Nationalism, Christian fundamentalism, and misogyny: the US supreme court’s abortion ban should scare us all | Jack Marshall’s column

But, as the country celebrates, 170 million women in the country will wake up with fewer rights than they had a month ago after a conservative cabal of unelected supreme court justices stripped them of their bodily autonomy and removed their right to an abortion.

The decision was toxically political. Five of the six conservative justices appointed to the court for life by right-wing Republican presidents voted to make women’s healthcare more deadly. These are lawmakers who are in positions of power thanks to presidents whom a majority of people voted against.

Some 71% of Americans support a woman’s right to choose, including a majority of Republicans. And yet, thanks to right-wing white nationalism, aggressive Christian fundamentalism, and blatant misogyny, women’s uteruses are more regulated than assault rifles in the most powerful country in the world.

Banning abortions doesn’t stop abortions, it stops safe abortions. Poorer women and women of colour will be impacted more severely - an intentional manifestation of the racism and callous class warfare at play. Rich, white Republicans’ mistresses will always be able to get abortions, after all.

This isn’t about protecting life, it’s about controlling it. It’s about subjugation of women and the authoritarian imposition of the insane religious doctrines of a minority on the majority. If you’re against abortions, don’t get one. Instead, our sisters’, daughters’, and mothers’ lives have to be sacrificed.

And if you think this is just America, look closer to home: Scott Benton, Tory MP for Blackpool South, retweeted the Republican Party’s celebratory post which said ‘life wins’ before deleting it, while our very own right-wing government is on the precipice of overriding the Human Rights Act.

This isn’t just about the women who won’t be able to receive modern care in extreme cases such as ectopic pregnancies, rape, and incest. It’s just as much about the women who just don’t want to have a baby. Their reasons are theirs and they owe explanations to nobody.

A woman’s life shouldn’t have to be in danger for her to receive basic healthcare and every woman should have the right to choose. That this is a controversial statement is horrifying.