Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade
A dark dark day. Just awful and upsetting. I am so angry.
Edit: I will add, it is important that laws can and should be changed. Those who cling to the Constitution as if it is a religious document, not to be challenged are, to be blunt, ignorant misguided assholes who see perfection in an era where slavery was legal, women couldn't vote, etc.
Donations to fund Abortion Access in Every State
Another option is to donate to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which as of this posting, is having donations matched 10-1.
Justice Clarence Thomas Just Said the Quiet Part Out Loud
On Friday morning, Alito’s conservative colleague on the court, Justice Clarence Thomas, disagreed with that. In his own individual opinion, Thomas wrote that, in fact, overturning Roe should only be the first step. “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” he writes. “Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous.’”
“Demonstrably erroneous.” There is very little that is vague about those words. With the death of abortion rights in America, Thomas has now come out and said, in no-uncertain terms, that cases that enshrined Americans’ rights to marry whomever they want and to make personal decisions about their intimacy and child-bearing are flat-out wrong. For now, that is just Thomas’ opinion—none of what he’s written is legally enforceable. But the fact that he’s stating this explicitly affirms the fears of advocates that for many conservatives the demise of Roe was never meant to be the end—but rather a bleak beginning.
Self Care
Today is a day where I am forced to go back to something I came up with years ago. To be honest, I don't need it often. I'm a very happy person and I live a privileged life compared to many others. But some days, my mental health takes a real body blow and I found I needed a checklist of things to do to try and best care for myself and recover from these times.
Sharing here, as I expect others are also feeling pretty rough right now:
- Turn off social media, doom scrolling and the echo chamber will NOT help
- Drink water
- Eat food (good food)
- Give yourself permission to not be okay
- Turn off the computer and go outside
- If able, meditate and process your feelings
This is by no means a complete list. And I am not an expert. But I wanted to share in case others might need the reminders that its okay to not be okay sometimes.