The Christofascist/GOP War On Women

Few things are more dangerous than religious zealots who claim to be doing god's work and enforcing god's will as they persecute and sometimes murder those who do not subscribe to their beliefs and often archaic dogma. Europe's many wars of religion - which were on the minds of the Founding Fathers as they drafted the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution barring an established church - that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of innocent men, women and children, should be stark reminders of the evil that is done in the name of god.  Whether it be far right evangelicals or Islamic extremists, both seek to control the lives of others, especially women. Now, with the base of the Republican Party being largely controlled by far right evangelicals and Christofascists pushing a white "Christian" nationalism agenda, women in America see themselves in an unrelenting war whereby the religious zealots want to control women's bodies and inflict their 12th century beliefs on women nation wide. The fact that a majority of Americans oppose this agenda means nothing to ever self-prostituting Republicans.  Expect the war on women - and gays and contraception - to continue until Republicans are driven into a permanent minority party.  A column in the Washington Post looks at the Christofascist/GOP agenda:

For the religious right, erasing the constitutional right to abortion was just the beginning. They are coming after all our reproductive rights and freedoms, every single one of them, and the only way to stop them is with our votes.

On Wednesday, the Southern Baptist Convention — the largest Protestant denomination in the country, with 13 million members — adopted a resolution denouncing in vitro fertilization (IVF). The measure calls on Southern Baptists to pressure government officials to “restrain” IVF, which often can be a couple’s last hope of conceiving a child.

For women who battle infertility at some point in their childbearing years — and who can afford the expensive procedure — IVF is nothing short of a miracle. According to a report issued in March by the Department of Health and Human Services, more than 2 percent of U.S. infants born in 2021, the most recent year for which figures are available, were conceived through IVF. That equals 86,149 toddlers who otherwise would not be here to scamper around the house and test their loving parents’ patience.

How can the religious right, a movement that calls itself pro-life, take a stance against a procedure that creates life? The answer lies in the concept of fetal personhood — in this case, embryonic personhood. That is clearly where the zealots who seek “The Handmaid’s Tale” control over women’s bodies are headed, now that the obstacle of Roe v. Wade no longer stands in their way.

In February, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the frozen embryos created during the IVF process are “children,” and that the embryos are therefore protected under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. . . . . Alabama’s Republican-controlled state legislature and Republican governor quickly enacted legislation to shield IVF doctors from legal liability. But the court’s ruling stands — and was hailed Monday at the Southern Baptist Convention’s meeting as the “catalyst” for the new anti-IVF policy.

The Rev. Albert Mohler, president of the denomination’s flagship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, urged passage of the anti-IVF resolution by telling Baptists in a speech that a human life begins “when the sperm and the egg meet and God says, ‘Let there be life.’” He went on to criticize Alabama’s elected leadership for its “lack of political will to stand behind what was the correct ruling and judgment by the Alabama Supreme Court.” . . . . And he claimed, without evidence, that “much of the market for this is actually not even found among heterosexual married couples, but the redefinition of marriage, the redefinition of gender, the redefinition of all things in light of the LGBTQ movement.”

In his majority opinion overturning Roe, Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said the court was leaving the question of abortion to state legislatures and perhaps, ultimately, to Congress. Since then, voters across the country — even in bright-red states such as Kansas, Ohio and Kentucky — have amended their state constitutions to give back to women what the Supreme Court took away: the fundamental right to control their bodies.

Most Americans, by a decisive margin, believe a woman should have the intrinsic right to decide whether to terminate her pregnancy. Similarly, polls tell us that Americans, by an overwhelming margin, believe IVF is morally acceptable and a godsend. Most of us believe these are private decisions to be made by individuals, not legislators or judges.

Mohler speaks for a minority that believes all abortion, from the moment of conception, is murder. And the Republican Party fights — sometimes nervously — as this uncompromising minority’s champion.

So, with public opinion against them, antiabortion activists are already waging the next battle: to give embryos full personhood rights and protections. They are coming hard after IVF. They failed Thursday to get the high court to restrict safe and legal abortion drugs, but they surely will try again. They might even attempt an assault on contraception.

This is, simply, a forever war. Remain vigilant because there is no end in sight.