Dark Days

The end of Roe V. Wade

I was going to post a thing today about Colin Meloy Sings Together, which is available today in certain indie record stores, and which sold out its online print run very quickly (thank you!), but it felt a bit weird. I’ll save that for tomorrow or the next day.

Like a lot of you, I woke up today to the news that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe V. Wade, the landmark decision that sanctified a woman’s right to choose whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term. While not shocked — we’ve seen this coming for a while now — I am horrified. I am disgusted by the conservative right’s forward march on this topic over the decades, creating a zombie-like army of “pro-life” campaigners, who clearly are less concerned about lives than they are scoring cultural points against a perceived enemy — despite the fact that a clear majority of Americans support legal access to abortion. I am disgusted by the Supreme Court and what’s happened to it over the last several years, how even the illusion of a non-partisan court is so quickly abandoned, and by the GOP’s crass, cynical, and lawless dash for court appointments. Frankly, at this point, I’m disgusted by my party’s, the Democrat’s, ability to let this happen, that they didn’t fucking go to the mat when the opposing party tossed aside the last shreds of decorum they had.

I count myself lucky that I grew up under the protection of Roe V. Wade. I have benefited from it in many ways — in ways that I am directly aware of and in untold number of ways that I am not. My heart breaks for the women who will suffer because of this decision, the lives that will be shattered or permanently upended. I will continue to stay engaged on this issue, to make sure Oregon remains a place where women are allowed to make their own healthcare decisions, and I will continue to vote for and support candidates who are pro-choice. I would hope you would do the same. That’s all for today.