When I initially set out to write this piece, we were quietly and anxiously awaiting a decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Whole Women’s Health case that is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. This case concerns a Mississippi law, “The Gestational Age Act,” which limits abortion in the Magnolia State when a child is 15 weeks old. At this point in gestation, babies have developed fingers and toes, they can show a preference for their left or right hand, their hearts have already beat about 15 million times, pumping blood through their veins.
While technically we still await the final decision in Dobbs, it is now anything but quiet. Our nation experienced an eruption in the highly contentious abortion debate on May 2nd, when someone inside the Court nefariously leaked a draft decision in the case. Despite this egregious breach of trust and confidentiality, the impeccably written draft by Justice Samuel Alito has energized the masses, as it would effectively overturn Roe v. Wade should it be adopted as the Court’s opinion. Not only does a majority on the Court hold that Mississippi’s law is constitutional, it also recognizes that “procuring an abortion is not a fundamental right because such a right has no basis in the Constitution’s text or in our Nation’s history.” Hence, should this opinion be adopted, all 50 states would once again have the power to choose how they want to legislate on abortion. This would be an adherence to basic federalism, a founding principle of our nation.
Activists on both sides immediately took to the streets at this news, and pro-abortion extremists in particular have lashed out. To name just a few examples of malevolent behavior: they’ve smashed in windows, committed arson, stormed Catholic Churches during Mass, held menacing protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices, and even allegedly forced Justice Alito into hiding. What’s more, they’re being urged on by outright anger and hate from pro-abortion politicians (some of them self-proclaimed Catholics) who have called the potential overturn of Roe a “slap in the face to women.”
Their reactions are founded in nothing but fear, misinformation, and hostility towards righteousness. For 50 years now, our nation has been bound by the legal sham that is Roe v. Wade. Together with succeeding Supreme Court cases Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court fabricated a right to abortion. They attempted to justify their decision by tossing the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution into a mixing bowl and then said, according to Alito, that “the abortion right could be found somewhere in the Constitution and that specifying its exact location was not of paramount importance.”
The Justices deceived the American people, making them believe that the Court would still work to stop some abortions, and created the arbitrary, dehumanizing framework of incrementalism, that is, banning abortions late in pregnancy (for example, when babies can feel pain) while still allowing the deaths of even younger babies in the womb to occur. However, many people don’t know that by allowing extremely broad exceptions for abortion, going so far as to deem it acceptable to abort a child simply because he or she is an “undue burden,” the High Court effectively legalized abortion on demand up until the moment of birth.
Now, because of Roe, we live in a society where half of the people believe that human beings in the womb are disposable, while half believe they deserve equal protection under the law. How do we, as Catholics, continue to promote faith, family, and the cause of these innocent unborn children in our culture? We go into the states. We build on 100+ pro-life laws that have been enacted in recent years and create even more life-affirming laws. We celebrate the fact that there are already 26 states poised to stop abortions altogether. We love new mothers, who are alone and afraid, and work to ensure that they have what they need: baby formula, diapers, a job, a community, a place to call home.
What’s more, we bring the horror story of the shoddy Roe decision into the states where pro-abortion leaders are determined to keep selling the lie that one person has the right to end the life of an innocent other. We help people see that now more than ever, it is crucial to know where you stand on the issue of abortion, and that it’s not enough to depend on the opinions of the mainstream media and government leaders to tell us how we should think about an issue that must be settled in our own hearts and minds.
We continue to prepare for a day when no matter if you are an unborn child in California, Texas, New York, or Mississippi, you will have the chance to see the light of day. If we truly love these children, we must do everything in our power to protect them.
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