The costs of being apolitical
There is great peace to be found in being apolitical. However, to be so is a privilege to which few can legitimately lay claim. Several such ‘apolitical’ individuals found nothing to fear when Donald Trump was elected president of the US, dismissing upset liberals as over-reacting, believing the “system” would hold him in check. Even women, of whom Trump had spoken so disparagingly, saw no danger in him, with a majority of white women voting for him in 2016. Three years later, the hysterical women and liberals protesting Trump have been proven right. His pre
sidency has ensured a Supreme Court bench stacked in favour of conservatives—he has appointed two SC judges. Since then, eight American states have passed restrictive laws against abortion, with Alabama practically banning it outright— without exceptions for rape or incest.
The Republican strategy is not to implement these laws so much as to challenge the 1973 Roe vs Wade Supreme Court ruling that made abortion a right in the US. With five conservatives on the Supreme Court bench, courtesy Trump, the danger of the ruling being overturned or diluted has become very real. Trump, before and since his election, has vitiated the atmosphere in the US against free press, minorities, people of colour and immigrants.
White supremacists have entered the mainstream discourse, and hate has been normalised. It should hardly be surprising then that an assault on the bodily autonomy on half of America’s population—women— should have come. A total ban on abortion is not a move supported by all Republicans. A majority of Americans too reportedly are against a complete ban.
However, what people want may not even be factored in by politicians. The victims of such cynical, hard-line politics may end up being women, especially women of colour and the poor. On the other hand, it is possible that this threat to freedom of women may galvanise voters in 2020 to reject the Republicans. In the meantime, the apolitical and the undecideds will have to look beyond their immediate privilege and take a stand.