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If you\u2019re a regular listener of this program,  you may have noticed that we didn\u2019t publish an episode last week. As I\u2019m sure you are all aware, on the day that we usually record, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a ruling that overturned Roe vs Wade and effectively ended Americans\u2019 right to abortion in more than half of the country, including here in Oklahoma. If you want to learn more about the specifics of Oklahoma\u2019s abortion laws, including the four that were added this year, listen to episode 210, called \u201cWhy so many abortion bans?\u201d  which was published just a few weeks ago, on May 29th. It features an interview with Tamya Cox-Toure, who is the executive director of ACLU Oklahoma and co-chair of the Oklahoma Call for Reproductive Justice. 

While this Supreme Court ruling was expected because the decision was leaked a few months ago, the reality of it actually happening has left millions of people feeling heavier, angrier, and more despondent than I think we anticipated. The ruling is unequivocally harmful to every person who can become pregnant and to our society at large. American women, including my daughters, are now growing up in a world where they have more risk and fewer rights than did their mothers and grandmothers. 

This ruling will have a disproportionate impact on black and brown communities and people who are in poverty. Abortion is still legal in many states, but that doesn\u2019t mean it is accessible. Thousands of people who will need abortions are now unable to get one. 

In addition to its overt harm, this ruling is remarkable for a number of reasons - the contemputous tone taken by the author, Justice Samuel Alito, for example. Also the fact that several members of the court have been credibly accused of sexual harrassment and were appointed by a president who was also credibly accussed of sexual assault. Or that nearly all the justices, when asked during their Senate confirmation hearings if they would overturn Roe v Wade, stated that they would not, agreeing that Roe was settled precedent. And yet, here we are.

And then there is the concurring opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, which openly advocates for the overturning of the precedent set by three other Supreme Court cases - Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell - which provide protections for access to birth control, consensual sex, and same-sex marriage, respectively.

Justice Thomas is regarded as one of (if not the) most conservative justices on the bench, and these type of comments should give all Americans reason for serious concern. This kind of approach, often called \u201corginialist\u201d or "textualist,\u201d is dangerous to the American way of life because it implies that every right and privilege that is conveyed to us by legal precedent but not specifically outlined in the Constitution is now at risk. There is a lot of prededecent that all of us take for granted because  it has been settled for years or even decades. 

Abortion isn\u2019t just a partisan issue, it\u2019s a power issue. People of all political affiliations need and receive abortions every year. The issue is about who has the power over women. Who gets to make decisions about their health needs, about what happens to their bodies, about their freedom and independence and autonomy. 

The people opposed to abortion have been very open that this fight is not about science or reason, it is about values. Public policy is rooted in values, and sometimes  values cut across partisan lines in ways we don\u2019t expect. But we don\u2019t usually talk about our values with one another, we usually just talk about policy. Why is that?

To explain, I\u2019m going to borrow (and extend) an analogy from my friend Eric Liu, founder and CEO of Citizen University and the author of several books, including \u201cThe Gardens of Democracy.\u201d 

Consider our democracy to be a garden. Our values are the soil...