Conservative SCOTUS exposes personal privilege
By James Olsen
The appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court on Monday, October 26th, 2020 marks the most conservative Supreme Court in our country’s history. Policies and past rulings such as Roe vs. Wade, gay marriage, and the Affordable Care Act could be overturned or reversed creating negative consequences for millions of Americans.
It is at this moment that Americans will begin to realize how their partisan ideology lines up with their day-to-day lives and shedding light on our privileges.
This hyper-conservative court will undoubtedly have ripple effects that nearly every citizen will feel. However, some classes of people will be more impacted than others. The biggest ruling that the GOP and conservative voters are giddy about overturning is Roe v. Wade.
A brief background of this ruling is that the United States protects pregnant women’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without government restriction. Criminalization of such a procedure is an infringement on a woman’s rights. Something those small government republicans should highly favor.
Even in 1972, when the ruling was passed, it was highly contentious and politicians have been running campaigns both for and against ever since. In the modern era, this decision has become highly favorable amongst voters. A 2019 Pew Research poll conducted shows that 61 percent of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in most or all cases. And the number of people against overturning the Supreme Court’s decision has been growing since the early 90s.
But there is good news. Men, who make up 49 percent of the American population will likely be unaffected should this ruling be overturned. Of course, some may be secondarily affected by the right of family members or partners being stripped away. But nominally, the rights men have over their own bodies will remain intact.
More recently than abortion rights, the Supreme court ruled that gay marriage was just as constitutional and legally binding as heterosexual marriage in 2015. And like Roe v Wade, support for gay marriage has been on a definitive upward trend for the past eight years. A Gallup poll shows over 60% approval -and climbing- every year since 2016.
This ruling is less likely to be overturned than other conservative priorities, but the fact remains that there are policies and precedents, that bolster majority public support, that are now in jeopardy due to partisan ideology.
Additionally, Republicans’ attempts to dismantle the ACA have failed for ten years. This is, of course, despite a clear majority of Americans favoring the policy. Since it was signed into law, about 20 million Americans have gained health care coverage thanks to its provisions.
But a hyper-conservative SCOTUS could mean an end of the ACA and result in millions of Americans losing their healthcare insurance. There is currently litigation in courts to remove the part of the law that protects pre-existing conditions. And in a time of a global pandemic, this could mean a death sentence.
But remember the silver lining; straight people need not worry about gay marriage getting overturned. Males, in large part, need not be concern about abortion rights getting rebuked. And those who have top-notch health insurance (i.e. government officials) with no pre-existing conditions will be relatively unfazed by the repeal of the ACA.
These demographics of people experience privilege. If you are unfortunate enough to not fit anywhere in those categories, your life would change drastically if the mentioned policies and rulings are overturned.
Rights of women’s bodies will regress to the government determining she must carry a pregnancy to term regardless of the mental, economical, or health consequences. LGBTQ couples will be stripped of the right to marry the person they love. And those who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 during the pandemic will not qualify for many health insurance plans.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Roe-v-Wade
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2014/14-556
https://news.gallup.com/poll/311672/support-sex-marriage-matches-record-high.aspx
