NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
It feels like the country is being torn apart.
Or, as the Atlantic put it, becoming two nations sharing the same geographic space.
I’ve been around long enough to remember the national traumas of Vietnam and Watergate, of 9/11 and Iraq, of four impeachments against three presidents.
And yet, after a weekend of nationwide protests, this is different.
The latest era of polarization began with the tumultuous Trump presidency, and deepened during the pandemic, when the question of getting vaccinated split the country into red and blue camps. It deepened further when Donald Trump insisted the 2020 election had been stolen, and with the riot of January 6th – leading to the latest hearings in which Republicans and Trump appointees have described in damaging detail a pressure campaign by the former president to block Joe Biden’s election.
Then came the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
America is now literally divided – this has moved beyond metaphor – into states where abortion is banned and states where it is legal.
In tossing out the 50-year precedent, the court’s conservative majority shocked the country by going beyond the case at hand – Mississippi outlawing 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 of them will have to carry babies they don’t want – even in cases of rape or incest – if they can’t travel to states that still allow abortion clinics.
Abortion has always been an issue that stirs deep moral passion on both sides. But the backlash from the left is fueled by outrage at losing a legal right that women thought they would have forever.
On that point, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem told “Face the Nation” that doctors who provide abortions in her state would be targeted for prosecution, including 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 moved from skepticism to outright defiance. ‘How dare you tell me what to do. This is my decision between me and my doctor.’”
Sound familiar? I should be able to control my body?
“They trafficked in pseudo-science and bizarre conspiracy theories… When I bring this up, people get furious… If you condemn the anti-vaxx movement, then you’re an elitist. You hate anti-vaxxers. How dare you question their decisions?”
At a time when America could use some healing, both sides are doubling and tripling and quadrupling down and we’re looking at years of litigation, lobbying and possibly lawbreaking.
Little wonder it feels like the country is being torn apart at the seams.
The post Roe rage: Why America is angry and the media are outraged over abortion ruling appeared first on Fox News.
