#617 - Peace & Life: Legislation & Actions - June 24, 2022
BREAKING NEWS: The SCOTUS Dobbs decision is issued, and has expressly overturned Roe and Casey!
The decision as on the SCOTUS website says: "The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe v. Wade, 410 U. S. 113, and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pa. v. Casey, 505 U. S. 833, are overruled; the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives"
We cover this in our blog post: Major Obstacle Removed! (with a post that was prepared in advance in case the decision did come out as the leaded draft said).
The issue below was prepared before this - the decision came out at 10:10 Eastern time on Friday, June 24 - and we expect to have much more to say once having time to process it further.
U.S. Legislation
The biggest wave of new legislation is anticipated to come soon because of the Dobbs decision. Meanwhile, here’s some other legislation to consider supporting:
Over 7 years, Yemen has suffered around 400,000 people killed from a Saudi-led war - tragically, with support from the U.S. in the form of maintenance and logistical support for airstrikes. War-induced famine is also widespread.
To end U.S. assistance is the goal of the Yemen War Powers Resolution, H.J.Res. 87. If it’s clear Congress won’t allow any more U.S. military support for the war, that might lessen the war itself and also give incentives for the parties to negotiate.
We encourage our U.S. readers to contact their representatives.
The practice of “stealthing” means a man removes his condom without the consent (and sometimes the knowledge) of his sex partner. It’s not rape since the other party consented to sex, but it’s been called “rape-adjacent” since the consent was based on terms that weren’t met. It’s a prime case of denying a woman the right to control her own body where that means what it really means and isn’t a euphemism for killing a baby. It’s also a practice that will lead to more babies conceived under circumstances that are likely to get them killed. While already illegal as an assault, making this more explicit in the law would help. Here’s one proposal for the U.S. Congress “To create a civil action for non-consensual sexual protection barrier removal, and for other purposes,” and another to encourage states to do the same.
Mitt Romney has made a second attempt he’s calling Family Security Act 2.0. The Act will give monthly payments to parents with children – this proved soundly successful in reducing child poverty when done as a temporary tax credit recently, but the credit expired. Whatever the other merits of his plan, he’s gotten several Republicans on board, which makes it more likely to actually pass.
From Our Member Groups
Democrats for Life has a petition to Democratic officials asking them to break the silence and denounce the violence against pregnancy centers, houses of worship, and pro-life offices.
New Wave Feminists has coverage in El Paso Matters for their work in opening a migrant shelter and clinic in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
Friends Witness for a Prolife Peace Testimony (Friends = Quakers) has a major update of its website, so send all your Quaker friends there. Pages of particular interest to consistent-lifers: Is Abortion Against Peace Principles? Listen to those who do them! / Connections: Abortion and the Death Penalty / Connections: Abortion and Weaponized Drones / The Danger of Bubbles among Friends / Pacifism 101 for Pro-life non-Quakers.
Our Latest Blog Post
In Must We Resign Ourselves to Violence?, Julia Smucker considers the argument used in debates on both abortion and guns (and helmets and masks): it’s inevitable, and therefore useless to regulate. She sees three problems: the presumption of unchangeability, a sense of all or nothing, and the observation that people tend to flip sides on the point based on their own position on abortion or guns.
Quotation of the Week
Richard John Neuhaus
Quoted in “Youth Pro-Life Rally Has Anti-Abortion Theme,” Washington Star, September 4, 1972
The anti-abortion forces are not instruments of political and social conservatism. Rather they are related to the protest against the Indochina war, the militarization of American life, and the social crimes perpetrated against the poor.
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