For nearly 50 years, Roe v. Wade has ruled America’s judicial and legislative world with the assertion that killing a child is a “right.” But there has been a cultural revolution rumbling beneath the surface, and it’s about to break through. Even a few years ago, the biggest problem facing the pro-life movement was that nobody talked about abortion. Now, it’s arguably the loudest and most controversial issue in America, and I think what we’re hearing is abortion’s final cry.
Abortion, like slavery, is contrary to the essential nature of America, and as such, it’s just a matter of time before the American people reject it wholesale—or choose to stop being American in every way but name only, but I have more faith in America than that. Every time there’s a battle on the pro-life front, the needle ticks towards a pro-life victory, because there’s no way around it anymore: the alternative is being pro-murder.
The Democrat party has swung hard left on abortion in recent months, but 34% of Democrats now identify as pro-life, refusing to own the party’s extreme stances. Even as radical abortion proponents purge the remaining pro-lifers from their party, they’re losing the support of most Americans, who approach the issue from a common-sense, empathetic perspective. They’re no longer looking for “safe, legal, and rare”—they’re pushing abortion at every opportunity as a moral and utilitarian good. America won’t accept it.
Alabama’s abortion ban and Georgia’s heartbeat law declare the personhood of the unborn child. Personhood is the knife’s edge of the abortion debate because the pro-abortion case depends on the argument that the fetus isn’t a person deserving of the right to life—it’s either an invader in the mother’s body, like a cancer or a parasite, or it’s not alive at all.
Roe rests on the 14th Amendment’s provision that no state may “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” which was used to mean that no one could tell a woman what to do with her body. Justice Blackmun, who delivered the SCOTUS opinion in Roe v. Wade, recognized that “if this suggestion of personhood is established,” the pro-abortion case collapses, “for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the [Fourteenth] Amendment.” In other words, personhood was the Achilles’ Heel of the abortion case, and SCOTUS knew it. It was a time bomb that would eventually blow up Roe.
Now the time is ticking. As I discussed in this article, we know far too much about the development process of a baby in the womb to buy the argument that it isn’t human, let alone that it isn’t alive. It’s just not intellectually honest to believe that something with a fully formed set of human DNA and a human heartbeat isn’t human.
Frankly, I think the extremists in the pro-abortion camp lit the fuse on this nationwide rejection of abortion. On January 22, the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Governor Cuomo of New York signed the notorious law legalizing full-term abortions. Virginia followed suit with a bill that drastically reduced the restrictions on abortion, and Virginia Governor Northam was blatant in his support of killing infants who are born alive after attempted abortions. Infanticide became part of the deal, and that was just too far.
It’s been four months, and the reaction has been astronomical. Restrictions and bans on abortion are flying through legislatures across the country as a direct response to extremists’ support of infanticide. Elected representatives are rejecting abortion, signaling a widespread belief in the personhood of the unborn.
- Alabama made killing unborn babies a felony.
- Georgia banned abortions once the baby’s heartbeat begins, at around 6 weeks.
- A similar heartbeat bill recently passed in Missouri.
- Louisiana’s Democrat governor just signed a heartbeat bill.
- The South Carolina legislature is working on a heartbeat bill and the governor has promised to sign it.
That’s not an exhaustive list—Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and other states, particularly across the midwest and deep south, are standing up for the right to life. Momentum is on the side of the pro-life cause.
Abortion proponents aren’t just going to lie down and take defeat. This is still an uphill battle in many ways, and New York and Virginia weren’t the last states to expand abortion “rights.” Vermont passed an amendment creating a “right” to abortion and allowing abortions for any reason up to birth; it is the most expansive abortion protection yet, as it removed even minor regulations such as parental consent for girls under 18. A similar bill was narrowly defeated in Rhode Island. Illinois just passed the most expansive abortion bill yet, asserting abortion as a “fundamental right” and removing any and all regulations. We’re definitely not out of the woods yet, but as abortion activists get more extreme, I think more people will continue to jump off the abortion bandwagon.
The American Civil Liberties Union has already brought several suits against pro-life legislation in the State of Kentucky, including a bill prohibiting abortion after six weeks, and one protecting unborn children with Down’s syndrome. Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin is relentless in his protection of the unborn and hopes to eventually take a pro-life case to the Supreme Court.
Here’s the thing: with a conservative-majority Court, a SCOTUS level lawsuit of any state level abortion ban would likely result in Roe being overturned. Such a lawsuit begins with a state-level suit of a bill like Bevin’s protection of babies with Down’s syndrome, then an appeal at a the federal and then SCOTUS levels.
It’s only a matter of time before abortion is illegal across America—and it’s being widely rejected on a cultural level as well.
- A Marist poll in January found that 75% of Americans believe abortion should be limited to the first three months of pregnancy
- The most recent polling data shows that only 8% support abortion in the third trimester
- 83% of Americans believe it is possible to have laws that protect the life and health of the mother and the life of the unborn
- 56% believe a fetus is a unique life
- Fewer Americans are getting abortions—the CDC-reported abortion rate in 2013 was the lowest it had been since before Roe v. Wade
Young Americans are calling themselves the pro-life generation, because they are statistically much more pro-life than older generations. Even those who call themselves pro-choice support common-sense restrictions on abortion, like limiting it to the first trimester. We have witnessed technological advances far beyond ultrasound images—we’re seeing younger and younger premature babies survive outside the womb. Viability at 24 weeks is being called into question, since a 23-week, 8.6 ounce preemie is now five months old and healthy.
It’s just common sense—Americans innately understand the sanctity of life. We’re wired with a sense of justice that desires opportunity and protection for others as well as ourselves, and Americans historically have rallied around the helpless and mistreated. Extremist abortion supporters like Planned Parenthood and Governor Cuomo aren’t in sync with our country’s essential principles: life, liberty, and the opportunity to pursue happiness. Abortion is fundamentally incompatible with the soul of America, and I’m looking forward to the day that all life is protected and every person, even those who aren’t born yet, is afforded the opportunity to build their own American dream.
A Voice of Liberty 