Roe Overturned, What’s Next?

On Friday, June 24, 2022, the landmark Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade was overturned. How will this affect the LGBTQ Community and others, including black, brown, and indigenous people with uteruses? We knew this would happen. It was of no surprise, but we still feel the grief and pain this causes. I’m writing about this not because it’s trending right now but because I’m deeply concerned about this, as it continues to get worse while legislators continue to work hard to ban abortion and contraception.

It doesn’t stop at Roe v. Wade; it will continue with Griswald v. Connecticut, the landmark decision to protect the right to privacy and birth control. It will also spread to gay rights and gay marriage. Obergfell v. Hodges is the landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2015 that allows gay couples to get married. Brown v. Board of Directors allows children of color to go to the same schools as white children. Right now, the leaders of the Supreme Court are looking to overturn all these human rights later this year if we don’t vote in November. I will also explain to you the dangers of voting blue just because they are Democrats and why it’s important to do your own research on all the political candidates and what civil rights and human rights they are either looking to protect or overturn.

Please stop voting solely democrat; vote progressive! First let me explain why solely depending on Democrats is not going to work. If you read the news, you will notice that some people in the Democrat party are pro life and say abortion is wrong. For example, take a look at Illinois Democrat Chris Butler, running for the First Congressional District. He says it’s a “huge mistake” for Democrats to be pro abortion, according to an article from Fox News titled, “Democratic Party has gone too extreme on abortion: Pro-life Democrats”. I’m not agreeing with Fox News, as I am pro choice. I’m simply showing you an example of a pro life Democrat.

I’m also going to show you an example of a pro choice Republican. According to the Pew Research Center in an article titled, “Wide partisan gaps in abortion attitudes, but opinions in both parties are complicated”, both parties have different opinions about abortion. The article says, as of May 6, 2022, that 38% of Republicans and GOP leaning people say abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

It is so much more complicated than just voting Democrat all the way; I want everyone to start using critical thinking skills and vote accordingly this year. What happens when we vote blue all the way is that some of the people we vote for end up leaning towards anti abortion, such as Nancy Pelosi, who continues to back Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar, while she claims to be pro- choice. Henry Cuellar is anti choice. Pelosi may be pro choice, but the fact she still supports Cuellar is so disappointing and concerning. This comes from an article titled, “In Case You’re Wondering, Nancy Pelosi Is Still Supporting the Only Antiabortion House Democrat” from vanity fair. com.

By now, you should be aware that Democrat doesn’t mean pro choice. Who are the pro choice candidates on both sides? You can find out by Googling “legislators react to roe v wade” and read through several articles to see what they had to say in response to the overturn of Roe, or you can check NARAL Pro Choice Americans. Another way to find out who is protecting our rights is not only reading the news, but also looking up politicians on Ballotpedia and looking on each politician’s website or Twitter to see their statements online to figure out what they believe. There are so many ways to find out who is supporting our fight for bodily autonomy and gay rights.

Shifting from finding out who we should vote for this November and the dangers of only voting blue, I now want to discuss the other bills that are potentially on the chopping block in the next few months if we don’t do everything we can to fight. One Supreme Court Justice, Clarance Thomas, said he will try to get the Supreme Court to overturn three other human rights decisions: Griswold v. Connecticut, Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges.

Griswald v. Connecticut is the right to use contraceptives, such as IUD and birth control pills. Lawrence v. Texas overrules the Sodomie laws, where gay couples are legally allowed to participate in same sex sexually activity in the bedroom without anyone, let alone police officers, breaking in to keep them from engaging in consensual sexual activity. Obergefell v. Hodges protects gay marriage and allows gay couples to get married.

If the US Supreme Court overturned these laws, we would lose the right to privacy, the right to contraception, the right to same sex marriage, and other rights we have fought for so long to finally achieve. If we lose these rights, think of those who will also lose their rights, such as immigrants, indigenous people, trans people, disabled people, and others. These marginalized groups have already suffered a lot of loss of bodily autonomy, human rights, death, and maternal mortality rates.

Not to mention, but the suicide rates of transgender and other LGBTQ people is higher than the average population outside of the LGBTQ community, due to harassment, bullying, and gender dysphoria. Once protections for these people are removed, the LGBT suicide rate will increase.

Griswald was a 1965 landmark decision to allow married couples to use contraceptives and would make contraceptives legal for all couples a few years later. Lawrence was a 2003 decision to allow gay couples to engage in same sex consensual sexual relations. Obergefell was the 2015 landmark decision to allow same sex marriage. All three of these SCOTUS decisions rely heavily on the doctrine of substantive due process, along with Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

Substantive due process is a constitutional term that allows courts to protect certain rights, such as the right to privacy, love, intimacy, and marriage, though they are not explicitly mentioned in the constitution. Please see the article titled, “Thomas wants the Supreme Court to overturn landmark rulings that legalized contraception, same-sex marriage” on NBC News. Yes, I am aware that the constitution doesn’t explicitly protect legal abortion and birth control or same sex marriage, but does it really matter?

Why are these human rights up for debate? Yes, I am aware that the Supreme Court is only supposed to uphold and interpret the constitution and not make any decisions on human rights. But does it really matter? Why does the Supreme Court have the power to overturn the same human rights it dangled before us years ago? Yes, I am also aware that the overturn of Roe leaves abortion rights to each state to decide, but how can we trust the states to do what is best for everyone?

For instance, my state Governor, Brian Kemp, the Governor of Georgia, says he wants to outlaw abortion and birth control rights in Georgia. The Governor of Texas and the Governor of Florida are making similar bills, such as the heartbeat bills. Georgia already has a six week ban on abortions, but other states have a near or total ban on abortions. Texas Republican Governor, Greg Abbot, wants to pass anti abortion and anti gay bills. Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, wants to pass anti abortion and anti gay legislation as well.

Do I need to go into detail about these bills? You can visit the Governors’ websites and look up the legislation they want to pass. You can also look up what the House, Senate, and Congress are looking to get passed on the local, state, and federal level. It’s important to take a closer look at our local and state legislation and see what’s on the table for the upcoming months. To go over all the bills, legislators, Senators, Governors, House Representatives, etc in this article would take too long, plus cause a lot of undue emotional labor that we shouldn’t have to do just for everyone else to finally be on our side and understand what we're talking about.

We shouldn’t have to explain everything to other people or go through so much emotional labor just to get everyone to be aware of what is going on in our own country. It is alarming how many people in the US are not aware of how everyone’s rights are being affected. While I was picking up my prescription from the pharmacy one day, I asked the pharmacist handing me my prescription birth control pills if he was aware that our Governor, Brian Kemp, wanted to make birth control illegal in Georgia.

He told me,

“Sorry, I wasn’t aware of that.”

Someone I was intimate with did not seem too concerned Roe was overturned. He said, "That doesn't directly affect you." I explained that I was really stressed out about this situation with our rights being sent back to the states and no longer protected by the federal government. I don’t believe the states should have a right to control our fate. What happened to separation of church and state? Wasn’t the reason we fled from the British because the Church of England was corrupt? I thought the whole point of leaving the British was for religious freedom.

To me, religious freedom means, “I can’t do that because it goes against my beliefs.”, not, “You can’t do that because it goes against my beliefs.” If you do not like abortion, don’t have one. If you don’t like gay marriage or gay sex, don’t partake in it. It’s so simple to just mind our own business and leave others alone. Life would be so much easier and more peaceful if everyone stopped complaining about what other people do behind closed doors. Sure, everyone has the right to have their own beliefs and opinions, but to dictate what anyone else does is so ridiculous! Just save a lot of time, energy, and emotional stress by just minding your business. Live a life of peace.

Anyway, I decided me and the person I was seeing could not be friends anymore. Basically, they said that they weren’t getting enough intimacy from me and were always so busy with everything going on. I thought, first of all, how am I supposed to provide the intimacy they want when I am so stressed out about everything going on in this country? How can I provide enough intimacy to someone who does not really care about my rights and who does not stand up for me?

This partner of mine also made me do something I wasn't comfortable with. He held onto my left arm and did not let me use the bathroom until I threatened to do something I still, to this day, not regret. Again, how on earth does someone who not only does not respect my rights or autonomy deserve any kind of intimacy or validation? I cannot validate someone who does not validate me.

Since the overturn of Roe, a lot of people have been avoiding sexual intimacy and participating in the 4B movement, the Me Too movement, and the Time's Up movement. Fewer and fewer people, especially women, have had sex over the last few years.

Since some men will just seek out intimacy elsewhere, this behavior demonstrates a lack of understanding of how other people feel about the overturn of Roe and other things this will impact for years to come.

There are already a lot of people with uteruses on TikTok telling their partners they no longer feel safe having sex and telling their partners they no longer want to have sex. Some of them agree to remain faithful until it is safe for them to be intimate again and agree to get involved in the great fight for human rights. Others are backing out of relationships because they only care about intimacy and don’t care about how this Supreme Court decision is affecting their partners and why this means they no longer feel safe giving them intimacy and sex. Those who continue to search for sex with someone who is more willing to take risks and risk getting pregnant are risking changing their entire lives forever.

Condoms and birth control pills and other contraceptives are not effective 100% of time; they are only effective 90% to 97% of the time. They are still very effective, with a very high success rate. Those without a uterus should consider getting sterilized or take male birth control pills so that those with a uterus don’t have to bare the burden all the way. But because this Supreme Court decision will effect the right to privacy, those with no uterus may not be able to get on male birth control. I urge those with the male reproductive system to get a vasectomy while they still have time. But not everyone has the financial means to get their tubes tied or to get a reversible vasectomy.

If we stop having sex, maybe more people will get on board with helping us fight for our rights, because no one wants to live in a country where they have to worry about their spicy time being regulated by the government.

Also, I don’t believe this is about “saving unborn babies”; I believe this is about capitalism and trying to keep the working class poor and continue working and pass it on to their children. I don’t really believe these legislators are pro life but rather pro forced birth. In some states, people with a uterus can be investigated for a miscarriage, as has already happened recently and continues to happen. This isn’t a joke.

Also, many states have very strict laws on abortion, limiting it to six months or less in some states. I’m from Georgia, where there’s a six week ban on abortion, before a lot of people know they are pregnant. There are 13 states with trigger laws that went into effect as soon as Roe was overturned, meaning that they completely ban abortions in those 13 states, with Alaska being one of them.

The state of Alaska already has bills on the table right now that would harm the Indigenous people living there. I heard that the Supreme Court wants to overturn the Indian Child Welfare Act, which will harm a lot of Indigenous people. Alaska and other states with a higher percentage of Indigenous people are more at risk than other states, and not just because of the abortion bans in those states. Two spirit and other LGBTQ individuals are also being harmed, as well as disabled people.

This is more than just a fight for abortion rights; this is also a fight for human rights in general. If all we were fighting for was abortion rights, we would only help white women, instead of helping everyone else. We need to think about the intersectionality of this fight, because it ties into Griswald and Texas, as well as Casey and so on. When one of our rights is under attack, the rest of them are also under attack. It’s like a domino effect. We have been saying this for years and now more people are finally listening.

This isn’t fear mongering; this is all too real. This isn’t “A Handmaid’s Tale”; this is real life. I have already gathered some resources to share with my friends and fellow human rights activists, including a list of pro choice politicians who are devastated by the loss of Roe. They are on our team. If you want to make phone calls or send emails, send them to those who are trying to limit or cut off abortion rights entirely, because they are the ones signing these laws.

I was thinking: What if we found out when one of the rallies of anti abortion groups or Congress would take place and if we bought all the tickets and then didn’t show up, just like we did with Donald Trump? Generation Z always has brilliant ideas. They got Justice Clarance Thomas to shut up and not be able to teach at a university! I’m so impressed by this generation, because they know what to do and stand up for what is right. We need to follow their example. They have a lot of compassion and empathy for others, as well as a lot of trauma and pent up rage.

They may have a lot of anxiety when it comes to ordering extra ketchup packets, but they will go off on people who are racist, homophobic, transphobic, sexist, ableist, and those who are neo Nazis. This generation has a strong sense of justice and a strong intolerance of hatred and injustice. Millennials are very similar to Generation Z, but some of us seem really busy with our personal lives and always in survival mode. We have a lot of anxiety about the future of our people and are joining the younger generation in this fight. We also have a strong sense of justice and a strong sense of right and wrong.

However, we seem a little lackluster compared to the younger generation. But we’re just now stepping up to the plate to take on this challenge because we can’t let an entire generation go through this alone. Millennials are doing what the Boomers did, when they were protesting the Vietnam War. The Boomers and the Silent Generation as well as the Great Generation protested different issues when they were younger. Many people protested Hitler and other things such as the Holocaust.

Every generation has had some kind of Human rights issue to fight for. Boomers and Generation X fought for the LGBTQ community during the AIDS crisis, as well as other things. Our grandmothers and great grandmothers and others were fighting for women’s right to vote and work in the workplace just as men do, as well as the right to own property.

I recently wrote to my Congressman, Jody Hice, GA District 10, to tell him to change his stance on abortions and to vote for the bill that would protect our right to choose. I urge you all who read this article to challenge anti- choice, anti- LGBTQ+, and and xenophobic bills that have been introduced to the House and Senate and send letters, emails, and phone calls to your states representatives and Congress and tell them to vote to protect marriage equality, contraceptives, and access to safe, legal abortions.

I challenge you all to call your Senators and Congresspeople to change their stances on marriage equality, birth control, and abortion access. If there are enough voices speaking up, we will be loud enough and strong enough to spark change for the country and the community.

Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights have scripts for you to call your representatives in your state to tell them not to ban abortions. Here are the links: https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/planned-parenthood-texas-votes/tx-call-rep-now

https://reproductiverights.org/u-s-house-to-vote-on-bill-to-protect-abortion-rights/

I am desperately urging those who have read this far to contact their legislators to vote NO on abortion bans. I am also calling you to vote for human rights in the November 8th midterm election. Another thing you can do is to attend local protests as well as boycott large organizations and companies who are anti- choice, anti- LGBT, and anti- trans. You can also support small businesses and organizations who support reproductive rights, gay rights, trans rights, etc.

I will write another article covering the pro- choice, LGBTQ, black, POC, BLM, and other small businesses and organizations by category, because those deserve their own article. I also want you to contact large organizations and businesses to tell them to speak up on human rights.

I also encourage you all to tell your romantic/ sexual partner to tell them you don't want to have sex, anymore. If they don't understand the reasoning behind this decision, then they don't understand anything going on right now. If sex is more important to them and back out, they were never worth your time. They need to help you fight for your rights. If they aren't willing to do that, then tell them to find sex somewhere else. If they have a problem with no intimacy, then that's too bad. Tell them this is a human rights issue. Perhaps withdrawing sex will push more people to support our fight.

Finally, I challenge you all to attend Town Hall meetings and local hearings on important human rights issues. We will rise up, speak up, and walk straight into the storm to fight like the warriors we are.