by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls
The thing many men don’t realize is a huge swath of the female population see abortion as an absolute fail-safe. It’s easy for Republicans to demagogue the issue of abortion because it’s a complex situation and all they want is a simple solution so they can declare victory and win votes.
This comes out most notably when Republicans — speaking to their base — say some pretty bonkers things about abortion and rape. The reason why they keep doing this is they are trying to lay the groundwork politically for an absolute ban on abortion. They say completely deranged things about “justifiable rape” because they want to invalidate the argument that there should at least be an exception for rape. In their fucked up worldview, they think women will lie about being raped so they can get an abortion.
As for the “incest” and “life of the mother” exceptions, they either lulz it or pivot to something else should the issue come up. Republicans really do want women to be charged with manslaughter if they have an involuntary miscarriage.
With that in mind, the whole point of Republicans appointing judges for the last 30 or so years has been ending Roe V. Wade. And, at last, it seems as though they may very well get their wish pretty soon. The conditions are there, at least, for Roe to be overturned sometime between now and, say, Thanksgiving. (It may be later in the session, but we live in insane times, so, lulz.)
Should Roe be overturned in the middle of Trump’s impeachment process, this would not bode well for The Dear Leader. I’m not saying he will face any consequences — he never does — but women who already hate his guts are going to become apoplectic. There’s at least a small chance that women who feel powerless to do anything about the end of Roe will channel that rage into trying to bring down Trump.
But, I dunno. Trump’s a tyrant. I got nothing as to how we would ever get past Moscow Mitch.
