The power of the Supreme Court and abortions wars

Republicans solidly approves of what the 

Supreme Court is doing, Democrats don't

The WaPo reports on increasing anxiety among pro-abortion advocates about a pending Supreme Court (SC) case about abortions. The WaPo writes:

Abortion rights advocates delivered a stark warning to the Biden administration’s top health official in a private meeting last week: It’s time to take seriously “fringe” threats that could wind up blocking abortion access across the country.

Driving their anxiety is a Texas lawsuit brought by conservative groups seeking to revoke the decades-old government approval of a key abortion drug.

The suit has been widely ridiculed by legal experts as rooted in baseless and debunked arguments. But in recent weeks, abortion rights advocates and some in the Biden administration have grown increasingly concerned that the case is likely to be decided entirely by conservative judges who might be eager for a chance to restrict abortion access even in Democrat-led states where the procedure has remained legal since the fall of Roe v. Wade.

“It’s hard to really comprehend the full and terrible impact if what the plaintiffs have asked for in that case is actually granted,” Liz Wagner, senior federal policy counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra during the meeting at a Virginia abortion clinic. “It would be catastrophic.”  

Despite a widespread belief among abortion rights advocates that the lawsuit’s claims are baseless, providers have been preparing for their worst-case scenario, with many ready to implement new protocols if they can no longer distribute mifepristone.

Wokeness is cold comfort

It is good to see that public awareness of the Republican SC's unprincipled, hyper-partisan jurisprudence is increasing. In the years before radical right Christian nationalism became a prominent force in the SC's legal reasoning, people reasonably took comfort in legal experts arguing that a pending case is rooted in baseless, debunked arguments, and thus nothing to worry about. 

Those days are over. Now, more people are becoming aware that baseless and debunked arguments don't mean much to this hyper-partisan, Republican Christian nationalist court. People are becoming woke! One of the things they woke up to is the realization that nothing can stop an out-of-control, radical right SC. Neither a president nor a congress can stop it.[1] 

The lawsuit seeks a nationwide ban on misoprostol. A two-drug treatment with mifepristone and misoprostol is now used in about 50% of drug-induced abortions. The anti-abortionists lied in their lawsuit, claiming that misoprostol is unsafe and the FDA should never have approved it. In essence, this lawsuit asks the SC to overrule a drug the FDA approved as safe and effective. 

The SC does not have the expertise needed to independently evaluate all the safety data like the FDA has done. But, the Republicans on the SC hate abortions. They desperately want to find ways to stop abortions nationwide. If they need to rely on lies, they just might do it. The temptation is enormous. Fabricating lies is basically what the SC did in cherry picking history and taking bits of it out of context to strike down abortion rights last year. Relying on lies about a safe drug's alleged lack of safety is not all that big a leap into the mental and moral corruption that characterizes this court. 

How likely will it be that the Christian nationalist SC sinks into the mental and moral corruption needed to ban misoprostol? That's a tough one. Not clear to me. Maybe ~50% chance?

Footnote: 

1. A recent post here pointed out the similarity of this SC with the one that helped pave the way into the Civil War. What that pre-Civil War SC did to nudge the US into war was make pro-slavery decisions that some states refused to abide by. What do you think will happen if this SC eventually completely bans abortions nationwide in a series of decisions? Will everyone just say, OK, that's it -- no more abortions? I doubt it. There will be resistance. How much resistance is not predictable, but it probably won't be trivial. 

That post included this quote: 

But the real Dred Scott moment will be at hand when red states begin trying to extradite people from the blue states for the crime of getting abortions, providing abortions, or providing transition-related care to transgender people. Deep blue states have been creating haven and sanctuary laws to protect women, doctors, transgender people, and parents of trans youth. Both California and Massachusetts have passed sanctuary laws that would prevent people from being extradited for seeking abortions in their states. Given that eradicating abortion and eliminating health care for trans people have become the top social policy priorities for conservatives, the reaction from powerhouses like the Heritage Foundation has been swift: They see these blue-state moves as a direct threat to their agenda.

Just like that old pre-Civil War SC, this modern radical right, Christian nationalist SC is weakening the glue that used to hold America together. It is tearing us apart, one toxic decision after another.