[pictured: Ronald Reagan wearing a black suit and tie with a white shirt. His body is nearly turned sideways, chin lifted and grinning at the camera, resting his weight on his right elbow with his left hand clasped loosely over his resting right wrist. Italicized text upon this propaganda poster reads: “RONALD REAGAN speaks out against SOCIALIZED MEDICINE”]
>a c-list actor’s career flopped so now I have to pay $1000 to set foot in an ambulance
any other examples like this?
A Roman Emperor joined a Levantine cult, and now you can’t get an abortion because the Supreme Court makes decisions based on Near Eastern mythology from the Iron Age.
Bronze age, really. Though some bits might predate that.
To be fair, part of the popularity of the cult was that women were being forced to perform 4th trimester abortions by the pagan religions.
Well if you know a better way to end a drought, I’d like to hear it!
It was more of a population control and eugenics thing but I’m sure that happened too
4th trimester = 9 to 12 months wtf are we talking about baby elephants???
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna42911813
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26506086/
TL;Dr the Romans in particular and most ancient civilizations practiced infanticide for various reasons. One of the reasons commonly claimed for the popularity of the early Christian church is a complete ban on the practice (though precisely how legal it was at the time anyways is debated).
The Roman usage of it is particularly notable for the widespread evidence, the hypocrisy given their condemnation of Carthage for a supposed ritual sacrifice of noble infants, and the extremely patriarchal nature of the society meaning the women presumably had no recourse for refusal if a head of house demanded it, until the early Christian church absolutely forbade it by “divine” decree.