Well, it actually happened. The day I thought never would, was a political impossibility no matter who I voted for, how many rallies I attended, what I had written, or how hard I prayed. Yet it really did. Roe vs. Wade was overturned, and several states have already banned abortion on demand outright.
Very quickly, let’s give a hat’s off to those most directly responsible for making this happen. They are individuals, some with glaring flaws and mistakes in their background I wouldn’t necessarily have expected to owe anything to or vote for, but acknowledgements must be made and dues must be given:
- Justice Samuel Alito
- Justice Clarence Thomas
- Justice Neil Gorsuch
- Justice Brett Kavanaugh
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett
- President Donald Trump
- President George H.W. Bush
- President George W. Bush
Perhaps Chief Justice John Roberts is also worth mentioning, as though he did not vote to overturn Roe, he did side with Mississippi in the crucial case that lead to this, Dobbs vs. Jackson, and perhaps as Chief Justice propelled it forward. Then we could also give credit to Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas E. Dobbs and Governor Phil Bryant. Senator Mitch McConnell for leading the confirmation process and forcing a vote past the intransigent Democrats in the Senate, barely getting Kavanaugh in.
Before looking at the future implications of this decision, what had preceded it? Over 60 million dead children since Roe, a cataclysmic decision up there with Dred Scott and Plessy vs Ferguson. Worse than the latter, in fact. Genocide is worse than segregation, if there is any point in all to ranking crimes against humanity, but let’s thank God both evils have been reversed.
The dubious constitutional interpretation of Roe vs. Wade was reaffirmed by 1992’s Planned Parenthood vs Casey, in which Judge Anthony Kennedy gave away the game with his horrific codification of moral relativism into law.
It sounds more like a serial killer’s justification or the manifestation of an ubermensch than any sane jurisprudence, but then that’s what it always was.
Pro-life victories since then have been few and false. Most self-congratulatory was the conservative back-patting over Gonzales v. Carhart, which ostensibly banned partial birth abortion but in reality, when you look at the actual text of the bill, was in effect was simply a instruction manual on how to subvert its celebrated purpose.
But now? Roe vs. Wade has been overturned. Where do we go from here?
Well, for one thing, abortion is not outlawed in America. Predictably, after the Supreme Court ceded power back to the states, different states took different approaches. Some of the more pro-life ones had “trigger bills”, instantly banning the foul practice should Roe vs. Wade get overturned, which it was. Others are passing various levels of restrictions, based on gestical limits, different types of exceptions, etc. The more pro-choice states are scrambling to codify abortion on demand within their borders. My own California wants no limits whatsoever, all nine months, thank you very much Gruesome Newsom.
Before and after this momentous decision, the United States of America has some of the most permissive abortion laws in the world, despite the wails of the pro-choicers in this country and the cluckings of Europeans. In fact, the Mississippi law that led to the initial suit and finally to Roe getting overturned, was a ban on abortion after 15 weeks. In France it’s 14 weeks.
Prince Harry recently bemoaned the Dobbs decision before the United Nations, complaining that the independent former colonies were rolling back their “constitutional rights”. I do actually admire the Duke of Sussex for his military experience, something more American Commanders-in-Chief should have. But what are abortion rights
https://www.bpas.org/get-involved/campaigns/briefings/abortion-law/
As you can see from Wikipedia’s basic and biased categorization of international abortion laws, most of America is blue (or was) to some extent (that nearly complete ban is red and total ban is black should give you an idea of where the contributors sympathies lie, but that doesn’t mean it’s not factual), whereas his kingdom is green. So what’s he whinging about?
What next in terms of law in America? Well, the Democrats are now looking to codify abortion into law with a bill that has passed the House and heads to the Senate. There Republicans will fight it, but even if it passes, that’s a congressional bill, not a Supreme Court ruling. Much easier to overturn, and for states to fight in court. And even if this bill passes, the fact that Roe has been overturned remains a watershed moment. Will the Democrats lose their congressional majorities, clearing the way for the GOP to overturn whatever pro-abortion measures they may pass between now and then? We’ll see.
Certainly, and I think this is something every single one of us on any side has to acknowledge, is that neither this ruling, nor indeed any law, will solve the problem truly. As long as there are unwanted pregnancies’, there is a problem. Women will continue to seek abortions, and unwanted children will grow up in unhappy homes. These are just facts, both of which are tragedies, neither of which justify mass murder. I’m not going to the propaganda about tens of thousands of women dying in illegal back alley abortions, which Dr. Bernard Nathanson himself admitted was a complete fabrication. I’m talking about the basic conception behind basic problem solving. Find a need and fill it. Just as I am unconvinced the tools they use is what causes troubled young men to conduct mass shootings, I know that it is not the legality and availability of abortion that leads women to this place in the first place. But why make it any easier.
Myself, I actually have mixed feelings about the concept of outlawing abortion. For two reasons, the first libertarians may agree with, and the second may make me sound like an irrational fanatic even to many fellow pro-lifers. But who do I owe an explanation to? Here it is?
- The government is a incompetent, corrupt beast we may loathe to give additional power to.
- It’s not our job to make this a perfect world, because we know it’s going to get much, much worse before Jesus comes back.
See what I mean? We can acknowledge that abortion is a very different type of homicide without denying the humanity of the unborn. We just want to save lives here, people, but how do you prosecute the murder of someone nobody even knows exists except the woman who carries her and the doctor (or “doctor”, if he’s really a butcher)? And yeah, that. I’m not arguing against doing everything we can for everyone we can, to live by Christ’s example. But when you take a step back and consider Revelation, think about the sorry state of mankind before it reaches its absolute darkest hour. I don’t have an answer for that as it applies her, just mentioning what I believe.
Let’s think about the social/dating implications. It’s been very popular for young women, on social media and dating apps, to insist they shall not date a pro-life man, and that’s when they’re not calling for mandatory vasectomies. My advice is an adaption of Shakespeare’s As You Like It:
As far as the backlash so many of us were fearing? Surprisingly underwhelming. For weeks after the draft was released, pregnancy centers and churches were terrorized, threatened, and vandalized (my own church was vandalized that week, but it’s unclear if it was directly related), to crickets and implicit incitations from the Democrat Party. To his credit, President Biden would eventually spend ten seconds of lip-service telling people that violence was not the answer (this was days after Justice Kavanaugh’s assassination attempt), and Justice Thomas affirmed that the Supreme Court would not be bullied. And nor was it.
But when the final decision was actually released, it evoked…surprisingly little. Protests, sure, but little actual terrorism. Thank God for small favors. Even more striking is the suggestion, supported by several polls, that this blow against abortion won’t actually be the slam dunk in the midterms Democrats are hoping and predicting. It appears that the economy, which is not great, weighs more heavy on more minds, than abortion.
At any rate, the lid has been blown off the canard pro-choicers have used for so many years, “You’re not pro-life, you’re pro-birth”, “you only care about the baby until it’s born etc.” We call their bluff with the actual care and support charities (such as LetThemLive, which I’ve supported in the past, which gives funding to troubled women considering an abortion) pro-lifers empower and pro-choicers despise. Why would Senator Elizabeth Warren venomously call for the closure of every crisis pregnancy center in the country? Why have they promoted the cruel meme “We will adopt your baby”, mocking couples who actually want to offer a pro-life alternative to women in trouble?
At the end of the day, the day is not ended. After nearly fifty years of debate, Roe, thank God, was overturned. The debate goes on, of course, as do the crisises and abortions, legal and otherwise. But we can, at the least, look at this moment with significance.
Anyway, here’s an Elton John parody I wrote:
