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Ending Roe?! Dobbs v Jackson

02 Sep Ending Roe?! Dobbs v Jackson

Posted at 13:27h in Public by

Post Originally Aired Aug. 4th, 2021

 

Friends,

 

Nearly 50 years ago, Roe v Wade and its companion case Doe v Bolton made legal abortion the law of the land. These cases have been widely criticized for their many, many flaws – including being unconstitutional, undemocratic, and, above all, grossly unjust. The cases are so terrible that even some pro-choice legal experts have criticized them. Where abortion law was once decided state by state, Roe and Doe gave our country as a whole some of the most permissive abortion laws in the West, with virtually no European states having the sheer, unrestricted abortion legality of the US.

 

Now, for perhaps the first time since Roe and Doe happened, the Pro-Life Movement actually has a good chance of overturning Roe.

 

The Origin of the Case

 

In 2018, Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act passed, prohibiting abortion after 15 weeks. The Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only abortion business in the state, immediately filed a suit against the state and the court struck the law down. The Fifth Circuit court confirmed the ruling, calling the law “unconstitutional” because it restricted abortion prior to viability.

 

Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, the first female attorney general in the state, asked the Supreme Court in June 2020 to take up the 15-week abortion ban appeal.

 

Well, a short while ago, the US Supreme Court announced they would do just that.

 

What This Means

 

Prior efforts to overturn, or at least inhibit, Roe have largely failed, but the Mississippi law could change all that. Roe always rested on shaky scientific and legal ground at best (“pseudo-science” and “pseudo-legality” might be the more accurate descriptors, really). Even the late Justice Ginsburg – who was far from being a pro-life activist – thought Roe was a bad ruling which overreached massively.

 

Among other things, Roe raised questions about when human life begins, noting that if we were ever to demonstrate clearly when life begins, that could undo Roe at a fundamental level. Well, science emphatically comes down in favor of the pro-life position (it even did back in 1973). For that matter, so does the Constitution.

 

The Mississippi law – itself a well-crafted law – is backed by a mountain of supporting data and expert amicus briefs, including pro-life bioethicists, pro-life Civil Rights advocates and Christians, pro-life Jews, abortion recovery specialists and women injured by abortion, more than 200 members of congress, and many more. And, to top it all off, the number of Justices on SCOTUS with a track record of ruling in favor of life (and the Constitution) has increased in the last few years.

 

In other words, we actually have a shot of overturning Roe.

 

What This Doesn’t Mean

 

It’s important to note that overturning Roe wouldn’t make a blanket end to legal abortion in this country. It would just send it back to the states. As Washington had legal abortion two years before Roe, we’d still have a fight on our hands. Even so, it would be a tremendous boon to our cause and would save millions of lives.

 

Further, while outlawing abortion would certainly save many millions of lives and help change the cultural view of abortion, it is not enough – by itself – to establish a life-affirming culture across the whole population. To do that, we also need to actively educate people with love and compassion, showing them how life-affirming options are better for children, better for parents, and better for society.

 

What You Can Do

 

It is vital that we witness to the dignity of human life; it is vital people know the truth about where we stand. The abortion lobby has long painted pro-life people as a “fringe” element with little real support. As people are susceptible to peer pressure, many undecided people fall into the pro-choice camp by default. We need to push back against that.

 

Moreover, we need to show the Supreme Court where we stand – to make it clear that the will of the people supports respect for all human life, born and unborn.

 

You can sign the petition to SCOTUS to overturn Roe at TheMoralOutcry.com. Those among you who are religious, please pray for the campaign’s success and a just outcome to this case.

 

They already have Five Hundred Thousand signatures. Let’s get them Five Hundred Thousand more.

 

 Sign: The Moral Outcry

 

Further Reading

 

This is a complicated case. If you want to learn more, you can start with some of the resources listed below; they elaborate on what we’ve discussed here and have further links to yet more information if you’re interested.