A) Read the article and complete the worksheet "A Constitutional Dilemma"

From the Summer of 2022, women in about half of the United States may be breaking the law if they decide to end a pregnancy. This will be, in large part, because a Supreme Court judge, Justice Samuel Alito, was surprised that there is so little written about abortion in a document crafted by fifty-five men in 1787.

Because these facts appear to surprise Alito, abortion is likely to become a crime in at least twenty states. “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision,” Alito wrote, in a leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s majority opinion.

He is, of course, right. There is also nothing at all in that document, which sets out fundamental law, about pregnancy, uteruses, vaginas, fetuses, placentas, menstrual blood, breasts, or breast milk. In fact, there is nothing in that document about women at all. Most consequentially, there is nothing in that document which suggests that its authors imagined women as part of the political community embraced by the phrase “We the People.” There were no women among the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. There were no women among the hundreds of people who participated in ratifying conventions in the states. There were no women judges. There were no women legislators. At the time, women couldn't hold office nor run for office. And, except in New Jersey, and then only for a brief period, women could not vote. Legally, most women did not exist as persons.

In response, the author Margaret Atwood has revealed that she initially put off writing her horrifying dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” because she thought it was “too far-fetched.” But after the Supreme Court's ruling on abortion, she’ll never feel that way again.

“Silly me. Theocratic dictatorships do not exist only in the distant past. There are a number of them on the planet today. What is to prevent the United States from becoming one of them?” she asked in a column published last Friday in « The Atlantic ».

In Atwood’s novel, women in America are used as reproductive slaves, strictly governed by a theocratic dictatorship directed by men. Atwood’s model was based on 17th century New England Puritan religious rules and jurisprudence.

And in the article Atwood announces her surprise to see that Justice Samuel Alito also turned to the 1600s to justify the Supreme Court's majority decision to deconstitutionalize the right to abortion. On several occasion he cited the 17^th century English jurist Matthew Hale, who opposed abortions, but who also excuted « witches »!

Atwood reminds us that the U.S. constitution barred women from voting until 1920. “Women were nonpersons in U.S. law for a lot longer than they have been persons,” she chillingly noted. “If we start overthrowing settled law using Justice Samuel Alito’s justifications, why not repeal votes for women?”

However perhaps the most significant point that Atwood makes is when she quotes the constitution herself : “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” And she reminds us that the USA was founded largely by men (and women!) who had escaped centuries of religious totalitarianism in Europe.

“That which is a sin within a certain set of religious beliefs is to be made a crime for all,” Atwood writes.

“It ought to be simple: If you believe that a fetus has a soul from the moment of conception, you should not get an abortion, because to do so is a sin within your religion. But if you do not believe that, you should not — under the Constitution — be bound by the religious beliefs of others.”

Atwood concludes that Justice Alito's reasoning, and the subsequent Supreme Court majority decision, will have the result of « establishing a state religion ».

“If Justice Alito wants you to be governed by the laws of the 17th Century, you should take a close look at that century,” Atwood warns.

“Is that when you want to live?”

(Combined and edited articles from the "New Yorker" and "The Atlantic")

Watch the extract from the series to complete part B of the worksheet "The Gender Traitor Enquiry"

Télécharger « The Gender Traitor Enquiry »

Watch the scene from the TV series and do part A on the sheet "The beginning of the dystopia"

Télécharger « June and Luke learn about the attacks in Washington »

A) Read the text and complete exercise A of your worksheet

Washington D.C. in the Republic of Gilead.

The Washington Monument has been replaced by an enormous cross.

« The Handmaid's tale » is a novel written by the Canadian author Margaret Atwood in 1985. It has also become a popular television series, the first season broadcast in 2017, with season four on the air in 2022.

The novel is a dystopia. The story takes place in the fictional republic of Gilead which has replaced a large part of the USA. Gilead is a theocratic and totalitarian society governed by an elite group of men called « The Sons of Jacobs » and their designated « Commanders ». This group has taken power in Washington D.C. by force (the President was assassinated and the government members banished, imprisoned or killed).

The new government justified the « Coup d'Etat ». The leaders said that the USA « had turned away from God ». Excessive production and consumerism had provoked severe ecological problems and pollution. Furthermore, the United States (and the rest of the world), had started to experience a fertility crisis. More and more women were unable to have children. The government of the Sons of Jacob diagnosed this infertility as God's punishment for the pollution of the planet. The fertility problem was also blamed on increasing « immorality » and on « dirty women » who had made things worse by using birth control and having the right to abortion.

The government of Gilead promised to put the American society back on the right path. But their policies have created a society which has had a disastrous effect on the rights of women.

B) Listen to the audio and complete exercise B on your worksheet

Télécharger « Women in Gilead audio »

A) Watch the news bulletin (Fiction and reality Part 1)

Télécharger « US Supreme Court ruling on abortion »

B) Watch the second news bulletin

Télécharger « US Suprme Court ruling demonstration »