Rage, Rage, Against the Dying of Our Rights

The SCOTUS draft leak re. reversing Roe v. Wade is all over the news and social media.  I don't really have anything to add to the discourse, certainly no expert angle or insight or analysis, just parroting those I've read and respect, and fuming at those I don't.  

I feel outraged, angry, infuriated, fill-in-your-Roget-of-choice.  And incredibly sad.  And terrified.  And frustrated.  And hopeless, which in some ways is the worst.  Because I'm not likely to be personally impacted by any new laws; I'll always have the ability (by which I mostly mean money, along with white cishet privilege) to take care of myself.  All this storm-the-gates-and-lock-arms-and-get-arrested energy has nowhere to go.  So we march, again, and nothing happens, again?  How many fucking posters with clever slogans can I paint?  Why bother?  What substantive actions are there here for me?  Why can't I find them?  (Typo-ed that as fund them, which is actually one useful thing I do.)  Ok, go vote, yes, of course, of course, but when the people we vote for aren't actually doing the things we voted them in to do, what then?  Calls and letters, no signs that they're making a difference.  Not to mention voter suppression in the places it matters most.  This country is off the rails, headed exactly in the direction we've been promised, no surprises here, actually.  And the hypocrisy continues to be stunning.

This is bleak.  There are signs of light, of fight, of promise.  And the occasional cleansing dog with a hula hoop, or beaver having a birthday at the zoo.  

Justice Alito cited Matthew Hale, a 17th century jurist who supported marital rape and sentenced women to death for witchcraft.

Misinformation and disinformation are rampant and dangerous.  Thankful for those putting out accurate info.  A fetus is not a person, and a coat hanger is not necessary.

Ben Franklin included a recipe for an abortifacient in a popular math textbook (via Molly Farrell in Slate, 5/5/22)

Anyone should be able to get a safe, affordable abortion for any damn reason at all, and it's nobody's business.  It's just healthcare.  And it's just one piece of the reproductive freedom/justice picture.

Things are already dire in several states, for women, for POC, for LGBTQ folx, especially trans youth.

This is the civil rights movement of our age.