Wednesday
Since news broke about the Supreme Court planning to take away women’s right to make their own reproduction decisions—or rather, to allow rightwing legislators to do so—we can see why some on the right have been seeking to ban Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale from schools. Nothing like seeing dystopian fiction coming true in real time to focus the mind.
Indeed, if the Supreme Court really is on the verge of overturning Roe v Wade, there will be someone who actually once bore the title of “handmaid” voting with the majority. According to the Washington Post, in 2010 Justice Amy Coney Barrett “was one of three handmaids” in an Indiana branch of the People of Praise, a conservative Catholic group which taught that husbands are the heads of families and have authority over their wives. Apparently (perhaps after getting bad press from the novel?) the group now calls these women “leaders.”
In the novel, abortion doctors are tortured and executed. Nor are there any exceptions for rape, as we see when woman #230 must publicly testify about her abortion. It so happens that the narrator of the novel knows her:
Two-thirty comes during Testifying. It’s Janine, telling about how she was gang-raped at fourteen and had an abortion. But whose fault was it? Aunt Helena says, holding up one plump finger. Her fault, her fault, her fault. We chant in unison. Who led them on? She did. She did. She did. Why did God allow such a terrible thing to happen? Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson.”
In the eyes of certain current legislators, it’s not even a “terrible thing” but an opportunity. Here’s what Ohio state Rep. Jean Schmidt said when confronted with the hypothetical of a 13-year-old becoming pregnant from a rape:
It is a shame that it happens, but there’s an opportunity for that woman, no matter how young or old she is, to make a determination about what she’s going to do to help that life be a productive human being.”
While Handmaid’s Tale is only too relevant given the news, on Twitter today I saw many turning to a passage from another popular work:
“Stay angry, little Meg,” Mrs Whatsit whispered. “You will need all your anger now.”
I’m sure many of you will recognize the quote. In Madeleine L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time, Meg’s father has been captured by some dark force which has descended upon the earth. There are different interpretations as to what the darkness is, but the darkness many of us today fear is authoritarianism, whether in the form of Trumpism, Putinism, or Sharia law (the Christian version).
With that darkness having descended on both the Supreme Court and the GOP, we need to tap into Meg’s strength to make sure it doesn’t capture Congress and the presidency as well. At one point in the novel Meg suffers a debilitating paralysis but manages to rally. Like us, she doesn’t have the luxury of despair.
We need all our anger now.