susan-sarandon.jpg
Getty Image
Viral

Some People Are Somehow Blaming Susan Sarandon For, Uh, The Abortion Ban In Texas, And It’s Very Silly

Overnight, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the near-total abortion ban in Texas. The state has effectively banned abortions after six weeks (without exceptions for rape or incest). Not only that, but the state now allows any private citizen to sue someone (including doctors or anyone who even gives a patient a ride to a clinic) who assists a woman in getting an abortion. It’s scary stuff with potentially far-reaching effects as other red states might follow the same bold move, one that will disproportionally affect those women without the financial resources to head elsewhere to secure an abortion.

And of course, there’s the tendency to start pointing fingers. How did we get to the point where Texas threatens to topple Roe V. Wade with The Handmaid’s Tale comparisons flying everywhere? Well, some people are going way back to Susan Sarandon’s 2016 tantrum that ended with her leaving he DNC. The Thelma and Louise star famously looked grumpy as hell during Bernie’s speech endorsing Hillary Clinton, and then she went on BBC Newsnight to declare (of why she wouldn’t vote for Hillary), “I don’t vote with my vagina.” This, for some reason, is making people believe that the Texas developments involving uteruses is mostly Sarandon’s fault.

It’s very silly to draw that conclusion. A whole lot of factors led to Trump being elected, which allowed him to appoint pro-life Supreme Court justices that would uphold whatever the heck Texas lawmakers are thinking (which allows them to take advantage of the structural oppression already present in the state). As one user declared about the current situation, “Since y’all have decided that Susan Sarandon is the most powerful woman in politics why don’t we just make her President?”

That’s kind-of what some folks are doing, as far as the Sarandon blame game goes.
https://twitter.com/ErikOverseer/status/1433029121421029378
https://twitter.com/TimFullerton/status/1433053390754439169

Meanwhile, others are pointing out how non-productive it is to blame Sarandon, rather than attempt to think of solutions to the problem and gear up for 2022, 2024, and beyond. Those Supreme Court justices are appointed for life, after all, and there’s much work to be done in red states by the pro-choice crowd.

https://twitter.com/AntheaButler/status/1433151838229049344

https://twitter.com/davidsirota/status/1433140727991599114

Is it the weekend yet? Because social media needs a vacation.