[Brad]

Originally Posted by drewprops Will this single issue be powerful enough to make a dent in the midterms? Democrats may see a surge this November, but this single issue won't animate all voters. We've got war, energy costs, inflation, potential recession, and more.

I'm afraid Democrats don't have a chance. I agree with Matsu. If progressives were going to do anything good to fix the imbalanced courts or enshrine personal freedoms and protections at a federal level, these last two years and right now were their best opportunity. Elected Democrats in Congress are far too complacent and eager to compromise and talk whereas elected Republicans are a unified force that is more than willing to play dirty, lie, cheat, and steal to get their way. That's the one thing I actually admire about the GQP: they sure know how to deliver on an agenda. I'm still going to continue to vote at every level, because that's the only power I have, but what little optimism I have is waning with every passing year.

Originally Posted by Capella I dare one of the pro-life folk to come to me and tell me the clump of baby cells in my womb that can't live outside me matters more than me, the currently living and thriving person.

You just reminded me of a discussion I read yesterday that somehow made me feel even worse about all this. By elevating the priority of a fetus over that of the person carrying it, several states are now saying that a corpse now has more rights and bodily autonomy than a living woman. You can't take organs from a person/corpse without their consent (The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (2006)), but this clump of cells can effectively take organs and use the body of a woman without her consent. Legally, you're better off dead than pregnant.

Originally Posted by Capella I feel like all my rights to make decisions for myself that Christians don't agree with are being taken away. And it doesn't matter that I'm not Christian. Their belief in their book overrides my own faith, be it Jewish or Satanic or Islamic or Hindu or pagan or none.

I like to remind myself and others that shielding "pro life" beliefs behind supposed-Christianity is actually a modern product of willful ignorance, misogyny, bigotry, classism, racism, and authoritarianism, not just Christian mythos and text. Sure, the Christian bible is horribly misogynist (and frames this particular passage in terms of "testing an unfaithful wife"), but people often forget or ignore that their bible openly condones abortions, and The Lord God Almighty Himself even gives Moses specific instructions for men, women, and priests on how to prepare and administer an abortifacient…

Numbers chapter 5, New International Version:

11 Then the Lord said to Moses, … 16 “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. … 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse[d] among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.” “‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.” … When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse.

There are other passages that also define life as starting after birth and that some births should be aborted, not to mention the whole love-thy-neighbor and forgiveness themes of the New Testament. Shock!

Of course, modern Christians (and Muslims, Jews, etc.) are masters of selectively ignoring or reinterpreting passages that don't fit the current political narrative, and there are contradictions for just about any subject in their texts that one could choose to support an argument. Trying to argue on the basis of one thousand-years-old passage versus another thousand-years-old passage is a fool's errand, and I only mention this one to highlight the hypocrisy in the current "pro life" movement. It's almost as if these religious texts are so incredibly subjective that they shouldn't be the basis of modern laws that govern hundreds of millions of people.

Do not let these people hide behind religion as some kind of impenetrable wall to defend personal beliefs that infringe on or hurt others.