Belldame at Fetch Me My Ax puts her finger on an irritating aspect of the South Dakota (and now Mississippi) anti initiatives: the salivating glee of the right at the possiblity of overturning Roe/Wade vs the jaw-popping glee (though they wouldn't call it that) of some on the left at the idea that Roe could be our turning point. The birth of some kind of movement. From the right:

Anyway, as you know, the point now is to not so much about Mississippi or South Dakota but to seize the day and push for a court case that will lead to a wholesale overturn of Roe v. Wade; enough of this hole-and-corner chipping away.

And from the left:

Oh, look! A defining moment! A window of opportunity for the left to get its shit together and revive itself in the face of a crisis! To rise like a phoenix from the ashes! Thank God for that. Because it's not like we've had any other such opportunities over the last two-four-ten-twenty-five years. I'm sure we'll get right on that.

I would have just a teensy bit more faith in the left if I thought there was anything cohesive about us. But the left, like all non-homogenous groups of people, has its own struggles with inherent classism, racism and sexism (not to mention fat-phobia, welfare-bashing, and assorted other assholery). I would have just a teensy bit more faith in the left if I felt that the big-blog boyz really cared about what happens to women, except as an abstract concept.

Whoops, better give the obligatory qualifier: some of you guys are really, really neat. You are committed to women's rights and you never take advantage of your male privilege and you really love eating pussy, really you do. So with that out of the way, relax cuz now you know I'm not talking about you.

I'd rather not take the position of professional symbol for your movement. If you really cared about the welfare of women you would have fought harder for economic justice. When Clinton was getting ready to sign the deform bill were you out on the streets with signs, protesting the government's war on the poor? Were you paying attention, or were you thinking about the next election, and how this could be turned to your advantage? If you didn't care about that attack on women and children, why am I supposed to think you really care about this one?

You knew that was a losing battle. You knew that fighting for welfare rights was just not politically expedient. So you dumped us, all of us families in poverty. We were abandoned by our party; we were abandoned by our allies.

But Roe is something the left can agree on. After all, women's reproductive rights are men's reproductive freedoms--who in their right mind would want to give that up? Enough women are frantic about the loss of their sexual autonomy to make it a worthwhile venture. Phoenix from the ashes, indeed.

But I'd rather the weapon for a political movement not be one that has the potential to kill thousands of our sisters, daughters, aunts, cousins, mothers. It might be good politics to you, but it's life and death to us.

*cross-posted at Super Babymama