Commentary by a Clovis mother: The only explanation for overturning Roe is misogyny

The stories and statistics and rage have been everywhere since the leaked draft opinion setting the stage for overturning Roe vs. Wade. Yes, abortion is the hottest of hot-button issues, yet the vast majority of the country doesn’t want Roe overturned.

So then, why? I think it’s simple: Misogyny.

I struggled to find a time in our nation’s history when a law would so dramatically affect men as the overturning of Roe would affect women. Slavery was a blight on an entire race, as were the Japanese internment camps. The indigenous peoples of this continent have been oppressed in myriad ways, and at times past and present Jews, Muslims, the poor, the LGBTQ+ community and hundreds of other marginalized groups have come under unfair, unwise, and unnecessary regulation (a word I use only because all of the others are even less accurate).

In most cases the oppression was, more or less, equal between the sexes. At least the “intent” of backward laws was directed equally across the sexes.

The same cannot be said here.

Men cannot get pregnant. Men cannot die from complications of pregnancy, men are not forced out of the workforce because they are pregnant, and as the U.S. Census shows, many men leave their families. The reasons for fathers leaving children behind are nearly infinite, and certainly there are mothers who do the same, but in the end a man chooses whether or not to stay, but will never be pregnant. They control their body, and the choices they make with it.

In fact, the only thing remotely comparable I could find in our nation’s history is the draft. The draft only applied to men. Women were not placed in the draft lottery and sent to war unless they chose to join the military. While there were some exceptions made (religion, elected officials, bone spurs), a man drafted had to report, had to put his life on hold, and often, in danger.

In many of the “trigger laws” more conservative states have passed there are no exceptions. Not for rape. Or incest. Not even for the health of the mother. A woman must, at best, alter her entire life, and at worst, die, because a politician dictates it.

Roe vs. Wade was decided in 1973, the same year the draft was disbanded. Those two events, one could argue, are the single biggest advancements in bodily autonomy since slavery was abolished. In 1973 both men and women gained control of their own bodies, without the government, or anyone else, dictating otherwise.

Were the draft to be instituted today there would almost certainly be a massive uprising as mothers, fathers, and friends worried for their boys.

Misogyny.

It is, at the end of the day, the only explanation for deciding that while men should always have control of their bodies, women should not.

It is the reason for so many terrible outcomes. The pay gap. Sexual harassment and assault cases that go ignored. Brock Turner. Louie CK. Clarence Thomas. Brett Kavanaugh. The list goes on.

I could be writing about abortion and how this decision will disproportionately affect poor people … just like the draft.

I could be writing about abortion and how this decision will disproportionately affect people of color … just like the draft

This seemingly endless misogyny will kill women.

I want control of my body. I want my husband to have control of his.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito disagrees. The only logical explanation is that he, and any justice who votes to overturn Roe, believes that a woman is not capable of making decisions about her own body, but a man is.

That is misogyny. It doesn’t belong on the highest court in the land.

This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 5:00 AM.