A leaked draft majority opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, which would overturn Roe v Wade and return abortion regulation to states, has important ramifications for Christians seeking to uphold the sanctity of human life.
“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences,” reads Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s draft. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
Some disclaimers are necessary: A draft does not necessarily indicate a final opinion; justices have changed their minds before. The source of the leak, and that person’s motives, remain unknown, although taking action to disrupt the integrity of the judicial process should be universally vilified no matter what ends were intended. Nevertheless, Chief Justice John Roberts has confirmed the draft’s authenticity.
If the Court is overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the question for Christians becomes: what’s next? Many will be stunned to find a precedent that stood for nearly five whole decades fallen like Ozymandias’s statue to the ground. So much prayer and advocacy have been dedicated to the destruction of Roe that a post-Roe world will look unfamiliar. How do we respond to such a groundbreaking shift?
Christians should give thanks and praise to God for such a decision if it is handed down. It is He who works justice for the oppressed. It is He who rescues from death. It is He whose scepter holds sway over all the rulers of the Earth and whose court will never issue a decision that needs to be overturned.
Even amid our celebration, Christians should not forget to lament the horrific damage wrought in America by abortion. The National Right to Life Committee, via data from the Guttmacher Institute, estimates that there have been nearly 63.5 million abortions in the U.S. since Roe was decided. Each of these lives had inestimable value in the sight of God, and they should be mourned and remembered. That is to say nothing of the scourge of abortion felt around the world, practiced in the name of liberty in some nations and in the name of science and practicality in others, and continually gaining new legal enshrinements and recognitions as a supposed “human right.”
Christians should be clear-eyed about the future of abortion. The Sexual Revolution rages on, manifested in the proliferation of apps for quick hookups, the reworking of education to include anti-Biblical sexual messaging at ever-younger ages, and a divorce rate that should make us shudder. Therefore, sex and pregnancy in America will often remain untethered to committed, stable marriages, and the resulting sway of abortion will be powerful.
Moreover, while some states will have laws prepared to go into effect the moment Roe is overturned, or will pass laws soon after, many others will not. Sadly, many cities with large underprivileged populations, where abortion is prevalent, will be included in the latter category. Abortion will be legal in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and countless other cities. In swing states, with cities like Philadelphia and Detroit, the legality of abortion may change with tides of political momentum. Even in states that do outlaw abortion, the question of how it should be policed and penalized will be contentious. The fight to defend unborn life in our nation’s laws will be far from over.
Most importantly, Christians should respond with compassion. If more children are now put up for adoption, we should be the first to provide them with loving and welcoming homes. If desperate mothers are in need of a job, a ride to doctor’s appointments, money, housing, food, or diapers, we should be the first to meet those practical needs. If their children need babysitters, friends, or male role models, we should be eager to build a Christ-like community around them.
Christians should be so enthusiastically, overwhelmingly kind toward expecting mothers that even the most ardent feminist begins to question whether motherhood is really the severe burden that they thought it was. Frankly, in the post-Dobbs landscape, Christians will need to have offered pregnant women our help before they get a call from a friend with a Planned Parenthood bumper sticker and a tank full of gasoline offering a ride across the state border. We should strive for a world in which a woman has barely read the positive result on her pregnancy test before the thought crosses her mind that the church in her neighborhood will be able to help. We should strive to provide that kind of assistance because God’s grace is on our side, and because lives depend on it.
Finally, Christians should look ahead to a day when the curse of the pain of childbirth will be removed, tears wiped away, and death swallowed up in victory. Our hope is not in any judge except the Judge of all, any king except the King of Kings, any law except the one that God will write on His people’s hearts and minds, any life except the imperishable life that is hidden with Christ in God. Let us thank God for blessings he gives in his providence until that day, and hold fast to our hope that all things will be made new.
Additional Reading: See Rick Plasterer’s report Abortion: Dissecting a Right Without a Foundation by clicking here and Looking Toward the Possible End of the Abortion Regime by clicking here.
Comment by Missed a Spot on May 4, 2022 at 10:06 am
This is an excellent summary article, and thank you for writing it.
However, the fact that someone in the hierarchy and/or staff of the Court leaked an early draft of the majority opinion needs to be discussed as well. This is a horrendous event that shows the pro-choice/political left is willing to destroy anything to gain a policy victory, political victory, or reduce justice to ashes for power.
The idea of secrecy and time between argument and rulings was used by the Court to insulate it from the whims of politics and have a serious discussion of the law for the sake of justice. Making the Supreme Court into the third legislative body in the federal government does not advance justice or peace in our society.
What the left has done is start to turn the Court into a mockery where the cynical golden rule applies: “Whoever has the gold (power) makes the rules.” The pro-choice left has decided that their choices are so correct they have the right to enforce them by any means necessary, whether it is opposed or not by a large group of people.
So, if ( IF is the way to write it) this a draft of the final decision that will be made public in June or earlier, thank God! Both sides can now take the battle over life to state legislatures where it has always belonged. Roe, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (which is just as bad a decision as Roe, if not worse) can be at least temporarily ignored and consigned to the dustbin of history.
We can only pray that the damage done to the Court and the pursuit of justice is not permanently harmed by this event.
Comment by Dan W on May 4, 2022 at 8:08 pm
Mr. Reedy, thank you for this excellent article. I agree 100%, followers of Christ should fully support mothers/parents. I was adopted at birth by two wonderful Christian parents, before the Roe v Wade decision. A lot of my friends from work and school were also adopted, also by wonderful parents. The blessing of adoption is a story that isn’t often told these days.
Comment by Theodore Miner on May 5, 2022 at 11:06 am
Christians should reflect that this ruling (if it is true) was in spite of many evangelical leader’s political advice. I am thinking of Tim Keller, John Piper, Thabiti Anyabwile, Mat Chandler, Russell Moore and others who either explicitly or implicitly endorsed Hillary Clinton because Trump was arrogant and had mean tweets. This ruling was the direct result of Trump’s SCOTUS selections. If it was up to big Eva leaders, this ruling would never have happened. We need to distance ourselves from the poor advice from these men.
Comment by Jeff on May 5, 2022 at 12:39 pm
Theodore,
>> I am thinking of Tim Keller, John Piper, Thabiti Anyabwile, Mat Chandler, Russell Moore and others who either explicitly or implicitly endorsed Hillary Clinton because Trump was arrogant and had mean tweets.
Good point! And may I point out that you can add the name of Mark Tooley to your list.
Comment by Diane on May 7, 2022 at 1:57 am
And just after the leak, Louisiana proposed legislation charging women who have abortions with murder. Great – throw them in prison for life. Or hang em from trees. Men? No punishment.
And nothing’s said about the little fertilized human embryos where sperm and egg hooked up in a Petri dish. Do they not have the potentional for human life? Are they not conceived little humans? Pro-lifers never mention that thousands of those embryos are discarded, trashed. So this really isn’t a pro-life agenda…onlynwhen those embryos are in a uterus do Puritanical religionists suddenly want to exert control over women’s bodies. Now, if they criminalized the parents of those Petri dish embryos that are routinely discarded, it would mean both men and women could be charged with murder. Why isn’t that promoted? Maybe because it means daddies would go to prison like mommies?
Witch hunts always scapegoat women. No accident that Alito’s draft repeatedly referenced English men who had women executed as witches in the 17th century. Alito knew exactly the symbolism of using those men.
Just sayin.
BTW, I’m a 1692 Salem Witch Trials Descendant and when I spoke with the folks at the Salem Witch Museum, I learned they’ve already started talking about Alito’s witchcraft/witches references. They’re getting calls from women who’re connecting the dots.
Comment by Jeff on May 7, 2022 at 1:19 pm
>> Now, if they criminalized the parents of those Petri dish embryos that are routinely discarded, it would mean both men and women could be charged with murder. Why isn’t that promoted?
Go for it, Diane! Bet if anyone could pull if off, you could! Stick it to those lousy males! You’re just the sort of bitter angry harpy around which effective silly movements coalesce.
Comment by Donald Sensing on May 8, 2022 at 9:52 pm
Many on the Left are saying that Roe v. Wade is “settled law” and that it has been in effect too long to be overruled. Roe v. Wade was ruled in 1973, 49 years ago.
In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that it was fully Constitutional for public schools to be wholly racially segregated, stating such schools were “separate but equal.”
In 1954, The Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racially segregated schools were “inherently unequal.“
That was 58 years after Plessy. So, I guess by the Left’s (lack of) reasoning, we can re-segregate our schools.
Comment by Rev. Dr. Lee D Cary (ret. UM clergy) on May 9, 2022 at 11:47 am
A few years ago, when addressing abortion, Pat Buchanan wrote something memorable. It was this:
“God is not mocked.”