Pro-lifers have high hopes that in June, when the Supreme Court releases its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Roe v. Wade will be overturned. But overturning Roe isn’t the only option the Court has. It could decide to overturn Roe, it could change how states are allowed to restrict abortion, or it could uphold Roe.
Basics of Roe v. Wade
When Roe v. Wade was decided by the Court in 1973 along with its sister case Doe v. Bolton, states were told abortion had to be legal and that they could only restrict abortion after the so-called age of viability — which, to the Court, meant when the preborn child could survive outside the womb, at about 24 weeks or later. Abortion was still allowed to happen after this mark, and right up until birth, if the state desired.
The problem with this, of course, is that it makes huge assumptions and scientific errors. Children born as young as 21 weeks can now survive outside the womb. The Court apparently didn’t see medicine advancing. In addition, preborn children are living human beings who are viable at all moments because they are living in their natural environment. It is where they are supposed to be. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to survive anywhere else, but that doesn’t make them expendable. It’s like expecting an adult to live underwater or on the surface of the moon. They wouldn’t be able to — but that doesn’t make them non-viable lives. Read more about that here.
Basics of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is a case regarding Mississippi’s 15-week abortion restriction. Because of the decision in Roe, pro-abortion groups immediately sued to block the law. Roe states that no state can restrict abortion prior to so-called viability, and 15 weeks falls before that arbitrary cut-off. Therefore, while the Court could allow the Mississippi law to stand, thereby allowing all states to restrict abortion as early as 15 weeks, it could also rule that states can’t restrict abortion at 15 weeks and keep the cut off at 24 weeks, or it could rule that states can put any restrictions on abortion and thereby overturn the Court’s previous ruling in Roe.
What if the Court upholds Roe?
In the event that the Court decides to leave the decision of Roe intact, nothing would change, but it would be a wake-up call for pro-lifers. America would continue in its 50th year of legalized abortion on-demand and it would be the most conservative Supreme Court in recent history that would have allowed it. If this Supreme Court fails to at least change the precedent set by Roe, it could be 50 more years until there is a Court that will. Another 63 million children could be killed by abortion in that time.
The hopes of pro-lifers should not sit with the Court or with politicians. For 50 years they have not succeeded in ending this mass genocide. Ending abortion will mean getting off our couches and being more active.
1. Do more. Instead of donating only money, donate your time, your talents, and your knowledge. Continue to donate to organizations that do the heavy lifting — such as Live Action, Care Net, Heartbeat International, Students for Life of America, Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, and your local pregnancy center. These organizations rely on you. But women rely on you greatly as well.
In your community, there are women and girls right now being pressured into abortions. Consider being a pro-life sidewalk counselor or volunteering at your local pregnancy center.
Offer up your rental property to a homeless woman who thinks she needs an abortion because she has no home.
Help a pregnant woman get to her doctor’s appointments. Help her learn to budget her finances, find childcare that is safe and affordable, and find a home that is safe and affordable. Listen to her when she is struggling with feelings of inadequacy or fear.
Help a pregnant college student secure on-campus resources. Convince your friends and family to do the same. And get your church involved in Care Net’s Making Life Disciples ministry, which brings the whole church together to help pregnant women in need in their area.
2. Educate. A large number of Americans still believe that the preborn child is nothing more than a clump of cells and that abortion is a neat, clean, safe procedure. None of this is true. Preborn children have a beating heart just 21 days after fertilization — that’s about five to six weeks gestation. At about 13 weeks, abortionists begin using the D&E procedure to dismember preborn children — ripping their arms and legs from their torsos and then crushing their skulls. Often times the babies are alive when this horrific act is committed against them — and they can feel it, as the latest research shows it is likely preborn children feel pain starting between eight weeks and the end of the first trimester.
READ: 5 ways pro-lifers can use Live Action’s ‘Baby Olivia’ video to spread the pro-life message
Educate yourself by watching Live Action abortion procedure videos, fetal development videos, and reading about women who have suffered abortion-induced physical and mental trauma. Then educate others. Women don’t need abortion, but society has convinced them that they do. Pro-lifers have the power to change that.
3. Put the pressure on. Join groups like Red Rose Rescue and Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) outside and inside abortion facilities, demanding that justice be served and preborn children are spared from abortion. Red Rose Rescue says their team…
… enters the actual places where the innocent unborn are about to be ‘dragged to death.’ In the words of Saint Mother Teresa, they enter the ‘dark holes of the poor.’ Red Rose Rescuers peacefully talk to women scheduled for abortion, with the goal of persuading them to choose life. They offer to them red roses as a sign of life, peace, and love. Should the unborn still ‘totter to execution’ Red Rose Rescuers stay in the place of execution in solidarity with their abandoned brothers and sisters performing a non-violent act of defense through their continued presence inside the killing centers remaining with them for as long as they can.
These pro-lifers attempt to save babies, staying inside the abortion facility until they are forced to leave.
PAAU is a group of progressive pro-lifers who rally outside of abortion facilities around the country, raising awareness about abortion and demanding justice for preborn children. Its mission is to “mobilize grassroots anti-abortion activists for direct action, educate the public about the exploitative influence of the Abortion Industrial Complex, advocate for pregnant people, and connect abortion vulnerable communities with life-saving resources.”
In the last 50 years, abortion has become the expectation for women facing difficult circumstances, to the point that homicide is now a leading cause of death for pregnant women — many of whom likely refused abortion. If this conservative-leaning Supreme Court fails preborn children when its decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is handed down in June, pro-lifers must push forward, helping women and children in every way possible. No pro-lifer can remain on the sidelines if abortion is ever going to be exposed for what it is: the mass destruction of innocent human life for financial profit.
“Like” Live Action News on Facebook for more pro-life news and commentary!
