Susan Manning
18 hrs ·
It's disheartening to see the so-called "Pro-life" response to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death. It's clear the folks who think RBG was a vehement "baby killer" have never heard the name Susan Struck.
In the 60s & 70s, before Roe v. Wade, abortion was not only legal on US military bases, it was actively ENCOURAGED and basically mandated.
Yes, really.
Captain Susan Struck was a combat nurse in Vietnam. When she got pregnant in 1970, the Air Force starkly gave her two choices. Get an abortion or be discharged. Struck wanted to keep her baby. So she was kicked out of the service.
When she got back to the US, Struck sued the US Government for putting women in such a horrible position that they had to choose between either not being able to serve their country or getting an abortion that they didn't want.
Do you know which ACLU lawyer took her case and got the military to change their policy?
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ginsburg approached this case with the same tenacity she would later use to help Congress draft the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. In the dark days after Roe in 1973, it was perfectly legal for employers in many states to put women in the same situation that Struck was put in -"deal with your pregnancy" or suffer the consequences of a lost job.
Ginsburg fought for the rights of women to choose life. She also fought for the rights of women to be able to work without discrimination, purchase homes, have bank accounts, and a myriad of other things that make it easier for women in desperate situations to choose life in the first place.
Life is never as black & white or simple as it looks through a myopic lens. It's never either/or. There are always "ands” and "buts" to everything.
So before you paint Justice Ginsburg as some satanic villain, at least acknowledge the many abortions that likely DIDN'T happen because of her tireless advocacy for women and families.
