Katz: The clock is ticking back faster than my blabbermouth washing machine can spin

Janyce C. Katz was an assistant attorney general for almost 25 years and currently works at General Innovations and Goods, Inc. She is a frequent Dispatch contributor. 

I just had a conversation with my washing machine — It's quite smart and now, given the serious eroding of the privacy rule, it feels compelled to tell EVERYONE what kind of clothes I have and when I wash.

For all I know, it may be peeping into the kitchen where the refrigerator holds sway.

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Soon, given the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization as set forth by Justice Samuel Alito, that washing machine and refrigerator may be permitted legally to blab all my personal information to everyone.

Not that it isn’t already trying to do that.

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Justice Alito found that there was no abortion right in the 1860s, when the Fourteenth Amendment was written.

Nor was there really a privacy right or a decision overriding the Comstock laws that punished anyone who used, sold or even talked about birth control.

In the early 20th century, Margaret Sanger was found guilty of talking about birth control to women with eight-plus living children and many miscarriages. She and witnesses had testified that multiple pregnancies were hard on women’s health, with many dying because of them.

The judge refused to consider her plea, saying women should understand that if they have sex, they probably will get pregnant and if they get pregnant, they could die.

And women were mostly considered property of the father, their husband, etc., who owned their property and made all decisions.

If women misbehaved, husbands had the right to beat them as long as they used something the size of a man’s thumb (three inches) or smaller.

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At least to date, many alleged “pro-life” legislators believe women don't have the brains to make decisions about their reproductive health even very young and pregnant after being raped or already struggling to support children by working multiple jobs which offer few or no benefits. Instead, laws punish and fine doctors and allow people helping women needing abortions to be sued.

Much better than in Vichy France, where they brought out the old guillotine to behead women who had abortions. That was a real "pro-life” position! 

But I forgot: the government gives, the government takes. Vichy France, following the Nazi's lead during WWII, sterilized women (and men) whom they found to be undesirable, just like the U.S. did after the Supreme Court issued Buck v. Bell in 1927.

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But they went a step further and made sure those they called undesirable were sent to Nazi killing camps to be slaughtered mechanically or just by starvation and disease.  That was one way to make sure daughters couldn’t fall in love with any Jew or Gypsy.

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Look at it this way, if you really wanted to be matched with someone whose family has the same background, religion, and skin color as you, it will be no big deal if those court cases protecting the right to marry who you want or to use birth control are overthrown.

Justice Clarence Thomas promised Wild West “freedom” including lots of guns and the possibility of returning to Comstock laws to prevent birth control information or items.  Bring the right court case and watch that 6-3 vote continue to undo rights we have been taking for granted.

So ladies, keep reproducing and wait for the next ax to fall as the Supreme Court turns back the clock to the mid-19th century.

More: Constitution expert: 'Alito's wrath' may strip away your right to sex, kids

Thank you, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump and all the Republicans who support turning the clock back a century and a half.

Oh, yes, and thank all of the folks who couldn’t bother to vote in 2016, or who didn’t like Donald Trump, or voted for a third party because they just couldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton.

Remember, if you don’t bother to vote in 2022, things could get worse.

Or better, depending upon the century in which you would prefer to live.

Janyce C. Katz was an assistant attorney general for almost 25 years and currently works at General Innovations and Goods, Inc. She is a frequent Dispatch contributor.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Opinion: Roe decision sets women's rights back to mid-19th century