AMID THE TUMULT surrounding the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the June 24 ruling that ended Roe v. Wade, one curious detail went largely overlooked. Nestled among Justice Samuel Alito's arguments laying waste to nearly 50 years of abortion precedent was an unassuming footnote documenting a narrative advanced in amicus briefs submitted to the high court. These "friend of the court" briefs, Alito explained, "present arguments about the motives" of people and groups favoring "liberal access to abortion," namely "that some such supporters have been motivated by a desire to suppress the size of the African American population."
Portraying abortion as a tool of racial genocide is not a bridge too far, Alito insisted: "It is beyond dispute that Roe has had that demographic effect," given that a "highly disproportionate percentage of aborted fetuses are Black." He also cited Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion in 2019's Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, Inc., a challenge to an Indiana law that prohibited abortions undertaken for reasons of race or sex selection, or nonlethal fetal anomalies. The justices, Thomas included, had deferred consideration of such "reason bans" for another day, but Thomas wanted it on the record that the court ultimately would have "to confront the constitutionality of laws like Indiana's," which reflected a "compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming a tool of modern-day eugenics."
Bu hikaye Mother Jones dergisinin September/October 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Mother Jones dergisinin September/October 2022 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
In the Name of the Mother - How Shyamala Gopalan Harris raised a presidential contender
Shyamala Gopalan Harris did not believe in coddling. Pay her daughters, Kamala and Maya, an allowance for doing chores? “If you do the dishes, you should get two dollars,” scoffed the woman who this past summer, almost two decades after we spoke, would launch a million coconut memes. “You ate from the damn dishes!” Reward the future vice president of the United States—and possible future president—for good grades? Ridiculous. “What does that tell you?” her mother chided. “It says, ‘You know, I really thought you were stupid. Oh, you surprised Mommy!’ No.”
Kill the Messenger - The anti-disinformation field is retreating under attack.
A few months ago, a man crawling along a rooftop in Pennsylvania tried to murder Donald Trump at a campaign rally. Hours later, press releases started to circulate, from analysts, think tanks, politicians, and pundits, all offering to cut through the swell of confusion and misinformation.
Food + Health / Global Warning - Why Project 2025 is an environmental catastrophe in the making
When President Joe Biden took office, Democrats held a slim majority in the House of Representatives and a single-vote edge in the Senate. Despite the monumental odds, he has presided over the most productive presidential term for climate action in American history. Under Biden’s direction, the federal government took up the arduous task of incorporating climate considerations into scores of administrative operations and procedures. The epa cracked down on superpollutants and issued stricter emissions regulations for passenger vehicles. The Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest climate spending bill Congress has ever passed, brings the nation closer to its goal of slashing carbon emissions in half by 2030.
Trumpnesia - To get a second chance, Trump needs voters to forget his disastrous presidency.
One of the most oft-quoted sentences ever penned by a philosopher is George Santayana’s observation that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In 2024, this aphorism is practically a campaign slogan. Donald Trump, seeking to become the first former president since Grover Cleveland to return to the White House after being voted out of the job, has waged war on remembrance. In fact, he’s depending on tens of millions of voters forgetting the recent past. This election is an experiment in how powerful a memory hole can be.
WHEN IN DROUGHT
This obscure yet adaptable grain could be a healthy staple for a warming planet.
BAD HABITS
A spate of recent horror movies recycle tired tropes about nuns-and reveal society's ongoing discomfort with independent women.
Taking the Fifth For a glimpse of the Supreme Court after a second Trump term, look at the radical circuit court that's already driving America to the right.
Imagine obamacare is dead and millions of Americans have lost health coverage.
THE ARCHITECT
TRUMP WANTS TO BE KING. RUSS VOUGHT HAS A PLAN TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Losing Faith
As an evangelical leader, I enticed lawmakers and federal judges to adopt a conservative Christian agenda. Donald Trump’s rise proved how wrong I was.
GOD'S COUNTRY
These Christian nationalists have a plan to take over Americafrom small towns to the highest court in the land.
