War Pigs
For Melissa.
The day I fell in love with Black Sabbath was the day our son Van, at age 5, asked us to turn up “Iron Man” on the car radio. Ever since, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed Black Sabbath together, and I’ve come to appreciate the supreme majesty of their musicality and their lyrics.
After the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade and removed the constitutional right to abortion, I found myself listening to Sabbath even more than I had in the previous five years and especially to “War Pigs,” which has remained my most-played song on Spotify since June.
A masterpiece about the evils of war and man’s desire to kill and destroy, “War Pigs” has served as both a cathartic and empowering resource, and it may or may not have been the soundtrack to a bit of mild anarchy I enjoyed within the first 100 days of the ruling (a story for another time). In support of my journey (not the anarchy), my husband, who works as a part-time rock DJ, has dedicated the song to me multiple times on the radio.
Although it was inspired by the Vietnam War and not the war on women, the song still resonates with me on an eerily familiar level. Bass player and lyricist Geezer Butler said of the song in 2017, “War is the real Satanism. Politicians are the real Satanists.” Just last month he also wrote on Twitter (in reference to the War in Ukraine), “Sad that my lyrics remain relevant. - maybe megalomaniacs like Putin should have another listen.”
As American women know all too well, a large swath of megalomaniacs exist and work much closer to home and often at our expense. It’s our local, statewide, and federal politicians’ obsession with their own power that has us scrambling for our own bodily autonomy and, although they dangle the so-called rights of the unborn in front of us like shiny objects of mass distraction, it’s clear their actions are rooted in their own self-importance and their need for dominance over us all.
Evil minds that plot destruction. Sorcerer of death's construction.
Since June 24, 2022, our country has seen a cataclysmic response to the Dobbs decision. Abortion bans, healthcare regulations, and conservative politicians in states across the nation attempting to one-up each other in terms of restrictions and retribution have wreaked havoc on what’s left of our sense of security, our medical and legal resources and, most notably, the countless women who are in a position to ask themselves, ‘what am I supposed to do now?’
Overturning the nearly 50-year precedent has led to abortion either being outlawed, or well on its way to being outlawed, in nearly half the states in our nation. To recap, as of mid-October, here’s where we stand:
Most abortions are now banned in at least 13 states with no exceptions for rape or incest. To its credit, Mississippi does allow for abortions in the case of rape, but not incest, and I’ll go ahead and let you infer from that what you will.
In five other states there are gestational term limits, with Georgia being the most stringent, banning the procedure after six weeks, which is well before many women even know they’re pregnant.
Eight additional states have blocked abortion bans in some form or another, including my home state of Indiana where a judge has blocked a ban on nearly all abortions while a lawsuit against it moves forward.
Ten more states, including the District of Columbia, have what are called, “limited abortions” which, more often than not, set gestational limits past 22 to 24 weeks and/or restrictions on state funds being used to cover abortions.
Then there’s the remaining 15 states where state laws protect abortion and, in many cases, also increase access to providers and insurance coverage.
Politicians hide themselves away. They only started the war. Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor.
A common trope among “pro-life” politicians involves the perception that women receiving abortions are misguided misfits using the procedure as a form of birth control. Other myths espoused by these right-leaning liars include women’s inherent selfishness and the idea that the nearly one million American women receiving abortions each year are somehow being coaxed by leftist radicals which, I assure you, they are not.
More damning than our politicians’ misguided rhetoric, however, are the consequences confronting women of all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds as the result of the “campaigning” that led to this summer’s ruling.
From the forced closing of clinics to pre-Roe back-alley abortions; the criminalization of pregnancy loss to the refusal to treat complicated miscarriages; the redefining of fertilized eggs and embryos to the reluctance on the part of medical providers to administer care, women are facing some pretty dire circumstances for (gasp) wanting any control over their own bodies during a pregnancy in the year of our Lord 2022.
And now that so many unanswered questions are left in the hands of the medical community and the patients they serve to sort out for themselves, it’s difficult not to wonder where all the politicians are who got us into this mess in the first place.
Quite simply, the politicians who advocated for this nonsense are literally hiding away their beliefs in the face of the midterm election and choosing to dangle new shiny objects, like the economy, gas prices, and crime, in our faces instead.
Time will tell on their power minds. Making war just for fun. Treating people just like pawns in chess. Wait till their judgment day comes.
While I can’t say that hot-button policy issues don’t impact me (because they do), what I can say is that they do not matter nearly as much to me in the wake of what I see as a full-blown humanitarian crisis. When women are facing serious harm to their health as the result of being denied their reproductive rights, I truly find it hard to care a whole lot about the price I’m paying at the pump.
In August, Kansas voters overwhelmingly blocked a ballot measure that would have banned abortion in the state. Additionally, in 10 states, the number of women registering to vote rose significantly after Roe was overturned. And, while time will soon tell whether this precedent is enough to affect the outcome of the midterm election, I, and countless women, continue to live in the hope that by electing officials who actually care about women’s rights and not just our votes will help put our country back on the right side of history.
Fortunately, and while our elected officials continue making war just for fun, women still have the right to vote. I plan to exercise my right in full force this Tuesday on election day, and I hope you do, too.
In May, I wrote the following when the draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked, and I think it’s worth repeating in case you too feel powerless now that our bodily autonomy is no longer protected on a federal level. Despite the lies that continue to be spewed regarding the legitimacy of the democratic process (funny how it’s only “legitimate” when a Republican wins an election), I still believe in our country and the power of our voices and our votes to be heard.
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