Saturday, May 07, 2022

Everything Changes

Even for rich white ladies.
For the really rich, it is true: Traveling to get an abortion and evading prosecution will more or less be a cinch. But the chasm between really rich and everyone else gets deeper every day, and it is simply not true that a suburban white mom of three in Missouri or the teenage daughter of well-off Christian conservatives in Alabama will be in a position to get the abortion she needs when she needs it with ease and without risk to herself, her family, or the people willing to help her. Even crossing to another state to obtain an abortion may entail legal jeopardy as states consider various means to prohibit and criminalize abortion travel.
And as I keep emphasizing, this isn't just about abortion. No OB/GYN related medical procedures - or anything else that could conceivably cause a miscarriage - will evade the state's glare. And impossible to hide things in a world of electronic records and endless insurance paperwork.

Of course law enforcement measures will always fall disproportionately on poor and minority women, but no one will really be able to escape.