What do they have in common? Everything.
Over thirty years ago, Christian religious leaders in the US went on the attack against a 1973 US Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade. The case was about privacy – a developing right derived from other rights, and the 14th Amendment, within the Constitution. It was about legitimate boundaries of a government’s right to interfere with a woman’s privacy. Ultimately, the decision holds that there is a constitutional right to privacy and, therefore, no state or federal government may impose on a woman’s right to privacy within the first three months of a pregnancy. Roe v. Wade also in all likelihood reduced the number of abortions in the US, because states had different laws some of which included lax restrictions, and saved the lives of countless women. The pro-life movement (closely associated with Christianity) nevertheless coalesced around a perceived evil: Roe v. Wade legalized the murder of unborn babies and had to be overturned. It wasn’t long before the Republican party realized that this movement was a cause they too should embrace, if not for moral merit, for political gain. Millions of people enraged by that one Supreme Court case have cast and continue casting their ballots for Republican politicians across the board. Elected Republicans in turn do what they can to fill the Supreme Court with judges embracing pro-life qualifications. Witness Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination by President Trump. Now, what does all this have to do with melting ice caps? The Republican party is the party of the fossil fuels industries – promoting dirty energy production and railing against environmental regulation. They are the party of big business, not traditionally the party of labor, not traditionally the party of workers. By embracing the pro-life movement they have managed to reel in a large constituency that doesn’t care as much about what else they do. It is doubtful any Republican politician actually believes Roe will be overturned. It is the long con designed to solidify the Republican base and give Republican politicians the power to assure that that base lives with dirty air and dirty water and climate catastrophes ad infinitum. In other words, it is all about money. The fight to make abortion illegal (which overturning Roe would not do without the Supreme Court making a sweeping declaration of law almost impossible to enforce) is a major cause of pollution from oil, natural gas, and coal companies. The question remains: should the pro-choice movement concede defeat in order to save the rest of humanity and all other life on Planet Earth? Unfortunately, that would probably just cement the pro-life-Republican symbiosis. See the Blue – See the Truth