Friday, April 20, 2007

Women in these times



Some bleak times, these days. The list of injustices seems endless. And yesterday, the five arrogant, all-Catholic men of the U.S. Supreme Court made a major decision predicated on the belief that women cannot decide matters of life and death for themselves.

From the New York Times editorial: "Justice Kennedy actually reasoned that banning the [intact dilation and extraction] procedure was good for women in that it would protect them from a procedure they might not fully understand..."

Thanks. But no thanks. Just get out of my life.

It reminds me of the shock I felt when watching that paragon of Catholic dogma, "The Cardinal" on TV many years ago. In a pivotal scene that takes place during World War II, the ambitious priest on a trajectory towards Cardinal-hood is asked by the obstetrician to make the decision on whether his sister, who is in a difficult childbirth, or her fetus, should live. And what made me really angry was that the heartless dolt had to think about it.

Well, we're on our way back to those days. The idea that women cannot be in charge of their bodies is a religious one. It is certainly not a scientific one. And religious, bigoted men ruled yesterday. Imagine what comes next.

Meanwhile, in the land ruled by these men's kindred spirits, the mullahs, six men were exonerated in the murders of five people for what they viewed as immoral behavior. The killers stoned their victims to death (quaint old timey method) or drowned them by sitting on their chests in a pond. (In 2004, a mullah had a 16-year old girl hung for "chastity" crimes after a monkey trial, for which he has not been held liable.)

The merest hint of sex drove these Iranian men to murder. One young engaged couple was killed because they were walking together in public.

Maybe the mullahs, and the Supreme Court, will have less to worry about once women can procreate without even thinking about men.

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