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It feels like the country is being torn apart.
Or, as the Atlantic put it, become two nations sharing the same geographic space.
I’ve been here long enough to remember the national trauma of Vietnam and Watergate, 9/11 and Iraq, and four impeachment charges against three presidents.
And yet, after a weekend of nationwide protests, this is different.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Supreme Court to await the Dobbs verdict. America is now literally divided – this has gone beyond metaphors – into states where abortion is illegal and states where it is legal. (Joshua Comins/Fox News)
Joe Biden to block. The latest era of polarization began with the tumultuous Trump presidency and deepened during the pandemic when the issue of getting vaccinated split the country into red and blue camps. It deepened further with Donald Trump’s insistence that the 2020 election had been stolen and with the January 6 riots — leading to the latest hearings in which Republicans and Trump appointees described in damaging detail a press campaign by the former president to overturn the election of President Donald Trump—
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Then the Supreme Court came to overthrow Roe v. Wade.
America is now literally divided – this has gone beyond metaphor – into states where abortion is illegal and states where it is legal.
By rejecting the 50-year precedent, the court’s conservative majority shocked the country by going beyond the present case — Mississippi bans abortion after 15 weeks — to do what the pro-life movement has been fighting for since 1973.
While there is an argument that this returns the issue to elected officials in the states, the reality for poorer women in conservative states is that some will have to carry babies they don’t want – even in cases of rape or incest – if they can. Do not travel to states where abortion clinics are still allowed.
Abortion has always been an issue that evokes deep moral passion on both sides. But the response from the left has been fueled by outrage over the loss of a legal right that women believed they would have forever.
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez wants to impeach judges for lying about Roe and setting a precedent during their hearings. Maxine Waters said, “hell with the Supreme Court. We will defy them.” So much for the rule of law.
The response from the media was more personal and probing than anything I’ve seen in my professional life. Some female experts have expressed anger, betrayal, and despair for themselves, their daughters, and nieces – and some are attacking the Supreme Court.
Linda Greenhouse, a formerly defeated Supreme Court reporter for the New York Times who once participated in a pro-choice demonstration, tore the Roe reversal as “arrogant,” writing, “What you’ve done is the legitimacy of the court on which you are privileged to spend the rest of your life.”
CNN host Jake Tapper, who mainly focused on Trump’s unsubstantiated fraud charges, said, “US institutions have barely held up, but you can be forgiven for wondering, like our European allies are, or our American allies? The experiment will ultimately prove successful.”
Times columnist Pamela Paul says the country has become “ruthless” and that there is an “American propensity for cruelty”. From abortion to guns to the death penalty, she says, “supposedly the institution charged with carrying out the highest standard of justice for its citizens and yet utterly indifferent to the lives of American women, children, and families.”
I understand that by eliminating Roe, the Supreme Court threw kerosene on a smoldering fire, and that has, among other things, fueled criticism of whether certain judges were publicly and privately misleading when they were confirmed.
News organizations also warn that the court could set other key precedents on fire – understandable, given Clarence Thomas’s consenting opinion explicitly said same-sex marriage and contraception should be overhauled.
But the job of journalists, unlike opinion people, is, to be honest, and the argument that the conservative majority is handing the issue back to elected state officials has certainly been dispelled. Again, that’s not some crazy fantasy — Republicans like Mike Pence are calling for a nationwide ban, and Mitch McConnell has said it can.
Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the National Press Club in Washington on November 30, 2021. Republicans like Mike Pence are calling for a nationwide ban, and Mitch McConnell has said it is possible. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
On the other hand, while Trump took credit for eliminating Roe through his three appointees, he did not celebrate the end of abortion — as President Biden attempted to reinstate interim terms by declaring that “Roe is on the ballot.” “. Trump is reportedly concerned that the ruling could hurt Republicans and suburban independents.
It’s no revelation that politics has become increasingly tribal, with the red and blue camps demonizing the other side. The Dobbs ruling, leaked to Politico beforehand, escalates that we-equal-you-bad mentality.
On the right, an important debate is emerging about whether the pro-life movement should now support social programs for babies once they are born and for women who do not want to give birth.
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David French, who has spent his career representing and raising money for pro-life groups and is delighted with the ruling, writes in the Dispatch:
“Life and love are countercultural in too many parts of the right… In scarlet America, a wave of performative and punitive legislation is sweeping the country. In the context of abortion, bounty-hunting laws in Texas, Idaho, and Oklahoma pit citizens against each other, encouraging lawsuits, even by people who have not been harmed by abortion.
The pro-life movement, which was once firmly against prosecuting women who have abortions, is now being split by an ‘abolitionist’ wing that not only imposes criminal penalties on mothers but even legal protection of the lives of the mothers. Mother questions when a pregnancy is physically dangerous.”
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At that point, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem said “Face the Nation” that doctors who perform abortions in her state would be prosecution targets, even if they send abortion pills to their patients.
French doesn’t sound very optimistic. And he uses the vaccine wars to make his point:
“Parts of pro-life red America went from skepticism to outright defiance. ‘How dare you tell me what to do. This is my decision between my doctor and me.'”
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday, February 25, 2022, in Orlando, Florida. Noem said “Face the Nation” that doctors who perform abortions in her state would be the target of prosecution, even if they send abortion pills to their patients. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Sounds familiar? Do I need to be able to control my body?
“They traded pseudoscience and outlandish conspiracy theories… When I bring this up, people get outraged… If you condemn the anti-vax movement, you’re an elitist. You hate anti-vaxxers. How dare you take their decisions to doubt?”
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At a time when America could use some healing, both sides are doubling and tripling, and we’re seeing years of lawsuits, lobbying, and possibly law violations.
No wonder it feels like the country is being torn at the seams.
Howard Kurtz hosts FOX News Channel’s MediaBuzz (Sundays 11 am-12 pm ET). Based in Washington, DC, he joined the network in July 2013 and regularly appeared on Special Report with Bret Baier and other programs.
