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Opinion

Missouri Supreme Court Gives Face to War on Women.

By June 16, 2023June 17th, 2023No Comments
“​I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.”–Mary Shelley
When we think of war, what do we normally think of? Troops marching down the main street? Or is it the body count that would make the Bubonic plague blush? Or is the devastation and collateral damage that war brings with it? We jump to the scenes of “Gettysburg” or “Apocalypse Now” that both shock and mortify us at our very cores while trying to the process of comprehending the images of what war actually looks like.
But what does war look like when it’s unspoken? When there are no tanks rolling down the street, no warning sirens going off, or buildings being reduced to rubble. What would it look like? Can we call it a war when the state legislators start turning on their own constituents? According to Fred Wellman, a highly decorated army combat vet and one of the biggest and loudest advocates for democracy, we can and we should. Of course, he was talking about the war the GOP declared on the Trans kids and the entire LGBTQ community, and he’s not wrong because when laws start killing folks, that’s a state-sponsored war on the population.
But this is not the invisible war I’m writing about.
The invisible war can be seen in the Missouri Supreme Court’s shocking ruling that gives a face to the actual war on Women. I am writing about the more hidden one that nobody talks about and wants to leave in the dark.  It’s the actual unspoken war that Conservatives declared on women beginning in 1974 when women finally had complete independence again through the law.
Last year, Missouri witnessed one of the strictest abortion bans in the entire nation. This “trigger” ban has zero tolerance for abortion and includes no exceptions for incest or rape. The only exception is “if the mother’s life is endangered,” which requires a mother to be at death’s door before an abortion can be performed.  Our way “too eager” former demagogue of Attorney General Eric Schmitt signed it in without clarification of what is considered a “life-threatening” condition that would qualify as legal.   Our lawmakers even voted against providing health care for pregnant women despite the ban. And the Trigger Ban is putting women’s lives at risk and eventually is going to start killing. If that doesn’t scream how much they don’t value women, I don’t know what will.  Read more: Democrat alleges Missouri investigating hospital in retaliation for ad critical of Eric Schmitt.  [Rudy Keller for the Missouri Independent]
But in the midst of all political grandstanding and posturing, we can see the culture wars aimed directly at women every single day.  Even worse, abuse is ranging on behind the closed doors of courthouses. You probably haven’t heard of Dan Purdy, a lawyer out of St.Clair County.  His story didn’t get much media attention other than a dishonorable mention in the Kansas City Star back in 2020.

Purdy’s story should have made bigger headlines, considering that he sexually assaulted 6 of his clients who were sitting in Vernon County jail.  There’s even a video of the assaults taking place.  The old saying, “Don’t trust a backwoods southern lawyer,” is perfectly suited for Mr. Purdy’s story because it highlights how little our state cares for women. So let’s jump into it.

The ruling from the Supreme Court on ethics came down in March.  It’s appalling. With a 4-3 decision, the Supreme Court, with its infallible wisdom, and despite the recommendation Office of the Chief Disciplinary Counsel, decided that only a year-long suspension was all that was needed to be placed on an 86-year-old lawyer who sexually assaulted six of his clients on multiple occasions. The craziest part of this ruling is there was a video of the assaults! Yes, you read that right; along with testimonies from the victims, he only got a 1-year suspension on his license to practice law. So, let that sink for a minute. Our State Supreme Court decided to just suspend his license for a short time instead of completely revoking them and referring Mr. Purdy to the county prosecutor. And Mr. Purdy’s defense was “these women were enticing him” from the start of the Ethics hearing to his appeal in front of the Mo Supreme Court. And while that should disgust all of us because it’s victim blaming and shaming. The more disgusting part is that the court accepted it and gave leniency while they cried they had to protect the integrity of the “Court System and Lawyers everywhere”. But if you look at county court houses like Cedar County (which was involved in all kinds of scandals with Agape-Now renamed “The Stone of Hope”), that is par for the course in Missouri.

Neither one of these is a shining example of why we should trust or offer a piece of mind about the system.

What these stories do is prove the “Silent War” on women that the GOP has declared and how this GOP war has infiltrated our most prestigious institutions.   We see this war all the time — from how men talk to women on social media to how quickly women are dismissed in our legal system.  This GOP war comes from a very puritanical culture that has infiltrated into the homes of millions of Americans since the 1980s through TBN, CBN (Christian networks), and early morning evangelist programs on local stations and even in local radio stations.

I can remember growing up with the voice of Kenneth Copeland before morning cartoons and Sunday morning church services before regular programming. I also remember listening to the gospel hour with my grandpa while we would be working to clear out fence rows. So, the anti-woman stuff wasn’t just in our churches but in our homes being reinforced on a daily basis. And as time went on, the more extreme it got, especially with groups like ISLB (Institute for Basic Life Principles) doing outreach and pushing their materials in every evangelical church known to man. Their “biblical” material completely demeans the role women play in the world.

The big networks are partially to blame for this war since they invited the culture in by creating shows like The 700 Club and The Duggars, which fanned the flames of subjugation and control of women.  They promoted a kind of archaic stereotype based on the Ancient Roman social rules for women and/or the 1950 “Nuclear Family”.
Now, we’re still battling with unequal pay (women still get paid less than a dude for doing the same job), sexual harassment, or discrimination against simply being a woman, but that’s the least of our concerns when we don’t have full body autonomy. That front of the war has been going on for almost 40 years, but we’re hitting a point where our lawmakers are escalating the battlefront by trying and sometimes achieving legislation that wraps their personal religious beliefs into law.

 

Remember how I brought up that our Attorney General Andrew Bailey was using a pro-slavery argument to justify his anti-abortion stance? He was talking about economics and how if a woman was allowed to have an abortion, it would crash the economy and deplete the workforce. The exact same argument was used to keep folks enslaved and oppose the 13th Amendment in the 1850s.

 
 

That should tell you everything about what these jokers think of women in general. You might be wondering how exactly they’re getting away with this. That’s easy enough to answer. Through Culture wars. All the anti-trans and LGBTQ nonsense that’s been pushed lately, by what seems like everyone. It’s all geared to desensitize folks to the oppression and the “unspoken war” of women. I say that because most women understand that trans folks aren’t taking away from their femininity or their personal identity. They’re simply trying to live their best lives but this culture war has completely taken over everything and has women freaked out. I mean even some liberal-leaning folks are getting in on these talking points and go so far left that they make a hard far-right turn.

 

Now, whether or not, they realize it – they’re actually hurting women by trying to define them by their reproductive organs and stressing that’s the only real value a woman has in the world. The very thing they are not understanding is that they’re allowing the patriarchal side of the discussion to define them as a woman. They just perpetuate the ongoing war and abuse of all women (trans included). I mean look at how hard it is for a rape victim or domestic assault victim to be taken seriously- even now in 2023. And there’s statistic to back up that claim.

 

They also don’t seem to grasp that the culture they’re trying to support views them as “livestock” rather than human beings. Because once the trans folks and LGBTQ are gone-They are going to come even harder at women, and will we see more violence and maltreatment of women like Mr. Purdy’s victims. It won’t be the the poor or women of color they will come after either. It will be every woman from all walks of life. But instead of behind closed doors and or in the dark alleys. It will be in broad daylight and through legislation.

 

So, let’s try and work on letting all women be in power over themselves, and stop letting the crazies define what a woman should be, or what rights a woman should have. When the crazies are calling for all of us to lose our right to vote, and that we can’t get out of a bad relationship. It’s time to start working on coming together as a collective whole and start fighting back. Before we all end up wearing funny hats, and dresses, marked with “scarlet letters” across our chests. As always, Take care and Take care of one another,