Wow. It is days like today that I am glad to be proven wrong.
I’ve been in the pro-life movement for a little over a decade and even though I believed in the cause of saving the lives of babies and helping women facing unplanned pregnancies, I never fully believed that Roe v. Wade would ever be overturned. I dreamed of a day that it would, but that was all it was, an optimistic hopeful dream. I look around and see how truly evil mankind is and biblically speaking, I know it will only get worse as time progresses. But sometimes there are things that happen that we don’t expect. Things we never thought would happen. And sometimes those are good things. Sometimes “Life finds a way”.
What Does This Mean?
So, what does the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision actually mean for abortion in the US? It means that the court decided that Abortion is not protected under the constitution (it was never intended to be and in reality never has been). It means that the legality of abortion is now to be decided by each individual state instead of the national government. There are many states that have laws in effect that will ban abortion automatically.
There are many states that have things on the books like 15 week bans or heartbeat bills that will go into effect automatically limiting the timeframe of when doctors can do abortions. What many people don’t realize is that Roe & it’s sister case, Doe v. Bolton, made elective abortion legal and constitutionally protected during all 9 months of pregnancy for any reason. The only reasons there are some restrictions in regards to how far along abortions can be done are because of pro-life laws that are in place in each state. This reversal will mean that states will have the ability to enact laws that make abortion illegal in their states. This will put abortion doctors out of work and will grievously cripple the violent and greedy abortion industry that profits off taking advantage of vulnerable women and killing their children.
It is unknown how many lives this will save, but it will definitely make the world a safer place for innocent children in the womb and their mothers. It stands to reason that doctors will now be faced with prison time if they perform abortions. This will deter many from doing those procedures, although it also means that those who seek to ignore the law will charge even more for illegal abortions.
Moving Forward
What does this mean for the pro-life movement moving forward? Unlike many movements that finish after a goal has been met, the pro-life movement doesn’t end at the reversal of Roe. In fact, it just means that we move into the next stage of the pro-life movement.
The pro-life movement has always been threefold – raise awareness of the reality of abortion, make abortion illegal, help women facing unplanned pregnancies.
With the reversal of Roe, only one of those items has been checked off. As abortions will still be available in some states, and illegal abortions will still be happening throughout the country, our other two goals become even more important. We must continue to raise awareness of the violent reality of abortion by educating people about embryology and the medical effects that abortion can cause, and we must increase our support and care for women facing unplanned pregnancies.
Undoubtedly, women in those situations will be scared, probably more so now that the most violent choice has been taken away. The pro-life movement has a long history of helping these women financially, emotionally, physically, mentally, medically, and spiritually. Now that the pro-life movement no longer has to worry about reversing Roe, they can put more efforts into helping these women.
This has been an area of the pro-life movement that many do not know about because not everybody likes to brag about their charitable deeds. But it’s something that needs to be known. People need to know that pro-lifers don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk. Pro-life isn’t just about being against abortion, it is also about helping the women who might consider abortion know that they have a support system and people who care and want to help them and their child.
Myth Busting
Sadly there are many scare tactics used by the pro-abortion crowd. Many say things like: “If Roe V. Wade is struck down, then pregnant women facing life threatenIng issues (like ectopic pregnancies or cancer) will be denied the medical treatments they need and will die.”
This claim is utterly false.
First of all, the fall of Roe v. Wade will only impact elective abortions. Elective means they are not necessary. Those who support abortions like to refer to the treatment of ectopic pregnancy as abortions, but those rare situations are not considered abortions and never have been treated as such by the medical community. Those are viewed as emergency surgeries & are usually performed in hospitals by medical doctors, not in abortion Facilities. Furthermore, in the 197 years that abortion was illegal in the United States before Roe V. Wade, those life saving surgeries were allowed and not impacted by abortion laws. They were viewed just like any other emergency surgeries were. Unlike elective abortions, those emergency surgeries are not approached with the sole purpose of ending the life of an innocent human beIng.
The doctors view it as treating 2 patients. In many situations, they can only physically save the mother. Saving 1 life with the unintentional loss of another life is better than intentionally killing 2.
Having worked in local, state, and national levels of various pro-life organizations for over a decade, I’ve yet to come across any organization that is against those life saving procedures. The fact that abortion supporters would lie & use those rare, but very real medical emergencies & the women who experience them as scare tactics in order to promote elective abortion through all 9 months is disgusting.
Another myth that is making the rounds online is that “tons of women will die by resorting to dangerous “back-alley” abortions. They claim that tens of thousands died before Roe due to this and it will happen again.”
This claim is also demonstrably false.
Contrary to popular belief, “back-alley” abortions were not done in dirty alleyways by untrained people with rusty instruments. The term “back-alley” actually refers to the back door entrance to clinics that were used so police & the public wouldn’t see the women coming & going. These illegal abortions were performed by actual medical doctors in their clinics after regular business hours. Many of these doctors did it in order to make extra money on the side.
Former abortionist & co-founder of NARAL, Dr. Bernard Nathanson, Admitted that his organization fabricated the numbers of Women who died from illegal abortions,
“Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public. The number of women dying from illegal abortions was around 200 – 250 annually. The figure constantly fed to the media was 10,000…These false figures took root in the consciousness of Americans convincing many that we needed to crack the abortion law.“
It goes without saying that any woman who dies from an abortion procedure, legal or illegal is a tragedy & is something to mourn & grieve. In a March 2022 article, HDI contributor & Justice for All Training specialist, Rebekah Dyer said:
“I want to help and support women in any way I can so that they don’t feel like a back-alley abortion is a solution for them…”
She went on to say, “we value human life. We seek to end abortion because we understand unborn children have an equal right to life just like we do. When that life is violently lost to abortion, we grieve. The women seeking an abortion is also a valuable human being and we would do well to remember that. It’s a tragedy when any baby is killed by abortion. It’s also a tragedy when a woman dies from an illegal abortion…as pro-life advocates, our care and concern are not limited to the unborn child. We also care about the woman and the circumstances that have led her to think that abortion is a solution for her situation.”
Roe v. Wade has been the most lethal, unjust, & inhumane Supreme Court decision in our country’s existence. In just 49 years, it has allowed the intentional and violent killing of over 63 million innocent human beings. To put that into perspective, that is 11 times the number of innocents killed in the Holocaust and 10 times the recent number of those who died from Covid-19. That’s not making light of those deaths or comparing it to those, it is simply to put it into perspective.
As someone from the state of Mississippi, a state known historically for being a hotspot for injustice, inequality, and violence, I am proud that the Dobbs case originated from there. I am proud that Mississippi can now be known as the state that challenged the most violent, unjust, & inhumane court decision in our nation’s history. I am proud that Mississippi can now be known as the state where “life found a way”.
The View Point 
Thanks for a great post.
LikeLike
Here are some scriptural quotes which show that God knows us before we are conceived, cares for and loves us while we are still in the womb, and that every life is precious to him:
Luke 1:41-42 “41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy.”
Exodus 21:22-25. “22 When people who are fighting injure a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no further harm follows, the one responsible shall be fined what the woman’s husband demands, paying as much as the judges determine.”
Psalm 139:13-16 “13 For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.”
Jeremiah 1:5 “5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Job 31:15 “15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?”
Psalm 22:10 “10 On you I was cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me you have been my God.”
2 Maccabees 7:22-23 “20 The mother was especially admirable and worthy of honourable memory. Although she saw her seven sons perish within a single day, she bore it with good courage because of her hope in the Lord. 21 She encouraged each of them in the language of their ancestors. Filled with a noble spirit, she reinforced her woman’s reasoning with a man’s courage, and said to them,22 “I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. 23 Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of humankind and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.”
LikeLike