Editor’s Note: The following series, “Life in Radically Gentrifying Cayucos by the Sea,” to be posted biweekly includes the notes, thoughts, and opinions
said on both sides when they were going through their confirmation process, that it was already established law. this texas precedent, right, do you think that this tell us anything about the court vis-a-vis the mississippi case that they re considering? that s a really important question, jose, and the answer is, it doesn t tell us a thing. because they weren t deciding what texas was doing was really right to make an end run around the supreme court to bulletproof their law that would make it near impossible for a woman to get an abortion, so they didn t have to deal with the issue of whether or not abortion wouz constitutional, whether or not they could regulate her right to choose her bodily autonomy before a fetus was 27 weeks or viable. what that means here is only but it s important, i don t want to lose this point. it is important.
but what is so horrific is that both in the texas law and in the mississippi law, there are no exceptions for instances of rape or incest. and so it s quite ironic that given that that was very specific in these laws, that the justices didn t address it at all. you write in your piece about your own experience. my father s predations were hidden behind wealth, social status, and his acting the part of the committed and attentive parent. i attended elite schools in new york city, studied ballet at a private academy. my father never missed a parent/teacher conference. i think in that sentence and others in your piece we have to realize there s no way of knowing who this kind of thing is happening to. that s absolutely right. so when the texas governor, governor abbott, says i ll just be tough on crime and we ll just
referring to 11 ask 12-year-old girls who were forcibly sterilized, in the state of mississippi. it s hard to take seriously these states who say their efforts are out of love and care when in fact that s never been shown in the arc of history in these states regarding black women or girls or generally any women who happen to be vulnerable and poor in those states. it seems if the court rules in the way it seemed to be leaning, toward in effect overturning roe v. wade, what roe v. wade is at this point protecting in america are the rights of poor women, women who don t have significant means, who live in republican-controlled states, who will then change the laws and restrict abortion or ban abortion completely. the wealthy women in those states will easily be able to travel to other states that provide abortion services. and of course the big democratic states will preserve abortion rights as they have them now.
underlie the mississippi and texas legislation deserve a response. with those laws, the state has in effect forced girls to carry the burden of its desires, forcing many of them to risk their health and even risk death by remaining pregnant. joining us now is michelle goodwin, the chancellor s professor of law at the university of california irvine and the author of policing the womb: invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood. professor goodwin, i have to ask, were you surprised that in that 90 minutes there was not once, not once, a mention of, a discussion of, a real discussion and exchange about rape and incest and little girls? unfortunately, i was not surprised that this was lacking in the questioning from the justices themselves, that it was an issue that was not raised.