Depending on who you are, what you believe, and a number of other factors, the fact that today, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade is really good news or really bad news.
For many believers, it is really good news and an affirmation of the sanctity of life as granted to each of us by the Almighty. But I don’t think we’re in the majority in the United States, and certainly not in Canada or Europe.
I went to George Takei’s (Mr. Sulu from Star Trek) twitter account and indeed everyone responding is deeply upset and distraught. It’s as if the world has ended for them. They predict many deaths as a result. Some even believe that this is only the first shot fired in a war of conservatives and the faithful against liberals and atheists, otherwise known as the “culture wars.”
They believe that next, same-sex marriage will be overturned, followed by inter-racial marriage. They believe conservatives are going to turn the U.S. into a real live Handmaid’s Tale. They really do believe this will convert the U.S. into a 1950s sitcom.
Personally, I think that’s either overreacting or deliberate fear mongering in order to mobilize political action at the polls and elsewhere.
For instance, the video in this twitter post tweeted last May illustrates that if a person tries to travel from a state restricting abortions to one permitting abortions, they could be stopped by law enforcement and charged with a crime.
I thought that sounded completely ridiculous, but it may not be in certain cases. According to the “Today” story link I posted at the top of the page:
Some states, including Kentucky and South Dakota, have banned accessing medication abortion via mail, and lawmakers in Missouri proposed banning people crossing state lines to avoid the state’s abortion restrictions. It’s since been shelved, but Bae said overturning Roe v. Wade may invigorate states to try to pass such laws.
It’s one thing to remove federal protections from abortion providers in order to support the sanctity of life, and another thing to punish and even criminalize young women for being pregnant and scared. No, the “target” isn’t and never should be pregnant women. The target is an industry that feeds off of death. It is an industry teaching women that not only is abortion of an unwanted pregnancy an option, but it’s desirable and sought after.
I’ve rendered other commentaries on abortion over the years including On the 40th Anniversary of Roe vs. Wade and Love Thy Enemy.
The one I cite most often on social media when the issue comes up is Choose Life, the rebuttal to the atheists saying that believers only cherish life up until birth and then we don’t care anymore.
I saw one comment in social media stating we only cherish life up until kids become school age. My immediate thought was at that point the public school system takes over and attempts to imprint society’s values on impressionable children, drag queen shows aside.
It’s important for us not to get so carried away with this moment that we fail to recognize ordinary human beings are truly terrified by this decision. They are terrified that an unintentional pregnancy will result in being “chained” to an unwanted child, that it will inhibit women from carrying out plans for a career or other endeavors, that it will tie women down to an existence of servitude.
Yes, they’re afraid, and our reaction shouldn’t be to gloat but to be compassionate. Make no mistake though. Our compassion is sure to be completely rejected. Religious people are seen as the enemy. We took away this freedom from them and apparently, we are threatening to take away even more.
Try to remember a time when you, as a believer, have been afraid because you live in a disbelieving world. In other countries, Christians are being persecuted (no, just because someone disagrees with you in the U.S. does not mean you’re being persecuted). Those are believers who truly know fear and rightfully so. If we can at least touch on how it feels to be “disapproved of” a Christians, it might help us understand these neighbors of ours.
Yes, I know we’re not given a spirit of fear but of power, love, and disciple (2 Timothy 1:7) but let’s face it, we’re human. It’s a given that most of us don’t live up to the Biblical ideal, at least not all the time. I know I don’t. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to try.
That should help us understand that even though for us, the overturning of Roe vs. Wade is a time of celebration, for many, many people, it’s a time of grief, mourning, and sorrow. We should be mindful of that.
Unfortunately, it will also be a time of anger, rage, and violence. We’ve already seen pro-life organizations and clinics vandalized, and many churches have seen protesters enter their sanctuaries during services, some of them performing lewd acts and calling it protest and justice.
This is just the beginning.
Consider stories such as Leaked Supreme Court abortion draft raises fears for future of gay marriage, LGBTQ rights, Abortion rights might soon be gone. Activists worry same-sex marriage is next, and Draft opinion would pave way for abortion ban in Idaho. Is gay marriage next target?
All of that may have some basis in reality, but on the other hand, as I mentioned above, it could be blatant fearmongering such as THIS, THIS, and this Salon piece.
You may be excited to celebrate this victory, but we live in a fractured society and an amoral culture. You already know we are in the world but not of the world, so anything that our nation does that seems to fit our beliefs and values is going to be used against us.
But we’re not here for us, we’re here for Him. According to Jewish tradition, when the Egyptians were killed as the waters of the Reed Sea (some say “Red Sea”) which had been parted to pass Moses and the Israelites, collapsed upon the pursuing hordes, the Almighty chastised the angels when they cheered. Are not the Egyptians also creations of God?
So is every woman who becomes pregnant and is afraid. When people are afraid, sometimes they respond with anger and even violence. How we respond to that tells the world who we really are as servants of the One God.
Morning Meditations 
God willing, abortion will be illegal in all 50 states, and anyone involved in an abortion, from the parents, to the providers, staff, and even people who maintain the facilities, will either be charged with murder, or as accessories to murder. We can’t even allow these last 50 years to happen again. Toouch innocent blood was spilt, and weust atone for the crimes of this nation before Almighty God!
That’s unlikely to happen. Remember, we live in a fallen world, so by definition, it’s broken. The Kingdom of God isn’t realized on the Earth yet. We wait for the coming of the Savior.
And we should continue to labor for justice in His absence, as we have been commanded. Brother, we’re required to fight against Sin no matter where we find it, even within ourselves. We must not be silent, we must not sit back, and we must continue to fight. We’ve won a major battle today, but there is still an entire war before us. We ought to fight for His glory, for His Gospel, and for His Kingdom. Scripture states that we are to care for the weak and the needy, stand up for the oppressed, and that we are to care for those less fortunate. We’re also bound to pursue true justice, no matter the cost. I don’t know about you, but I intend to keep fighting until Kingdom comes, or I die, whichever comes first.
It seems to me that the fuss over this SCOTUS reversal is akin to the fuss that ensued after the SCOTUS overturned the Dred Scott decision that denied full humanity and citizen rights to black slaves almost two centuries ago. Of course, that led in turn to the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Gettysburg Address, and other memorable events. Who knows what the current fuss will lead to, especially in this era of a marxian socialist, authoritarian, liberty-and-rights-denying environment? Abortion foes and proponents alike seem to be overexaggerating their projections of where this could lead, ignoring the deliberately limited scope of the decision.
A key question, now that the matter has been returned to the states’ democratic legislative arena, is about upcoming efforts to elect representatives who will vote to legislate in accordance with medical knowledge, social wisdom, and individual compassion for all affected parties — including the pregnant woman, the child within her, the man who impregnated her, and their respective families — not to neglect any public agencies or charities that might be called upon to support some aspect of the consequences.
The unrelated recent SCOTUS decision re-affirming the rights established in the second amendment in the US Constitution may also become a crucial tool in the defense of individual empowerment and against usurpation of it by inimical political forces and ideologies.
In any case it appears that we are all subject to the “curse” expressed by the Chinese as: “May you live in interesting times.”
Clarification: The Dred Scott decision was overturned only in the aftermath of the Civil War. It was the decision itself which led to it and the other events I cited above. However, overturning it immediately afterward also generated superseding legislation via U.S. Const. amends. XIII, XIV, XV; the Civil Rights Act of 1866; and parts of the court case decisiin of Kleppe v. New Mexico (1976).
Good post, thank you. “… overreacting or deliberate fear mongering in order to mobilize political action at the polls and elsewhere.” I would say both, but definitely fear mongering. Some of the blogs I read show how unpleasant some people are in reality despite the superficial self-righteousness.