Babies in Alabama are so eensy-weensy, you don’t have to worry about feedings, nap schedules, or diapers. They’re smaller than a drop of water, so you don’t need to buy them a carseat or a crib. You don’t need to paint the nursery. These poppy-seed-sized babies don’t poop or eat or cry or sleep. Because they have no poophole, or heart, or brain. Such trouble-free babies. Wow.
As I’m sure you know (I can feel your rage from here), Alabama’s Chief Justice Tom Parker has declared that the embryos created during IVF procedures are actually people. No brains, no bodies; just a clump of cells with a good lawyer. We women are losing our rights across the country, but these microscopic cell clumps now have rights in the state of Alabama. My friend suggested that every woman in Alabama with frozen embryos should claim them as dependents on her taxes.
If you destroy an embryo created during IVF in Alabama, you could be accused of murder. Already, IVF clinics have halted or dramatically amended their procedures. Going through IVF isn’t stressful at all, so Alabama decided to heap the prospect of being arrested for murder on top of all the painful shots, and the crushing disappointment, and the sadness. Bless their hearts.
Since Parker was a good enough lawyer to rise through the ranks of Alabama’s legal community to become the state’s chief justice, you wouldn’t think he’d be so easily confused, yet he quoted the Bible in his ruling and said shit like this:
“Even before birth,” he said, “all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.”
Silly man, you’re not a preacher, and nobody asked you to give a sermon. This is a country of laws, with a Constitution and legal precedent on which you make judgments. We are not a theocracy (yet).
And this sham of saying it is about protecting children. It’s not. It’s misogyny.
I do think the GOP and its conservative justices should start paying Margaret Atwood royalties. It’s like they’re sampling her novel without her permission.
I’m guessing most of us here have read The Handmaid’s Tale, right? Or at least watched the show? Some of you brave souls have done both. Atwood’s speculative fiction was built on true events from around the world that she had researched. Instances of flagrant misogyny, theocracies, fascism. At the time (1985), they were not happening in the United States of America. They were from history, or were happening in undemocratic or violent countries. Now, our reality is inching ever closer to her fictional nightmare of America.
My making allusions to The Handmaid’s Tale is so played, but that in and of itself is infuriating. Who would have thought? (Me, actually. I can’t read dystopian novels because I can always connect the dots. Catastrophic thinking is my superpower.)
To prevent my head from actually exploding off my body, I have willfully avoided most of the news about Alabama, just like I avoid the daily news reports about gun violence. Because what can we do? Reading about it isn’t enough. I’m honestly asking. here’s what I’ve got:
We can donate money to organization like Planned Parenthood , Las Libres, and Reproductive Freedom For All.
And we can vote the bastards out. In every possible election, even if you think the candidates are meh, or too old, or not progressive enough. Find the candidate who supports women, and vote for them. We are losing our country.
This is f*cking excellent! Just perfect.
This is incredibly well-written and to the point- literally, the size of what we are discussing here. Please share this widely!!