Athena D. Mutua

Volume 27.1 (download PDF)

Abstract

The Dobbs decision has been leaked. Gathered outside of New York City’s St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, pro-choice protesters chant: “Not the church, not the state, the people must decide their fate.” A white man wearing a New York Fire Department sweatshirt and standing on the front steps responds: “I am the people, I am the people, I am the people, the people have decided, the court has decided, you lose . . . . You have no choice. Not your body, not your choice, your body is mine and you’re having my baby.”

Despicable but not unexpected, this man’s comments provide insight into the meaning of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the conditions it creates for women, girls, and others capable of pregnancy. Despite the Supreme Court’s assertions that it is returning the decision of abortion back to “the people,” a disingenuous concept from the start, American society currently finds itself facing dueling judicial opinions about whether individuals can access abortion medication (mifepristone) to exercise control over their own bodies and lives. This Article is an exegesis of the statements of this man. His statements and the instincts that support them tell us a great deal about the condition of U.S. society, the state of our democracy, and the relationship of both to the concrete meaning of Dobbs and its “theory of life.”