Why the downfall of Roe v Wade was so important
By Martin Cannon, Former Senior Counsel, Thomas More Society
Roe vs. Wade horrified most of the nation. In the 50 years since, many people who were horrified then have become acquiescent in abortion now. People who do not live and breathe an issue get their cues about what is right and wrong from what is legal.
How much worse should it be for two or three generations of young people who have grown up knowing nothing but the legality and the omnipresence of abortion?
Yet look at the pro-life movement today!
Look at the March for Life in DC!
Look at the marches like this one all around the country and all the local pro-life groups: Millions of Americans, and most of them are younger than Roe!
God’s messengers
The effect of legality has been matched by the message of life! That is God’s message! And you are His great messengers!
Sodom and Gomorrah needed only a few righteous men! America has millions! People who seek God and defend his design. God is not done with America! He has blessed your faithful persistence, and he has stepped into our affairs in a big way!
Roe vs. Wade is gone! Freed from the constraints on the right of self-governing people to protect their own children, we are moving beyond the half measures forced upon us while we fought for the right just to have the real battle! We are stepping onto that field now, I believe with God beside us, to fight where and what we were always gonna have to: Right here, and for Life at Conception.
We have a good start on that. The Iowa legislature has passed, Governor Reynolds has signed and Attorney General Brenna Bird is prepared to defend a new Iowa law. It specifically bans Telemed abortion, but it takes a pretty good swipe at abortion by mail and it’s a huge step toward safety for mothers and the recognition in the unborn child of Life at Conception.
Unlike prior bills, some around the country and some here, this one flowed from full throated debate where we’re entitled to have it, without the overarching limitations and oppression of Roe.
Abortion pill challenged
Very importantly, the state of Louisiana challenged an FDA rule that allows manufacturers to ship abortion pills into Louisiana even though abortion is illegal there, and so is the use of those pills! The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Louisiana. In my opinion, that ruling is pretty bulletproof. The Supreme Court issued a stay on that ruling, but that does not necessarily tell us where it’s gonna go. There’s a very good chance the Supreme Court will affirm the 5th Circuit and if they do, that will be the biggest ruling since Dobbs against the biggest challenge the pro-life movement has faced: the ubiquity of the abortion pill.
You and others like you have gotten us to this place. For 50 years, you have prayed, you have written, you have spoken. You have kept abortion on the front pages. You have made it a litmus test for judges and politicians. The wound on America that is abortion would have scabbed over and faded from the public consciousness long ago if not for people like you who simply would not sit down and shut up. You have been the restless conscience of a nation re-emerging in fidelity to God.
And he has noticed! We are gonna win this!
So go out there today, obedient to the call, with the wind at your back and with faith in God’s plan for America! Get a breath of fresh air and then come back and go back to the hard work you have done so well.
[Thanks to Martin Cannon for permission to publish his speech from the Iowa March For Life on June 20th.
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