Ilektra A. | Red Phoenix correspondent | Oregon–
A staff member at Alamo Women’s Clinic prepares Mifepristone, the first pill in a medical abortion, for a patient in Carbondale, Illinois, on April 9, 2024. (Reuters)
The past few years have seen an unprecedented push by the United States federal government, backed by the broad authority of the far-right majority Supreme Court, to undo decades of progress in the field of women’s rights and bodily autonomy The latest development in this worrying trend, a recent lower-court ruling restricting access to the most commonly-used abortion drug, has been temporarily blocked from implementation by the Supreme Court. Progressive-minded people should not see this decision as a victory, however, but rather, a calculated, tactical retreat for the purpose of more effectively and comprehensively rallying the forces of reaction behind this fascistic assault on the fundamental human right to physical self-determination.
On May 1, a three-judge panel from a New Orleans-based federal appeals court issued a ruling determining that the most commonly-prescribed abortion drug, Mifepristone, can only be obtained in person, overruling longstanding federal regulations on the drug. Previously, medical professionals were allowed to prescribe and distribute the medication by mail, widely expanding its accessibility, particularly to those living in states with stricter abortion laws. Despite the fact that the FDA itself has, in the past, officially stated that Mifepristone is both safe and effective, a fact confirmed by the results of over 100 scientific studies, the agency, at the direction of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) director Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has announced it will begin reassessing the safety and efficacy of the drug. This sudden change in attitude toward long-held official medical standards is indicative of the current regime’s clear pattern of unscientific, politically motivated decisions regarding the health and livelihood of the American people. If Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s history of misrepresenting scientific evidence about vaccines, autism, and Tylenol is any indication, this shift is unlikely to be grounded in sound medical judgment.
Just three days after the aforementioned lower court decision, the United States Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on the ruling, restoring remote access to Mifepristone for the time being while the court “considers the issue more fully.” While some who witnessed this new ruling exhaled understandable sighs of relief, it is important for all progressive-minded people and those directly affected by the issue to recognize that this is by no means a final victory, and we should refrain from celebrating prematurely. Far from being an unbiased actor standing above the reactionary political motivations of the current regime’s agenda, the Supreme Court has demonstrated its own concerning pattern of fascistic tendencies in its recent rulings, showcasing the problem’s deeper roots in the foundations of our society.
Decisions the Supreme Court has made in the past few years clearly show its political direction. From overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, which had granted Americans the constitutional right to abortion, to its 2024 ruling that the U.S. President possesses immunity from prosecution for criminal acts committed while in office, to its siding just weeks ago with a faith-based pregnancy center that raised First Amendment concerns over whether it misled people to discourage abortions (it did), the Court has made its priorities clear. Much like the lower court that issued the original restriction on Mifepristone, the Supreme Court is not merely onboard with the current administration’s expanding attacks on the right to choose, it is leading the charge.
While the Supreme Court may have temporarily halted the ban on mail-order abortion drugs, it has by no means taken the side of science, truth, and bodily autonomy. Given its clear, recent pattern of reactionary, politically-motivated rulings which further restrict the freedom of women, transgender individuals, and all oppressed strata of the American population, all evidence points to this decision being a carefully-crafted retreat which aims to buy the court and the Trump regime the time it needs to consolidate its playbook of lies, and to more fully rally the forces of fascism behind a concerted effort towards the de jure elimination of the people’s right to make decisions about their own bodies.
This serves, in their view, to remind the working class that they, the bourgeoisie, own everything, not just the private property which they use to extract our labor power each day we punch into work, but our very flesh and blood, too. However, what is equally imperative for us to keep in mind is that their hubris will also be their downfall, and there is nothing they fear more than a united working class coming together across racial, gender, sexual, religious, and all other lines which serve as nothing more than barriers to our unity. We must recognize that while we cannot ever truly be free under the current capitalist mode of production, we do already possess the tools we need to ensure our collective liberation once and for all. We need only to use them.
From The Red Phoenix via This RSS Feed.