ago to confirm that the Tennessee Constitution does not provide a right to an abortion and leaves the issue up to the General Assembly. 

“As a result of today’s ruling:

• I will notify the Tennessee Code Commission in writing that Roe and Casey have been overruled, as required by statute. 

• We have asked the full Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the district court’s injunction of the timing provisions in our heartbeat abortion law, so that the law will go into effect as soon as possible. 

• In 30 days, after the issuance of the judgment, the 2019 Human Life Protection Act should go into effect in Tennessee.

“To state the obvious: Dobbs is a momentous decision.  Our republic is founded on the rule of law.  Accordingly, we give respect and deference to the court on occasions when its decisions align and support our state laws, and in cases when a decision might be contrary to Tennessee state law and what the majority of Tennesseans want, as was the case with the 2015 Obergefell decision. 

“Most importantly, after nearly 50 years, today’s decision gives the people of Tennessee a say on what the court called ‘a profound moral issue.’”

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen:

“What has been a right for women for nearly 50 years has been struck down by this radical Supreme Court. Roe. v. Wade empowered women to make decisions about their health care and the most fundamental trajectory of their lives. That has been taken from them by an activist Supreme Court that has chosen to ignore the court’s precedents for a political agenda.

“Lucius Burch, a great Memphis lawyer, spoke to me many years ago about the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned.  He said it would never happen because women in this country would march in the streets in protest. Mr. Burch was wrong about Roe never being overturned. But he was right about how women will react. Women in this country will march and march and march – and they will vote and vote and vote.”

Tennessee GOP: 

”For half a century, Roe vs. Wade has been the law of our land and we applaud the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision to reverse course and allow the states to determine questions of life. 

“We are proud that our work in Tennessee by electing good, pro-life Republicans has produced a long legacy of leadership that values the culture of life. 

“However we know the fight for life does not end today, it merely shifts the debate from Washington to all the state houses across the country and serves as a reminder that our struggle is not complete. The prayers of millions and the actions of many were answered today as we all rejoice in the gift of life on this day.”

Tennessee Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Jason Martin:

“For nearly 50 years, Roe v. Wade has been the law of the land — protecting the right to choose and reproductive health. Today, on this horrific day, that has come to end. In Tennessee, all abortions will be effectively illegal in 30 days and it will have the greatest impact on our most vulnerable communities. 

”Make no mistake, abortions will still occur, but they will no longer be safe. Some will say that people can travel to other states, but not only does that further burden women without resources in an already difficult time, but it also fails to acknowledge that our rights are limited by an extremist Supreme Court and state legislature. As a physician, I also worry about how this impacts how we treat women in the hospital — how can I give someone the best medical care possible when medical decisions are no longer just between a woman and her doctor? Tennessee’s trigger law will be detrimental to the health and safety of all Tennesseans, and we cannot let that stand.

It has been clear for some time now that winning Tennessee’s gubernatorial race is a fight to protect women’s rights, freedoms, and safety. What happened this morning just shows us how urgently we need to act, and how much we need to come together to defeat this trigger law, Bill Lee, and the radical super majority in November.”

Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn: 

”Having worked alongside Tennesseans to protect the innocent lives of unborn children for years, I applaud today’s Supreme Court ruling. 

“Despite false claims from the left, this decision will not ban abortion. Instead, it returns the decision to the states and empowers state legislatures with more flexibility to craft policy through the democratic process. 

“It is unacceptable that a draft opinion was leaked in advance and that the person responsible has not been caught. The leaker has jeopardized the safety of our justices, and threats of violence by the radical militant mob are unacceptable. We appreciate the brave law enforcement officers working overtime to protect our justices and their families.”

Healthy and Free Tennessee, a reproductive rights advocacy group:

”At Healthy and Free Tennessee, we have been preparing for this reality and will continue to center abolition in the fight for reproductive justice for all Tennesseans. We are not giving up on our communities and will not stop fighting for the decriminalization of abortion, pregnancy, and parenting. 

“Now more than ever, we are backing our clinics, we are fighting against criminalization, and are here for our communities. Tennesseeans deserve freedom from state violence and criminalization. We will always oppose laws that punish people for pregnancy outcomes and will always work to provide accurate resources and information, fight for increased resources for pregnant people and families, and advocate for the rights of pregnant people. We deserve the dignity to make decisions about our own pregnancies, families, and futures.”

Tennessee House Minority Leader Rep. Karen Camper:

“I have often said that abortion is a complicated and very personal decision. And I personally believe that we don’t spend enough time on finding solutions to the reasons why some people have to have abortions.

“However, this ruling means that in Tennessee, all abortions will be criminalized, including for victims of rape and incest. Women should have the right to make their own, personal healthcare decisions.  This is an unfortunate decision based on politics instead of established law and, according to the vast majority of polls, the will of people.”   

Hendrell Remus, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party:

“This decision is a direct assault on the rights of Tennesseeans. The court’s interpretation of the constitution on this issue is flawed and a direct insertion of political activism on the highest court in the land.

“This decision made by a conservative majority on the court, will empower a radical majority serving in state legislatures across the country. Politicians will be even more emboldened by this decision to impose their most restrictive views on us. Today, an essential and lifesaving freedom was discarded by a court installed to protect it.”

Brit Bender, executive director Tennessee Democratic Party:

“Clearly, this is a blow to Americans everywhere, but in Tennessee, abortion is most at risk due to a trigger law that will outlaw abortion without the federal right. This trigger law now criminalizes any abortion unless necessary to prevent death or ‘serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.’ The abortion ban puts millions of Tennesseeans in danger and takes away their bodily autonomy.

“We are going to keep pushing back against anti-choice representatives and legislation any chance we get. The Tennessee Democratic Party will work to support pro-choice candidates and legislators as well as abortion rights groups in state. We’re prepared to fight for the safety and autonomy of Tennesseeans.”

Tennessee state Senator Raumesh Akbari:

“The Supreme Court just reset the clock on women’s constitutional rights to 1972. This decision puts the lives of women in imminent danger by handing politicians control over our most personal healthcare decisions. This is a stunning reversal of a decades-long expansion of our personal privacy rights and it’s disgraceful because it will not affect every American equally. Men’s reproductive liberties are completely untouched and protected.

“In Tennessee, abortion is already a right in name only for many people but even here the consequences for women will be swift and severe. Soon, a law from 2019 will make it a felony to provide an abortion in our state. As a direct result, the few abortion providers we have left will be criminalized and women and girls will be forced to carry pregnancies to term, even when they are a victim of rape or incest.

“Those with economic means, access to transportation, and friends who can help them get around legal roadblocks will still be able to exercise some control over their own bodies. But poor women and many Black women, women who already feel the sting of inequity in our laws and economy, will feel the repercussions of this decision right away.

“In this country, our sisters and daughters should have the same rights that our brothers and sons have, which is exactly why women should be trusted to start a family when they’re ready — without interference from politicians. Instead, we are going backward and the extreme politicians who brought us to this point are ready to shred our rights even further.”

Tennessee House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville):

“This a sad day for this country. The Supreme Court was once the place that Americans could turn to for justice. The women’s movement, the civil rights movement, the disabled community and the LGBTQ community all turned to the high court to have their basic human rights affirmed. However today, politics overruled justice.

“Today, the black robes of the Supreme Court turned red and politics ruled the day. Now, we have to fight back and the best place to do that is at the ballot box. We have fewer than a dozen days now to register to vote in Tennessee and I urge everyone to let their voices be heard in this year’s upcoming election.”

Steve Mulroy, Democratic nominee for Shelby County District Attorney:

“This is a sad day. The politicized right-wing court goes out of its way to overturn half a century of precedent, with women as the victims.

“As District Attorney, I’ll be very different from Amy Weirich. Weirich’s party and Donald Trump want her to turn her attention away from prosecuting violent crime and prosecute women and their doctors. We need to be focusing on carjackings, murders, domestic violence – not jailing doctors helping women make reproductive choices.”

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

What’s Next? Immigrant Children, of Course!

Could Plyler v. Doe be overturned? (Photo: Rmarmion | Dreamstime.com)

A nation that places immigrant children in cages can certainly (attempt to) prevent those same children from attending public schools. Since 1982, in its decision Plyler v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court has prohibited the state from discriminating against and denying children a public education based on their immigration status. That may be challenged soon.

The recently leaked memorandum from the Supreme Court removes any pretense of an impartial, apolitical judiciary. The Supreme Court, we now know, is part of the torn fabric of American political society. And it’s never a good look to see our justices openly mislead the public in sworn testimony before a Senate Judiciary Committee. Justice Kavanaugh called Roe v. Wade (1973) “settled law,” and Justice Gorsuch acknowledged that Roe was the “law of the land.” Now, as appointed justices for life, they’ve determined that 50 years of precedent has no actual value.

The majority bemoans the schism it claims was created by Roe nearly 50 years ago but ignores the damage that the Supreme Court is about to do to our country by rejecting “settled law” and releasing a cornucopia of challenges to every decision that the right finds disagreeable from the past.

For example, Texas Governor Greg Abbott — who joins the other two amigos, Florida’s Ron DeSantis and our own Bill Lee, in a race to see who can undo more rights for ordinary people — is looking closely at Plyler. This is Abbott’s next step on his quixotic anti-immigrant agenda. Last month, he bussed immigrants from Mexico and Central America out of his sparsely populated state to densely populated Washington, D.C., in a pathetic (and cruel) political act that showed his determination to score points with the anti-immigrant base.

Such attempts at cruelty are popular with Abbott’s base, and he’s playing a political card, during a difficult re-election campaign against a viable opponent, a former representative from El Paso, Beto O’Rourke. Abbott needs to convince the “base” that he’s fighting to seal off Texas from migrant waves, caravans, illegals, masses, invaders — you pick the hyperbole that suits you — to prevail in November. He clearly believes that using this retro-activist Supreme Court to revisit free public education to undocumented school children is a way to do it.

Border states like Texas share a disproportionate responsibility in educating children of the undocumented residing in that state as many migrants pass through on their way to “El Norte.” But Texas school districts receive federal education funds on a per pupil basis (not a “per American pupil” basis), and they receive extra funding based on the needs of that particular demographic. Moreover, Texas receives more than $1.6 billion in state and local tax dollars from undocumented immigrants.

The motivation for this anti-immigrant wave is the same as it’s always been. It’s the sense that the nation is changing as we become more diverse. Every time in our history, when we face such change, we strike out at immigrants. Every time.

Texas should forget the Alamo, and “Remember the 187.”

In 1994, the good people of then-Red State California passed a noxious ballot initiative, “Proposition 187” the so-called “Save our State” initiative. The law attempted to remove undocumented children from California public schools. By 1999, the law was declared unconstitutional, and the good teachers of California refused to enforce it. Denying education to children is always bad policy. Offering free public education to all kids is one of the settled provisions of U.S. society, and our society has grown strong because we purposefully (not always perfectly) educate the youngest generations.

We’ve entered strange times — where settled law sits on seismic faults. Demagogues, now aided by the Supreme Court, declare war on American historical traditions — immigration and education — concepts that ought to unify and energize a nation. Maybe the one thing the majority draft opinion in Roe gets right is that the power to change the direction in which we are heading rests in the hands of voters beginning this fall.

Bryce Ashby is a Memphis-based attorney and the board chair of Latino Memphis. Michael LaRosa teaches history at Rhodes College.

Categories
At Large Opinion

Oh, My God!

Ginni Thomas (Photo: Wikimedia | Gage Skidmore)

It really is unbelievable, when you think about it. You have to wonder how this can possibly be happening in 2022. Women are being treated like chattel — their bodies controlled by the state as though they were livestock, their gender and sexuality no longer their own.

I’m talking, of course, about Afghanistan’s autocratic Taliban rulers, who last week ordered all Afghan women to wear body-covering burkas in public. The decree further mandated that women leave their homes only when necessary, even when wearing a burka. Male relatives will also face punishment — including possible jail time — if women in their family violate the dress code.

It was seen as a hard shift by the Taliban government, one that confirmed the worst fears of human rights activists. It is a cruel and absurd level of oppression and misogyny, but what do you expect when government and religious ideology are combined? It’s so distressing.

Meanwhile, in the United States of America, the Supreme Court (where six of the nine justices are Catholic) appears to be ready to overturn Roe v. Wade and thereby legalize religious-based laws banning or restricting abortion in 26 states (and counting). Seventy percent of Americans oppose making abortion illegal again, but this is a case where “majority rule” is truly a joke. As Republicans learned long ago: Control the judges and you control the law.

The problem, of course, is not necessarily that the justices are Catholic — liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor is Catholic, for example — the problem is that the five judges in question have been vetted and brought to the fore by the ultra-conservative Federalist Society, which opposes abortion rights. Presidents G.W. Bush and Donald Trump (both of whom lost the popular vote) followed their recommendations, and here we are. It’s been the Federalists’ stated goal to overturn Roe v. Wade for 50 years, and it looks like they’re about to succeed.

John Gehring, Catholic program director at the Washington-based clergy network Faith in Public Life, was interviewed by the AP: “The Catholic intellectual tradition has produced giants of liberal thought as well, but in recent decades the right has done a better job building institutions that nurture pathways to power.” No kidding.

And let’s not forget the Evangelical Christians’ contribution to this pending fustercluck. David Talcott, professor of philosophy at King’s College and an expert in Christian sexual ethics, told vox.com: “Conservative Catholics and conservative evangelicals have become allies of certain kinds, each defending the interests of other, a theological and philosophical overlap between the two.” Indeed.

I’m no religious expert, but I am sure of one thing: What we’re talking about here is, at its core, sexual repression. Abortion is just one spoke in the traditional religious shame-wheel that also includes opposition to sex without marriage, LGBTQ rights (including gay marriage), contraception, masturbation, etc. — pretty much anything involving fun sexy-time — because their god has decreed that sex is not for f**king around. It’s for baby-making. The guilt is just an added feature, not a bug.

It’s no accident that when contraception became readily available to women via the pill, the sexual revolution followed, and Roe v. Wade became the law of the land. The religious right and their Republican groomers have been working to turn back the clock ever since. Can’t have women acting all uppity, after all. They need to learn their place and make some damn babies. The conservatives played the long game — stacking the courts — and it looks like they may finally pull it off. Much to their regret, I predict.

There are two principal theories about the now-infamous leak that made Justice Samuel Alito’s preliminary majority opinion public: 1) A liberal justice or associate leaked it to provoke alarm among progressives and arouse the base for the midterms. 2) A conservative justice or associate leaked it to prevent any of the five in the majority from being able to back away from their initial opinion on subsequent votes.

Ironically, both results will probably happen. As for the leaker? If I were a betting man, I’d put money on Mrs. Clarence Thomas.

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

Just Anger

Photo: Zimmytws | Dreamstime.com

I had a fierce sense of justice when I was younger. I got in trouble in elementary school for pouring strawberry applesauce on the white basketball shorts of a boy who was bullying my friend. In church, when our Sunday school teacher would ask for “strong boys” to volunteer to put away folding chairs, I would carry as many chairs as I could under my small arms, to drive home the point that girls are strong, too.

After high school, I left my hometown and moved to Memphis for college. Sophomore year, I interned at Planned Parenthood. It was there that I learned about how much Planned Parenthood does for accessible healthcare outside of abortions, including but not limited to cancer screenings, prenatal care, and STD screenings and treatments. I also learned that we were expected to maintain a sense of decorum in the face of the pro-life protesters who set up camp outside of the building daily. We were not to give them any reason to harm us, defame Planned Parenthood, or paint us as angry or irrational. One day as I was walking into my internship, one of the protestors yelled at me, “Murderer! You are going to Hell for killing your baby!” She had so much venom and hatred in her voice, it took everything in me not to respond. Another thing I learned as a Planned Parenthood intern was that, quite commonly, people who once protested outside of the building would come in to seek abortions for themselves or for a loved one. We were not to chastise or shame these people. A few weeks after the protestor yelled at me, I came to Planned Parenthood as a patient to get tested for STDs. The same woman who had screamed at me weeks before was sitting in the waiting room, holding her stomach and impatiently tapping her foot. We made brief eye contact, and she turned her face away.

In college, I had multiple friends seek abortions. Each of them had a good reason, not that any of them owed that to anyone. One of my friends was raped and told me stone-faced that if she was forced to deliver her rapists’ baby, she would kill herself. I believe her. I have read first-hand accounts from people who lived pre-Roe v. Wade, who have similar stories but with sadder outcomes: Their friends died, by their own hand or by botched back-alley abortions. Restricting access to abortion causes death and suffering. I have friends who would not be thriving, or would not be here at all, if they were denied access to abortion. Several of my friends ,who had abortions when we were young, now have happy, healthy, wanted children.

The legality of Roe v. Wade stands upon the concept that we as adult citizens of the United States have a right to privacy and equal protections, based upon the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Other Supreme Court decisions based on the same amendment include Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated schools, and Loving v. Virginia, which federally legalized interracial marriage. If the Supreme Court can overturn a landmark case providing equal reproductive rights, they may seek to overturn other civil rights decisions. Our very right to privacy is at stake. In fact, this is already happening to transgender and gay people who are having their rights eroded nationally. These struggles for bodily autonomy are linked together. Our fellow citizens facing injustice is a threat to all justice itself.

The history of the “pro-life” movement is steeped in racism. In the 1960s, before Roe v. Wade passed, being anti-abortion was seen as a “Catholic issue,” and supporting access to abortion in cases of rape, incest, and threat to the mother’s life was bipartisan. But the far right was troubled by all of the headway made by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s in desegregating schools. Far-right evangelical leaders were opposed to desegregation and viewed abortion as an easy way to galvanize and unite Christians to vote far-right evangelical leaders into office. Defending the fetus was their political rallying cry, but defending racial segregation was the end goal.

Classism also plays a role in who is able to access abortion. Wealthy people will always be able to access abortion. They can fly themselves, their wives, mistresses, or children to a state or country where abortion is legal. Making abortion illegal creates barriers to abortion for the most financially vulnerable around us, who cannot afford to take off work for a day, much less fly to another state to access an abortion, and who are disproportionately people of color, particularly in the states most likely to outlaw abortion. These are the people who will be most likely to seek an illegal abortion in the event of an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy. They are the people who are most likely to die.

Do not let voting be the only measure you take. We are set to lose the protections of Roe under a Democratic-controlled House, Senate, and presidency. We must pressure our elected officials to codify Roe into federal law. We must protest, with our wallets and our voices. We must not be afraid to use the word abortion. We must drive home the reality that abortion is safe, normal, and a societal good. We must be outspoken, even if we cannot become pregnant ourselves. Remember, abortion is an issue of human rights, and safe abortions actually preserve life, rather than destroy it.

When I was a child, I had a fierce sense of justice. Now I am an adult, and that sense of justice has calcified into a deep anger at the injustices that marginalized people face in our supposedly free and equal country. When a document was leaked from the Supreme Court outlining their probable future decision to overturn Roe, many of my friends cried when they found out. I have not cried. I am furious. I need you, regardless of your age, gender, religion, or ability to bear children, to be furious with me, to inform yourself, and to take action, because outlawing abortion is an egregious violation of human liberties that will impact each and every one of us. Our right to privacy and equality is at stake, and we must fight.

Louise Page is an independent singer/songwriter based in Memphis. She is a classically trained pianist with a degree in Creative Writing from Rhodes College.