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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThey're Coming for Birth Control (BE VERY AFRAID)
(FUCK ALL THE GODDAMNED WOMAN-HATING CHRISTOFASCIST THEOCRATS)
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a nightmare
Theyre Coming for Birth Control (BE VERY AFRAID)
10/12/2023 by Jill Filipovic
and anti-discrimination laws, and gay rights, and the First Amendment.

Kristen Waggoner, president of the Alliance Defending Freedom, outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 5, 2022the day of oral arguments in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, in which a website design company in Colorado refused to create websites for same-sex weddings. In the end, the Court decided to green light what was previously understood as discrimination. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
This story originally appeared on Jill.substack.com, a newsletter from journalist, lawyer and author Jill Filipovic.
If you want just a little taste of where the conservative movement is headed, look at the Alliance Defending Freedoma right-wing legal organization that has spearheaded the fight against abortion rights. The ADF is the group that overturned Roe v. Wade, and ended the era of legal abortion in the United States. And theyre clear on what theyre coming for next: Trans rights. Gay rights. The separation of church and state. Secularism. Anti-discrimination laws. And contraception. Earlier this month, the New Yorker published an incisive profile of the group: In the past dozen years, its lawyers had won 14 Supreme Court victories, including overturning Roe v. Wade; allowing employer-sponsored health insurance to exclude birth control; rolling back limits on government support for religious organizations; protecting the anonymity of donors to advocacy groups; blocking pandemic-related public-health rules; and establishing the right of a baker to refuse to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, David Kirkpatrick wrote.
. . . .
The ADF is only one of many right-wing groups agitating against womens rights. But theyre a particularly powerful one. And understanding their agenda, which is an explicitly Christian one, is crucial to understanding where U.S. law may go in the next few years. The ADF and their many benefactors come out of the religious right, and what they ultimately seek is a Christian America in which their own conservative religious values dictate law and policy.
The ADF has supported laws that criminalize gay sodomy.
They have sued to allow prayer in schools.
They have argued in favor of conversion therapy, a practice now banned in many states because its so damaging, in which therapists try to un-gay children and adults alike.
They fight laws that attempt to prohibit discrimination against LGBT people, arguing that it should be a persons right to discriminate as they see fit (or at least if they have a religious pretext for discrimination).
Theyre active abroad, supporting efforts overseas to criminalize same-sex relationships. Homophobia in developing nations, including in countries that jail and even execute gay people, is being fueled by the ADF and other U.S. Christian organizations. Many of the ADFs claims come down to religious freedom, which in their telling isnt just the right of an individual to practice their own religion without state interference, but the right of an individual to decide that their religious beliefs should determine how other people live and what other people have access to (or dont) in secular spaces.
. . . .
Amy Coney Barrett and Josh Hawley both lectured at the programConey Barrett five times. Both lectured the summer of 2013, when, according to Kirkpatricks reporting, the ADF distributed the following lexicon to participants, intended to guide how they spoke about various issues:
instead of bigotry, anti-tolerance, say defending biblical, religious principles
instead of homophobia, say convictions against homosexual behavior
instead of hate crimes, say so-called hate crimes
instead of sex education, say sexual indoctrination
instead of gay marriage and its advocates, say marriage imitation and opponents of marriage
instead of transgender, say cross-dressing or sexually confused
instead of gay and lesbian civil rights movement, say homosexual agenda.
. . . . .
The birth control pill has saved millions of lives, including the lives of children who would not have survived if their mothers had not been able to plan or space their pregnancies. It has been one foundation upon which womens freedoms have been built: Professor Claudia Goldin, who just won a Nobel Prize in economics, is perhaps most famous for her work demonstrating the birth control pills huge impact on womens labor force participation. A world in which people agree the birth control pill was a mistake is a world in which people agree that womens liberation was a mistakethat women should not be in control of our bodies or our lives, should not work, should not chart our own paths, should not be free. And that is the world that the ADF, and the many conservatives who fund them and support them, are trying to build.
https://msmagazine.com/2023/10/12/alliance-defending-freedom-birth-control-trans-gay/
diva77
(7,880 posts)leftstreet
(40,683 posts)It is sickening to me to see the overall silence (from every corner that's not associated with women's issues) surrounding these attempts at overthrowing civil rights.
Thin end of the wedge, but no one sees it.
DURec
CaliforniaPeggy
(156,620 posts)wnylib
(26,020 posts)at RW public forums and town hall meetings to speak out, like the Putin Party does at Dem town halls and school board meetings. We won't convince the misogynists and bigots in office to change their agenda, but we can make enough noise about it to convince voters that these people should be voted out of office.
Lonestarblue
(13,480 posts)case to make all birth control illegal. An attempt has already been made to prevent the FDA from authorizing abortion pills. If that attempt succeeds, it will then set the precedent to outlaw birth control pills. The ADF creates fake cases where there has been no harm to a litigant, but the cases are tailor made to get Supreme Court buy in. The Court has now ruled on cases where no actual harm occurred, just a claim that sometime in the future if a person decided to start a business serving the public and if someone seeks services that person does not like, discrimination against a protected category of people is perfectly legal. The US system of justice was based on actual harm in the past. Now its based on hypothetical harm to the new protected group of white rabid evangelicals.
H2O Man
(79,056 posts)Thank you for this.
RAB910
(4,030 posts)the power is with the people (for now) if we exercise it
wnylib
(26,020 posts)Buns_of_Fire
(19,161 posts)Easy answer: theirs, of course -- who cares about YOUR freedom?
peppertree
(23,344 posts)"Due to recent legislation, we regret we are unable to offer contraceptive items of any kind.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
Thank you for shopping with us,
The Management."
cue the Musak...
wnylib
(26,020 posts)peppertree
(23,344 posts)Business has been brisk at Pepe Amor's pharmacy in Tijuana, since President Josh Hawley outlawed all forms of contraception in February.
The Abolish Birth Control (ABC) bill was the first piece of legislation Hawley signed since squeaking into office with 271 electoral votes despite losing the popular vote to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by 10 million in the hotly-contested 2028 elections.
And Californians aren't the only ones flocking to Amor's since the bill was signed: Louisiana resident Lee Bideaux said he drove four days to get here.
"It's damn near impossible at the other border crossings," Bideaux fumed. "They got condom-sniffing dogs now!"
Tijuana became the top destination for "rubber tourism" after California Governor Katie Porter ordered state patrolmen to disregard Hawley's executive order requiring all law enforcement to check motorists for prophylactics and other banned items such as Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel, A Handmaid's Tale.
"Read my whiteboard, Mr. President," Governor Porter declared on Monday, "this is unconstitutional."
But for Amor, the controversy has meant a windfall - with no signs of slowing down.
"Consuelo and I are planning to open a second location," he said, beaming.
"More Amor."
For NBC News, this has been Anita Drink - Tijuana, Mexico.
wnylib
(26,020 posts)Take your kids to see the Falls while mom visits an ob/gyn.
Take your girlfriend on a romantic trip to Niagara Falls and stock up on condoms while you're there.
A little farther east in northern NY, visit the Akwasasne/St. Regis Mohawk Reserve, which straddles the US-Canadian border. Just a few steps to a Canadian drug store to stock up in your contraceptive needs.
In Montana, just follow the bear tracks into Canada on your hunting expedition, and meet your prearranged supplier in the Canadian woods for all your contraceptive needs, with extras to sell back home. Ditto for Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wyoming.
In Wisconsin and Michigan, skate across Lake Superior or Lake Huron in winter. In summer, take a cruise. Meet up with your Canadian supplier.
In Seattle, cruise up to Vancouver for everything you want.
Keep a good enough supply to sell to middle and southern states. Guaranteed income, private market, no income taxes.
peppertree
(23,344 posts)For them, I suspect, the perverse pleasure lies precisely in denying others the very things they like to have in spades.
Freedom for me - but not for thee.
wnylib
(26,020 posts)They have abortions or pay for them for their girlfriends, wives, mistresses, or daughters. They use birth control themselves. They can afford secret, private care for abortions and birth control. They are just on their own power trips to get votes from their base, stay in office, and enjoy the perqs that average people don't have.
Hekate
(100,133 posts)Duncanpup
(15,651 posts)Initech
(108,783 posts)I think their ultimate goal is that they want the church to decide who can and can't reproduce. Fuck them.
love_katz
(3,262 posts)PCIntern
(28,369 posts)I believed him then.
calimary
(90,039 posts)Good to see the language massage/manipulation listed here. Buzz phrases to beware of. Its important for our side to understand the code-speak like these examples clearly show.
KNOW THE ENEMY. AND their tricks.
KS Toronado
(23,727 posts)knowing that "303 Creative LLC" lawsuit was all a big made up lie was no problem for them.
IbogaProject
(5,913 posts)That is their proper name.
Delphinus
(12,522 posts)I hope I remember that.
GuppyGal
(1,748 posts)edisdead
(3,396 posts)I feel like everyone just assumes the wrong will be righted.
That eventually enough democrats will be elected and things will be put back together. But I dont believe that is going to happen. As RBG noted the privacy angle wasnt a strong case to hold and it didnt so a new idea is going to have to be the basis. I would argue that no other living thing can or should be able to force you to use your body to survive. But thats just me.
Unfortunately I can see people getting to lackadaisical about it. Finding ways to deal with it personally and overlooking people that dont have the same controls or opportunities. People learn to live with fascism unfortunately. By this I mean people in blue states where abortion is legal need to keep the pressure on. Will they? I am not convinced.
Iggo
(49,928 posts)Every time they try to make you a second class citizen be angry.
ecstatic
(35,075 posts)And other, non pregnancy related issues. What refugs are doing is simply unbelievable. I can't believe we haven't chased them out of office yet. I'm disgusted.