I had been escaping from the Internet for most of the day when I checked my Twitter feed. It couldn’t be true! Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was gone! And yet, it was amazing she made it so long.
She died of pancreatic cancer. I know how brutal that disease is because my boyfriend died from it at the beginning of the year. Justice Ginsburg battled 4 different cancers during the course of her life so her longevity was a feat bordering on miraculous.
She was controversial
A friend on Twitter remarked, “I changed my profile to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and immediately lost hundreds of friends.” How sad. I imagine those people are focused on one thing – abortion – negating all the other injustices she fought for including women’s rights, civil rights, and union rights. All of those causes promoted fairness and decency for human beings no matter what side you are on politically.
A quick rant about the A-word
You may disagree but I believe abortion should be a non-issue. If you’re in your 60s+ you probably heard about women dying in backrooms from botched procedures. The number of abortions performed in the U.S. has dropped significantly due to sex education, the availability of contraceptives, and Planned Parenthood’s healthcare services for underserved women.
Late-term abortions are only performed if the child is severely compromised and will die anyway, saving the mother the trauma of carrying it in her womb or if her life is in extreme danger. The propaganda brigade makes it sound like doctors are killing perfectly healthy babies and that does not occur.
No one likes abortion and you would have to be incredibly stupid to use it for birth control. But, I can tell you with confidence that if we start taking away services, they will increase and more women will die.
What else have women gained from Justice Ginsburg?
This Facebook post was written by a woman named Tootsie but I thought it summed up Justice Ginsburg’s accomplishments.
“Because of her, when I turned 18, I could apply for and receive a credit card without a male signatory.
Because of her, when I bought my house, I could apply for a mortgage without being married and without having a male co-sign.
Because of her, I could be called to do my civic duty and serve on a jury without being exempted on a count of being a woman.
Because of her, I grew up believing I had a claim to my personhood as an equally vested citizen of my country. These changes happened in my own lifetime. And yet, my whole growing up, was so deeply affected by her efforts. I never knew it was because of her and the countless clerks and lawyers she worked with arguing six of the most critical cases affecting women and families the Supreme Court had yet heard. She changed this country for women. For EVERYONE. Because women’s rights are HUMAN RIGHTS.
Because of her, I realized my own potential as a professional, a homeowner, and a person with credit, assets, with independence. My thanks to this woman are inexpressible. No matter where you begin, where you land is still, potentially, unknown. This devotion of hers to equality, not just to “being equal” but to the concept of equality as a dynamic and not a fixed standard, made her one of the most consequential legal and cultural minds of the 20th and 21st centuries.
She’s my hero. Thank you, Justice Ginsburg, for everything. #BECAUSEOFHER”
A family connection
My cousin was a prominent civil rights attorney named Arthur Kinoy. He was a professor at Rutger’s University at the same time as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and they knew each other. He was a partner of William Kunstler in the defense of the Chicago Seven, was a counsel for the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, was one of the founders of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, and defended civil rights cases in the south during the 1960s.
Both he and Justice Ginsburg were founders and members of the advisory board for the Women’s Right’s Law Reporter. I, sadly, never got to meet him.
Keep up the fight
Let’s not go back to the way it was in the 50s. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, it’s essential that, as women, we retain the rights we fought so vigilantly for. RGB is now looking over us, so don’t give up.
How are you coping with her death? Please leave a comment below. Nasty political comments will be deleted.
Although I find myself to be more pro-life, when I heard she was ill a few months ago I said a prayer for her. Not that she would live, as when I pray for someone to survive they usually die soon after, and I didn’t want to be partly responsible for her death. But for The Lord to grant her forgiveness and have her be able to make it to Paradise. I also prayed for Kim Kong Un when the word had it that he was possibly dying. Even if we dislike someone, remember that The Lord loves us all and wants us to avoid the fire. Jesus dies for the sins of all and not just the “good” people. For one of us to wish for a fellow human to be doomed to eternal torment would be cruel and against The Lord’s desire. even the worst of us still has a family and loved ones who need us. Its like that saying: the the world, you are one person, but, to one person, you are the world.
Well, RBG was Jewish as am I and I don’t believe she has to ask for forgiveness because she did what she believed was right. It’s all about choice. Women have the right to control their own bodies. But, besides that, she did amazing things for women’s rights and civil rights. We can’t throw that away.
Beautiful, beautiful comment Chris.
Still find it shocking that after graduating #1 in Harvard Law School, she could barely get a job as a lawyer! We’ve come a long way, thanks to her.
That’s for sure Laurie. I feel sorry for young women everywhere if they let everything we fought for in the 60s and 70s go down the toilet.
A beautiful tribute. I cried and couldn’t sleep after hearing RBG died. She was an incredible woman who fought for and truly cared about what was right and truthful. And she did so much for so many women and for equality. We must protect her legacy and let the positive impact she had on this country live on.
It’s so important that we respect her legacy, Judy. Most young women have no idea what it was like before she, and others like her, fought tooth and nail for women’s rights and many still don’t make as much as men in the same position.
What an inspiration she was. And is! I look at the life my mother lived as an only girl in a family of boys with an old-country father who treated her and her mother like property. How far we have come.
And how tragic that there are forces in this world that would like nothing more than to turn back the clock and destroy all the progress we have made in the past 90 years.
I guess progress has to be fought for repeatedly…
We really have come far Diane and it would be a shame to go backward. I hope that won’t be the case. RBG was a power house as tiny as she was.
Hi Rebecca! What a nice and even personal perspective on RBG. I so admired all she stood for and everything she did for our country and especially women. And I agree about the abortion issue. That it should once again be an issue in our country is almost barbaric. Over and over the majority of people in the U.S. say it should be legal. And as you imply, it isn’t necessarily because we think it is a good thing…but we STRONGLY believe that it is a personal choice that a woman makes regarding her own body. It SHOULD NOT be in the hands of a few men (regardless of their religious beliefs). RBG will be sorely missed and I too am concerned about how we will ensure her progress for generations to come. ~Kathy
Thanks, Kathy and so glad we’re on the same page. The idea of putting a religious zeolot of any persuasion on the court seems counter to what the court is about. All justices are supposed to interpret the law according the the constitution and not by their personal beliefs. I don’t know how they can make it completely non-partison but there must be a better way of choosing judges who are qualified and non-biased.
Dear Rebecca and Friends, the changes in women’s opportunities for obtaining gainful employment and credit had also come about because, sadly, too many women had witnessed the hardships their mothers had endured, at the slothful hands of their daDuhs.
Okay. Sure, there were multiple reasons why life for women has changed over the decades but leaders like Ginsburg and others brought women’s rights to the forefront.