A SUPREME COURT OF AYATOLLAHs
Male dominance rules once again
On June 24th 2022 the Supreme Court of the USA showed again how similar it is to the Supreme Guidance Council of Iran: a small group of elderly, unelected religious extremists decides what is good for everyone else and tries to re-establish a Golden Age of conservatism that never really existed.
On June 24th 2022 Roe versus Wade was reversed after 50 years. A group of Four Elderly White Males + Justice Thomas (supported by one Catholic woman) has decided that American Women shall no longer control their own sexuality. No woman wants to have an abortion. Abortions takes place only when a woman (for whatever reason) cannot bear a child she is carrying. Health? Rape? Incest? whatever the reason for a woman to want an abortion, there is tragedy in the decision. Women need support and compassion; and compassion is not a strong part of American culture.
Abortion is a messy business. Each pregnant woman should have the right to decide on her own fate: and if the tragedy of an abortion is needed, it should be carried out painlessly and under competent medical supervision. Elderly Men and religious intolerants want to forbid abortion, but they will be disappointed. We wish that no one gets sick, that no one is ever nasty, that incest will disappear, that no woman’s health will be threatened by pregnancy, that no man will ever rape a woman.
We wish….
We wish for American politicians, religious leaders and judges to show compassion to women.
We wish....
In the case of Iran, at least the Ayatollahs are all Shia Muslims like most Iranians. They impose their conservative vision of the Muslim religion that most Iranians profess. In the case of the USA, six of the nine Justices are Roman Catholics. Their very specific theological view concerning the definition of “life” - a view supported by and imposed by this 6-3 vote - is not shared by most Americans. 78% of Americans are not Catholics; 22% of USA citizens are Catholics. Just like the Iranian Guardianship Council, US Supreme Court Justices are not elected. American ‘democracy’ is not working. Especially, it is not working for women.
Let me quote Jennifer Rubin, intelligent opinion writer in the Washington Post:
The dissent (by Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor) made clear, the majority opinion is as radical as any in its history. [….] It underscores the enormous damage to women’s self-determination, autonomy and equal status as persons. And it rightly attacks the garbled history in the majority opinion, noting that the Constitution was ratified before women had the vote. In essence, the court elevates male dominance to a constitutional imperative in the 21st century.
The hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty of the court’s right-wing justices lead to the conclusion that they have simply appointed themselves super-legislators free to impose a view of the United States as a White, Christian and male-dominated society despite the values, beliefs and choices of a majority of 330 million modern Americans.
