During a time when so many norms are being challenged and so many historic records are being broken, it should give us some comfort that America is still the "land of the free and the home of the brave." Battered by monster weather systems and health disasters, we still have a flag to raise and salute. Or do we?
Sadly, our country is failing its people left and right, and the situation—just like the rising severity of natural events and pandemic health horrors—is not getting better. When times are rough, people hope there's a higher power to turn to, and within our democracy, that power is called the Supreme Court. There's a reason why it's called the "Supreme" Court. It is the ultimate arbiter of all things constitutional. It is the designated savior of America's very foundations.
There may be a few people in Utah who are jumping up and down over the Supreme Court's recent decision—despite scathing dissent by three justices—to allow Texas's extreme new abortion law to be implemented. At six weeks after fertilization, no abortion can be performed and private citizens are welcome to initiate lawsuits against anyone, even those who are remotely involved.
Sadly, our state has its share of zealots and fanatics. But, though Utah smacks of a pervasive religious smugness—and it's consistently on the far-right side of U.S. politics—Utahns are almost unanimously supportive of abortion laws that take rape and incest into consideration. The Texas law makes no such exceptions, forcing women to have the babies of their brothers, fathers, and other abusers.
The decision of SCOTUS to allow the horrible Texas law to take effect was just another example of the damage done to our nation by the Trump White House. His corruption encircled virtually every aspect of our government and the court is now as corrupt as the man who shifted its balance into a draconian organization of governmental persecution.
Vigilantism is a long-respected tool of America's rednecks and trailer-trash, and SCOTUS has simply turned it into a government-sponsored tool of the fanatics, sucking legitimacy from the last, sacred bastion of our democracy. If it looks like our country is going to hell in a handbasket, it is. The foundations of the U.S.A. are crumbling because the lunatics in the asylum have taken over. The Supreme Court has always been the ultimate power—"the buck stops here"—but it's becoming apparent that SCOTUS is merely an outgrowth and manifestation of the madness and fanaticism that has hijacked our country.
For God's sake—to loosely use the expression—Americans should be screaming about the injustice that has just transpired. In a sense, the highest court of our land has become a terrorist organization, run by the hard-right, holier-than-thou evangelicals who insist on having everything their way—and f--k everyone else! Frankly, it's much akin to the radical Islamic philosophy that if people won't bow down to Allah, they don't have the right to live. If Christian religionists believe in personal choice, then the fanatics behind the Texas law are quite obviously soldiers of Satan. Even Mormon theology maintains that forcing people to do things against their will is the work of the devil.
Despite their pervasive religiosity, at least Utahns can differentiate between consensual sex and rape, and between the legitimate and the abusive. Forcing women to face a lifetime of punishment for a moment of passion is certainly not right. But at least that scenario deals with a fetus that grew out of a voluntary act. Incest doesn't fall into the same category, and is almost always a violation of someone unable to make the choice for themselves. And rape? It goes without saying that is the vilest of crimes against women. Can SCOTUS really have made such a gruesome decision by simply failing to stop the awful law in Texas?
The Texas law is an abortion, in itself. It is so far afield from any of the Christian values that launched it that it can only be considered pure evil. Not only is Texas going to allow women to suffer the curse of rape and incest, but it's given the blessing to self-deputized rednecks who choose to enforce the law by launching civil lawsuits against anyone and everyone who plays a part.
That includes friends and family who helped arrange an abortion, the taxi driver who drove the woman to a clinic, the pastor who gave his blessing to have a pregnancy from a rape terminated. The list goes on. Everyone is at risk of being "lynched" by the civil courts for seeking to help a woman in distress. The law can only reap total chaos.
At a time when even the most Catholic countries have accepted the need for terminating some pregnancies, the U.S. seems bound and determined to return to the Dark Ages. It is disgraceful that our nation's highest court has participated in such an outrage.
The founding fathers never intended America to be a theocracy. They systematically and emphatically preached that religion should have no part in government and that no group should be allowed to hijack the majority. That is exactly what is happening now.
As Utahns, and as Americans, we must make sure that no matter our own religious preferences and philosophies, the rights of women are strenuously defended.
The author is a retired businessman, novelist, columnist, and former Vietnam-era Army assistant public information officer. He resides in Riverton with his wife, Carol, and the beloved ashes of their mongrel dog.
