Pro-Lifers Face Grim Reality Two Years Post-Roe
It’s now been two years since the Supreme Court of the United States overturned one of the most wicked rulings ever to disgrace our land. Roe v Wade was the landmark decision that led to the mass murder of over 63 million innocent lives over the course of almost 50 years. Contemplate that for just a moment. 63 million lives. And that number continues to grow by the thousands every single day. We can’t even begin to comprehend those numbers. We can’t even begin to comprehend the individual and societal devastation that Roe has left in its wake.
Back in 1973, when the Supreme Court invented a Constitutional right to kill unborn human beings, states should have immediately declared the judicial ruling as immoral and unconstitutional, and they should have enacted legislation that protected the right to life for all human beings guaranteed under the 14th Amendment. Roe v Wade was never the law of the land. Roe was merely a deeply flawed, politically-motivated judicial opinion that should have been contested immediately by all 50 states. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Americans allowed the ruling to stand and eventually became numb to the invisible genocide that would soon dwarf the 11 million people murdered by Nazi Germany.
While we thank God that the Supreme Court corrected the illegitimate decision that invented a woman’s right to an abortion, our victory is only partial because the Supreme Court failed to fully enact justice. It failed to recognize the humanity of the pre-born. It failed to acknowledge that our Constitution mandates that the pre-born receive the same right to life and equal protection of the law that you and I possess. The justices made the cowardly decision to turn over the responsibility for abortion policy to state legislatures and to Congress. They essentially said that the unalienable rights of a certain class of human beings can be either denied or granted through the legislative process or by popular vote. Put murder on the ballot and see what happens. And that’s exactly what many states are now doing. Through ballot initiatives, abortion activists are now attempting to enshrine within their state constitutions a right to an abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.
But what about the states with abortion bans that kicked in after Roe was overturned? Unfortunately, contrary to what the pro-life establishment will tell you, there are zero bans on abortion in the United States. Here in North Dakota, and every other state that has restrictions on abortions, pregnant mothers retain the legal right to kill their unborn babies and are doing so through online access to abortion pills. We can certainly celebrate that there are no longer any abortion clinics within our state, but women no longer need a clinic to end the life of their unborn child. The vast majority of abortions nowadays are no longer surgical, they are taking place through self-managed abortions within one’s own home.
Can we at least say that the number of abortions has decreased by the overturning of Roe? Unfortunately, no. There are more abortions taking place now than when Roe v Wade still stood. Abortions have reached the highest reported number in a decade. Current statistics tell us that there are 2,548 abortions daily in the U.S. That’s 106 lives taken per hour. One baby gone every 35 seconds.
This is the grim reality in which we find ourselves 2 years post-Roe. Public opinion on abortion has shifted so far to the left that the vast majority of Americans now believe abortion should be legal to some degree, particularly in the first trimester. There’s no doubt that we are surrounded by a culture that loves the darkness, but we who are in Christ do not despair. Jesus told us that we are the light of the world, and that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can shine the light of the Gospel into every area of society. There are thousands of men and women across the country who are dedicating their lives to serving pregnant mothers in difficult circumstances and saving babies who were headed toward certain death. Christians make up the vast majority of those who are fostering and adopting, and creating ministries and pregnancy resource centers to serve pregnant and post-abortive women. There is light to be found in the darkness, but as millions of lives continue to be lost, as our culture descends further away from God who is the Source of all goodness, beauty, and truth, we need that light to shine much, much brighter. We need that light to grow into a blazing fire that exposes the fruitless deeds of darkness and that points people to the hope that can only be found in Christ. The light of the gospel is the only thing that can overcome the rampant and unabated genocide that is ravishing our country.
God says through His Word in Proverbs 24:11-12, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?” As the body of believers, God has prepared good works in advance for us to accomplish here on earth, and while we have different gifts and abilities and callings, we all can and should be a voice for the voiceless in whatever sphere of influence we have. If we want to see abortion abolished, if we want to see a culture of life restored, then we can’t simply hope someone else will do it for us. There are many ways to involve yourself and your family in the fight for life, but here are just four.
It is imperative for you to start a conversation with your district legislators and ask them to support efforts to establish equal justice under the law for the unborn. Again, we are not an abortion-free state and we never will be until the unborn are equally protected under the same laws that apply to you and me.
In addition to sending missionaries overseas and into the inner cities, send them to pray and preach the gospel outside abortion clinics. Churches, we need you. We need you to equip and admonish the saints to advocate for the lives of the unborn and to present the gospel to men and women intent on murder. We will never abolish abortion without the Church having a dominant voice in our culture of death. What does it say about the American Church that abortion outreach ministries within local churches are few and far between? We, as a church, need to start feeling a whole lot more uncomfortable with the child sacrifice plaguing our country. We cannot depend on the national pro-life organizations to do our work for us because clearly, their efforts have failed to end abortion, and they are doomed to continue to fail because their fundamentally unBiblical doctrine and methods have not been, nor will they ever be, blessed by God.
Start an Embrace Grace Bible study and support group at your church for single pregnant mothers. Embrace Grace is a ministry that equips the church to be a source of support and encouragement for vulnerable young women and provides a way for Christians to not just talk the talk, but to actually walk out their pro-life convictions.
Instead of donating to pro-life establishment organizations who, alongside abortion activists, fight against equal justice under the law for the unborn, financially support and volunteer at pregnancy help centers. These centers provide a high level of support and care to vulnerable women and save lives on a daily basis. The men and women working and volunteering at these centers are truly the hands and feet of Jesus, but they can’t do that without your ongoing support.
There’s no doubt that we have our work cut out for us. We can either follow God’s Word and join the efforts to end one of the greatest injustices of our time or we can choose to look the other way and continue denying justice for the pre-born.
Which way, Church?
-Amber Vibeto, Executive Director
