Will abortion bans make rich people care about our dystopian criminal justice system?
This week, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita pledged to “investigate” the doctor who administered an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim. That she didn’t break any laws is besides the point, it seems.
"So we're gathering the information, we're gathering the evidence as we speak, and we're going to fight this to the end, including looking at her licensure," Rokita said. He claimed she failed to report the procedure, which turned out to be another lie, but I don’t quite see him going on Fox News to admit that he was mistaken.
In U.S. political discourse, the right-wing dingbat politician serves an important role: They make slightly smarter Republicans look like dignified statesmen—think Sarah Palin, GOAT, to John McCain. They gobble up headlines, and inspire liberal head-shaking and mockery, which of course serves to further endear them to their voters.
The most visible current versions are Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who strive to outdo each other with how big a machine gun they give their toddler in the family photo.
These people are largely too dumb to get much done within the confines of U.S. Congress. Plus they’re clearly mostly interested in showboating.
But you know which dingbat right-wingers have virtually unlimited power?
District attorneys and attorneys general in conservative districts, whose power has expanded for decades. Prosecutors have such unlimited authority that we’ve basically done away with the right to trial in America: 97 percent of charges end in guilty pleas rather than trial, allowing the prosecutor to rack up guilty pleas to showcase in future elections. And they’re not as vulnerable to an ouster as other election officials if they overstep: special elections for district attorney draw the kind of voters, especially in conservative areas, for whom fears of crime are a more pertinent issue than government overreach.
This almost unlimited power is usually wielded against poor people and people of color. It’s why criminal justice reform is one of those issues that good liberals will pay lip service to, but there’s only so much emotional investment you have in an issue with no skin in the game.
But as Rokita’s enthusiastic foray into the national spotlight shows, abortion bans present a seismic shift in this dynamic. The only question is, can abortion advocates expand the fight to a structural overhaul of our punitive apparatus now that the wealthy are at risk of being embroiled in our dystopian legal system?
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