YouTube Script for the Abortion March and Build Back Better

Welcome to the voice of the Catholic Left. I’m Mike Bindner. Let's get to it.

The first Monday in October is upon us. Because of recent events in Texas, the pro-coice community was out in force in the streets of Washington. Across from the street from the Court, Congressional democrats are working on the Build Back Better Act. These two things are profoundly related. In this video, I will say how.

Abortion first

Texas abortion bill consideration was scary. It should not have been. The decision to wait for the issue to be ripe was correct and should have been unanimous. Texas is bluffing and the bluff is now being called. Clinics should ignore the law.

The Mississippi case will be heard in December. The media line is that Roe is doomed. It probably is not. 

Court will  debate whether abortion can be banned prior to viability. 15 weeks from the last period is equal to 13 weeks of gestation. 90% of abortions happen before this benchmark.

Real issue is state power. Framing this as a women's rights issue is dangerous. The more appropriate questions is this:

Do states have the power to ban abortion at any period prior to viability (literally, the ability to be born, absent congressional action regulating their status before the law?

That answer is easy. It is no.

That answer is also dangerous. While a definitive answer shuts down the barrage of laws designed to rehear Roe, it also sets out a path where, in theory, Congress could act to do what the States cannot. This is why the argument is never made. 

I discussed the 14th argument to the Center for Reproductive Rights in Gonzalez v. Carhart and they did not use it. I had  proposed that without Congress using the right authorities, the law would have fallen. 

In reality, There was no way to change the outcome and a 14th Amendment theory of the case would have been better law and the Mississippi law could never have been passed because of it.

 Instead federal partial birth abortion act was justified by Justce Kennedy under the Commerce Clause 

(oddly, he did not accept using the same clause to justify mandates in Obamacare). 

The key point is that Kennedy did not let States ban partial abortion under their authority. Only Congress could.

The Kennedy majority included Roberts and Alito, who did not go with Scalia and Thomas in using PBA to overturn Roe - which was its true intent. 

Kennedy clerks Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are likely to go the way he did in the upcoming law, especially if the issue is formed as one of state power. Indeed, such a holding is likely to be unanimous. 

Scalia is dead - only he thought state sovereignty was a thing.

The second question is, even if Congress did pick an earlier date than liability, could the states then regulate abortion as if Roe were not there.

The answer is still no.

Ending the life of a legally recognized person cannot be any different than ending it for another person. The rules around doing so would have to be the same, including whether the mother can be punished. That is what equal protection means. In MS, § 97-3-19. Clause 2 d would apply. The state cannot have its cake and eat it too.

Pregnancies after the point of congressional recognition would have to be registered because the fetus would be a legal person.

Any pregnancy loss of a legal person would have to be investigated in some manner or another. Selective prosecution could not be written into law - which means a huge expansion of police power over women.

Such police power would be a violation of the due process rights of women AND could never be passed.

If these issues are not addressed in this way, things may not go so well in December.

Ending the ability of states to act without Congress acting first ends the ability of the pro-life movement to look busy. It would need a new strategy

The Catholic bishops need a bit of remedial education on the constitutional rights behind Roe v. Wade.

If Roe falled, so would the protection of the Church in Alabama (considering that many of its citizens still consider the Pope to be the antichrist. Without the federalization of civil rights, the Catholic Church in Alabama would likely be banned.

Espinoza v. Montana ended the Blaine Amendments prohibiting Catholic schools from receiving state funding. Instead of fighting to overturn Blaine (by overturning Roe), it should instead fight for direct funding.

It should quit trying to deny Catholic politicians communion (which includes state and local officers and campaigners for the 2022 elections - it has nothing to do with  Biden). Rome has already told them not to rush into anything so stupid.

The action on reducing abortion is to fight for living wages for families. This includes 3 things.

Expanding the Childcare tax credit as proposed in Building Back Better

Making the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit in the American Recovery Plan Act permanent, as proposed in hte  Build Back Better

Raising the minimum wage. 

If Senator Manchin does not wish to have the CTC become welfare, he needs to support making work pay.

All three provisions need to be considered must-pass votes for a perfect right to life legislative scorecard.

The bishops need to insist on this or own the fact that some of them are a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party.

And that is why what is happening on both sides of First Street, Northeast, are related.