Roe is History.
Roe v. Wade is history.
Roe was a disaster from the very beginning. As reported by legendary American journalist Bob Woodward, “The clerks in most chambers were surprised to see the Justices . . . so openly brokering their decision like a group of legislators . . . There was something embarrassing and dishonest about this whole process.” Indeed.
The decision was handed down on January 22, 1973, a fact commemorated by the annual March for Life. Political observers will have noticed that this also coincides frequently with Presidential inaugurations. That’s not a pure coincidence, though not for the reason you might guess—Roe was handed down only after Nixon had won re-election and the Supreme Court Justices had made their public appearances at his second swearing-in. This isn’t the only decision thus strategically released; Dred Scott v. Sandford was similarly released right after the inauguration of a President, James A. Buchanan. (It was decided on March 6, 1857—remember that the inauguration had been held in March until the Twentieth Amendment in 1933.) Wikipedia notes its bearing:
Historians discovered that after the Supreme Court heard arguments in the case but before it issued a ruling, President-elect James Buchanan wrote to his friend, Supreme Court Associate Justice John Catron, to ask whether the case would be decided by the Court before his inauguration in March 1857. Buchanan hoped that the decision would quell unrest in the country over the slavery issue by issuing a ruling to take it out of political debate. He later successfully pressured Associate Justice Robert Cooper Grier, a Northerner, to join the Southern majority in Dred Scott to prevent the appearance that the decision was made along sectional lines.
Note that finding out wasn’t enough; former Chief Justice William Rehnquist observes in his excellent history The Supreme Court that
Buchanan, apparently basking in this foreknowledge at the time of his inaugural address, included in it a paraphrase of a statement Justice Catron had written for him, saying that the authority of Congress over slavery in the territories was “a judicial question, which legitimately belongs to the Supreme Court of the United States, before whom it is now pending, and will, it is understood, be speedily and finally settled. To their decision, in common with all good citizens, I shall cheerfully submit, whatever this may be.”
In case you were wondering, President Buchanan’s usual ranking as the worst US President isn’t just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s because of tomf*****y like this.
But Roe, of course, was not merely coincidentally politically timed much like the disgracefully political and completely indefensible—not to mention supremely inhumane—Dred Scott v. Sandford case. It was a judicial power grab, attempting to settle a divisive question through mandate and diktat rather than letting the country sort it out through the proper channels. (Not to suggest that Bleeding Kansas was a “proper channel” so much as to suggest that what the SCOTUS did was throw water on a grease fire.) It had, at no point, any leg to stand on. And at long last, it is a thing of the past.
Praise God.
Now the real work begins.
Decommissioning Roe means that it is once again the province of America’s voters and elected representatives to secure the right to life for all people and to root out the extant discrimination based on age that so many states have codified. Note that this needs to happen at the state legislative level as well as the state executive level. For example, in Wisconsin, the relevant abortion law was passed in 1849—that state’s current Democratic Attorney General has announced that he will refuse to enforce the law. Those who care about the protection of innocent life need to make sure that laws are not only inked, but enforced by willing, upright officeholders. And note that this is not a partisan point—Louisiana’s Democratic Governor is one of the most pro-life leaders in this country, having defied his own party to sign heartbeat legislation and strengthen his own state’s trigger law. I hope (though I won’t quite predict) that in a post-Roe America, more elected Democrats follow science, their conscience, and Governor Edwards’ example.
Illegal abortions may happen, and unexpected pregnancies may threaten to ruin the finances of the needy. Now, thousands of non-profit, volunteer-powered organizations across our great nation are already operating to change hearts and to meet needs, to provide for what is lacking and to give to the poor. I’m not disparaging their ongoing, long-standing labor by including this as a bullet point for the future. I’m stressing that this kind of volunteer work and giving will need to continue—in other words, that this is a time to celebrate and rejoice, but not to rest on our laurels.
Laws against the destruction of private property, threats, and domestic terrorism need to be enforced. This should absolutely go without saying. But it needs saying, because a spate of sustained attacks, vandalisms, and threats, from Miami to Oregon and from Western New York to South Carolina, are being leveled against those necessary organizations I mentioned in point 2. This has been discussed (by the Federalist and National Review) but it needs to be harped on until the government takes action and individuals no longer feel safe violating the law and making threats against the backwards and oppressive imposers of religious values that they view pro-lifers as being. Make no mistake, this is the same sort of confidence that the liberal clerk who leaked the Dobbs draft recently felt: a confidence that the professional legal system will be sympathetic enough to their cause that they will not have to pay a price for trashing norms and violating rights.
Shore up your church’s fortitude on this subject. Give them clarity of mission and firmness of purpose. Many are going to falter at some point or other. For instance, the Episcopal Church released the following statement on Dobbs earlier today that began thus:
Today the Supreme Court released its decision in the case of Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The court has overturned the constitutional right to abortion that was recognized in the seminal 1973 case Roe v. Wade.
While I, like many, anticipated this decision, I am deeply grieved by it. I have been ordained more than 40 years, and I have served as a pastor in poor communities; I have witnessed firsthand the negative impact this decision will have.
We as a church have tried carefully to be responsive both to the moral value of women having the right to determine their healthcare choices as well as the moral value of all life. Today’s decision institutionalizes inequality because women with access to resources will be able to exercise their moral judgment in ways that women without the same resources will not.
In your judgement, that may be too far gone to be worth saving. Your own church may be firmly pro-life but in a quiet and bashful kind of way. But it’s possible that now is the easiest time you will ever have to be vocal on this issue. (It’s also possible, with better ultrasound imaging technology making the in utero humanity ever more visible and undeniable, that it will actually get easier in the future. But regardless—that’s not a prediction I’m making.) The specifics can vary—a Bible study or church-based book club to strengthen people’s intellectual foundations (e.g. clarifying for people why the violinist “thought experiment” fails or introducing them to the current numbers surrounding adoption and those implications), publicizing work days or fundraising campaigns for some local aforementioned volunteer centers, emails or public statements to ensure everyone is on the same page—whatever the particular circumstances call for.
Roe v. Wade is history; abortion is not. There is a lot of work left to do on different fronts to root this evil out of our world; hopefully these bullet points indicate the next front for you personally.
Never weary of doing good.