'All-out war': MAGA is threatening 'family decisions' — and not just the ones you think
President Donald Trump at Arlington National Cemetery on May 26, 2025 (Department of Defense photo by U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Spencer Perkins/Flickr)
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, after 49 years, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022, civil libertarians warned that the Religious Right and Christian nationalists would not stop at abortion rights — everything from contraception to gay rights would also be on the chopping block.
In an article published by The New Republic on June 24, Dr. Katie Kelaidis — a researcher at the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge, England and the author of Holy Russia? Holy War? and author of the 2023 book "Holy Russia? Holy War?: Why the Russian Church is Backing Putin Against Ukraine" — emphasizes that abortion is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to MAGA Republicans' campaign to micromanage "family decisions."
"Because of the rhetoric of the culture wars," Kelaidis explains, "we have grown accustomed to seeing both the opposition to legal abortion and to gender-affirming care for minors as a conservative position — the views of those who advocate for the 'traditional' family…. The authoritarian right is taking aim at the family and advocating for a level of state control over our private lives that would make the most committed Marxist blush."
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The MAGA movement, according to The New Republic, is waging an "all-out war" against families' rights to make their own decision.
Kelaidis notes the "GOP campaign in statehouses around the country to pass laws requiring schools and teachers to out gay and trans students to their parents" — which she describes as "an effort most assuredly aimed at terrorizing queer children with unsupportive families."
"This is not about a parent's right to know but an effort to deputize parents in the state's campaign against their children," Kelaidis warns. "Because when the family stands as a barrier to Republicans' imposing their draconian will, they have proved more than willing to ignore parental authority."
The scholar adds, "For example, what could be more transparent, and frankly silly, an interference with a parent's right to direct her child’s education than banning drag story hours?"
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Dr. Katie Kelaidis' full article for The New Republic is available at this link.
