Of the 666 bills passed by the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature and signed by Governor Greg Abbott recently, quite a few high-profile horrible ones are being discussed across the country right now. The new laws on abortion have dominated headlines because of the extremeness of the limitations. The Supreme Court’s refusal to halt the law signals the possible overturning of the landmark reproductive health case Roe v. Wade.
Texas’ new anti-choice abortion bills prevent abortion six weeks into the pregnancy, a.k.a. before most people know they are pregnant. Even if you were keeping track of your cycle, you would still have to visit a doctor twice in that time period to legally get an abortion. Worse, the law includes a new provision to skirt the fact that the Supreme Court has already decided states can’t ban abortion that early in a pregnancy.
Instead of the state enforcing the law, it allows private citizens to collect what amounts to a $10,000 bounty to prove in court that the law was broken. In addition to those seeking the abortion procedure, anyone helping them can get sued, too. These are people like clergy, doctors, or even Uber drivers getting you to a clinic in or out of state lines.
While this is going to effect everyone in Texas, those without healthcare (a quarter of Texans), those in poverty and communities of color will be most hurt by this ban.
94% of Black women voters knew what was on the line for reproductive rights and accordingly stood with Wendy Davis as she filibustered the precursor to #SB8 in 2013. 67% of White women voters shunned Wendy and accordingly stood with Whiteness. Do the math. https://t.co/gNaiEu4k5S https://t.co/FOjUUx1C6p pic.twitter.com/K7WRi6KGf1
— Propane Jane™ (@docrocktex26) September 1, 2021
Trying to capitalize on the shameful win for conservatives, the anti-choice non-profit Live-Action decided to show what an embryo looks like at 7 weeks in development. Live-Action is known for capturing video footage in Planned Parenthood centers and editing them without context or depth to vilify the clinics for providing abolitions. Their success in making the videos go viral in the 2000s made way for a bill (by future VP Mike Pence) preventing Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding.
Unlike their past successes, this attempt at going viral didn’t land as well because everyone saw a Lovecraftian monster instead instead of a human.
*sees Cthulhu trending*
oh Jesus please tell me we didn’t discover some eldritch god in the oceans or something
*sees why it’s trending* pic.twitter.com/i37tY6heYa
— ☕️ (@summery_angel) September 1, 2021
all cthulhu babies deserve to be born!
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) September 1, 2021
very pleased that Texas is protecting our future. In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming pic.twitter.com/DiUekzaxNk
— Alberta Advantage (@BertaAdvantage) September 1, 2021
First live images of Cthulhu emerging from the abyss to begin dominion over this realm https://t.co/v1TVqhOLxm
— Shiv Ramdas (@nameshiv) September 1, 2021
This is literally Cthulhu. If I look at this creature any longer I will go insane and start trying to awaken ancient gods https://t.co/8McAJVKCSV
— bozo (@bozobubby) September 1, 2021
Soon creatives in publishing joined in on the fun like comic illustrator and writer Francesco Francavilla as well as horror and science-fiction writer Victor LaValle.
Did someone summon CTHULHU? pic.twitter.com/glhxxpQ3tX
— Francesco Francavilla (@f_francavilla) September 2, 2021
I mentioned a sequel to the Ballad of Black Tom but this ain’t it. https://t.co/R1snt5Ks39
— Victor LaValle (@victorlavalle) September 1, 2021
The Ballad of Black Tom, by Victor LaValle, is an awarding-winning retelling of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Horror at Red Hook. I haven’t read La Valle’s work because I need to read things in order, which means I have to get through 40-something pages of Lovecraft (both are short stories) before reading The Ballad of Black Tom.
Cthulhu is so iconic I didn’t know for the longest time that he was part of the Lovecraftian mythology or even that that mythology came from one writer, H.P. Lovecraft. When I did learn about who he was, I pretty quickly learned that this man was super racist and xenophobic—not like “Oh, it was the early century. Who wasn’t?” but more so to the degree that Lovecraft made most racism on the individual level at that time look tame.
It’s kind of on brand that a creature created by horror’s most popular racist would be appropriated by the right’s most popular anti-abortion organization.
(via Twitter, feature image: BenduKiwi of the Wikipedia Commons)
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