The Day “Death Roe” Died
An estimated 60 million unborn babies have been taken from this earth before they took their first breath since the ratification of Roe v.Wade. These were future doctors, scientists, teachers, mothers. Their active potential halted in a moment.
Today my sister called me as I picked my kids up from summer camp, “Sarah! Have you heard the news? Roe v. Wade has just been overturned! I was so excited, but didn’t know what to do, so I had to call you,” she said. I reached out to a dear friend and director of the pregnancy center where I had volunteered for years and that we financially support. Both of us were astonished at what had happened. She was to retire just one week later and the poetry of experiencing this in her final week was something to behold. I texted my dad. I had seen him 12 hours earlier and we discussed the potential outcome. We tearfully exchanged sentiments about this momentous happening and he shared a story about the day I was born. Seeing a priest with a pro-life sign on the side of the road as my dad drove home from the hospital with me, he got out of the car and thanked the clergy for being a voice. He understood that day in fresh new living color, the preciousness of life. After that shared story, I had a drink with my husband and we toasted to the death of federal overreach in the area of abortion. Power back to the people. I explained the ruling to my middle kids, and the youngest of them insisted we become a home that “takes in the babies.” He suggested we could turn the barn into a living space. Today is a good day. Today is the day “death Roe” died.
My very first expression of ardent desire to protect the unborn was in 1996. I was 11. Bill Clinton vetoed, for the second time, legislation that would ban certain controversial abortion procedures, namely- Partial Birth Abortion. A partial-birth abortion was defined in the bill as one in which “the person performing the abortion partially delivers a living fetus vaginally before killing it and completing delivery.” It seemed like the former mantra of “rare and safe” was a thing of the past as abortion would become “on demand, and with no limitations”, including even partially delivered third-trimester babies (It happens more than you would think, more than a thousand a year.) Interestingly, the United States is ranked far outside international norms as it pertains to abortion and is categorized this way with only a handful of other countries, among those: Canada, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam, and China.
As someone that was once a fetus myself, anger rose up in my 11 year old self and I composed my first, grammatically poor, but written-with-heart letter to President Bill Clinton. I believe somewhere in the letter I asked him if he would want to be “stabbed in the spinal cord and have his brains sucked out” like victims of PBA. I didn’t need to be prompted or coached to feel this way. In all honesty, I am not sure my parents even knew I wrote and sent that letter. All children feel this way when presented with scientific reality, unless they have been coached otherwise. You can show them a picture of a fetal elephant and they will be able to identify it as a baby elephant, and you can show them a picture of a fetal human and they will just say, “It's a baby.” And if you asked them how they would feel about ending the life of that baby, they would feel sad. The innocence, simplicity and untainted perspective of children espouses wisdom that the most formally educated in society can fail to lay hold of. My child-heart grieved then for the loss of every unborn human life, and it has never stopped. The Christian ethic of life has permeated my being with its declaration that all human beings are ontological image-bearers of God, without the contingency of ability, race, circumstance, or family situation. Every life is precious. So yes, today my heart celebrates! The law has righted itself and has given back to the states, what should have always been theirs- the right to govern themselves in these matters.
Between my sister and me, the two of us have brought 10 exquisite and unique lives into the world. Not one of them waited until our finances were in order, until we had more functioning cars, until I felt less overwhelmed, until we had the space for them. (I was pregnant with our 4th in a 900 square foot cracker box.) They didn’t wait until I was ready. They came when they came and with each came exhaustion, struggle, and sacrifice. But more than that came life-altering joy, unexplainable love, and the sense that I would do anything to protect this tiny little human. Yes, it is hard, but it is astoundingly good. Never, not once did I presume “choice” over the life I was given to steward. Human life grew in me, but I am not the author of life itself. I marveled at the miracle I lived each time I was pregnant, as I felt almost supernatural, doing what no man could ever do- grow human life in my body. (And no, men cannot get pregnant!) What should be viewed as a miracle and gift (and it is a gift), has been viewed with indignant derision by the very beneficiaries of this miracle. And if that be your perspective, my compassion and pity is toward you. You have been sold a bill of goods. There is no more poignant expression of femininity than growing life in the womb. Ask any woman who has longed, to no avail, for life in her womb and she would share the excruciating loss of that fruition. Each one of my children is exponentially different from the one it was preceded by, and each one brings into life a set of gifts, beauty, and interaction with the world that cannot be replicated by any other living soul. When in fear or arrogance, we rob the world of this poetry, the depths weep and grieve the loss, and the world will never know their impact.
So, my sister and I, through the years, have at various times come alongside women who have found themselves overwhelmed by their situation. We’ve both been a formal part of pregnancy help centers and also informally have supported overwhelmed mamas not just for the sake of the babies, but for the women themselves. What I have observed in my many years of doing this, is that abortion is not a choice, it’s what you do when you feel like you don’t have any other choice. But there is always a choice. Ultimately, abortion is bad for the mother and self-evidently, it is terminal for the baby. Of the women I have walked alongside of, who on a razor’s edge chose to keep their pregnancy, not one of them regretted that decision. And as one very special woman told me recently, “Those babies saved my life; they gave me a reason to live”. Anecdotally I know there are situations that feel impossible and are marked with deep fear, pain, and complication. There is a well of compassion, resources, and love awaiting those in such situations. There is always hope. Adoption is a form of redemption that can come from some of those impossible situations. Powerful are the stories of Ryan Bomberger, who was one of ten adopted children. Daily he hears the message from the progressive Left, that lives like his (conceived in rape), have no value. He now runs the Radiance Foundation, and most of his ten siblings, along with him, have fostered and adopted children themselves, perpetuating redemption for generations. Check out his story and foundation. It really is radiant.
So I have six things to leave with you that I believe are worth considering::
First: Care to understand what the ruling means. Right now, maybe nothing, except that the federal government should never have, and will not have jurisdiction on this matter; the states and representatives elected by YOU will have their own conversations and decisions about the issue. This decision indicates more representation of the people, not less.
The 14th amendment never included in its penundrum the right to abortion. In fact, before it was ratified, abortion was illegal in 49 states. Read the opinion written by Justice Alito and interact with its legality and soundness as he said, “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representitives.” The case is not about “control”. At the heart of it, is where the law went wrong decades ago by illegitimately substantiating the right to abortion in the 14th amendment. O. Carter Snead, Professor of Law, Notre Dame University said, “Roe v. Wade was the decision in the Supreme Court in which they invented a right to abortion based on a very strange reading of the American Constitution and a false reading of American History”
In the coming time some states may increase the restrictions, requiring ultrasounds or trimester cutoffs, etc. and unfortunately, (and to my disgust), many will maintain their “no restriction” and “total-access” barbarism that even potentially bleeds past birth as a few states have proposed. (Obama rejected the act that would insist on life-saving care for infants born alive after an abortion, not once, but four times.) That is the amazing part of states’ rights in the United States. If you enjoy needles on the streets, high taxes, being overridden by school boards, being infantalized by your government, and abortion on demand, then California is the place for you, granted they have amazing weather. And if you don’t, vote differently or move. There is a state out there that will fit your life and elected officials that will represent your ideas. States’ rights were part of the brilliant strategy of the founders to avoid too much concentration of power. They devised a two-prong approach with checks and balances that spread out the power vertically through the local, state, and federal government and horizontally, through the branches of government. It was genius. Roe v. Wade has always been in violation of what the framers intended through states’ rights.
Second: Stop believing the media lies that slippery-slope their way into descriptions of desperate pregnant women being arrested or women by the droves dying in back alleys as Leana Wen, President of Planned Parenthood asserted by massively and deceptively inflating potential numbers from an era before antibiotics. Stop believing the myth that abortion is a medical issue, and not a moral one. The most important question that must be answered is, “Is a fetus a human life?” Abortion does not aleviate sexual and racial inequalities as it claims, quite the opposite as it targets minority groups (and has since its founding, as I discuss below.) Stop fixating ALL your energy on the infrequent horrific incidents for which provision could always be made. There is so much deception and fear mongering to emotionally manipulate the masses, causing women to, “fear for their daughters”. I for one do not, and I guess my question is, “Why haven’t you been afraid for your granddaughters (and grandsons)?”
Third: Do some research on fetal development. When do they feel pain? When does the heart begin to beat? When do they develop fingerprints? Did you know that the unborn female fetus possesses all the eggs in her body that she will have for the rest of her life, so that she might one day bear children of her own? At 21 days the heart beats, and at 8 weeks the fingers and toes are developed. By 12 weeks she has fingernails and a facial profile. In very recent years, more research has come out pertaining to the potential of fetal pain now theorized to be experienced even in the first trimester. As technology progresses, our observations offer a much different story than our 1980’s understanding. Stewart Derbyshire, one of the leading experts on fetal pain recently expressed a walking back of his former understanding of when the fetus experiences pain saying, ”Overall, the evidence, and a balanced reading of that evidence, points towards an immediate and unreflective pain experience mediated by the developing function of the nervous system from as early as 12 weeks.” “Nevertheless, we no longer view fetal pain (as a core, immediate, sensation) in a gestational window of 12–24 weeks, as impossible based on neuroscience.” As it stands abortion is the only fetal surgery (with some rare exceptions) in which anesthesia is not administered to the fetus.
I encourage you to watch an ultrasound of an abortion. You can observe the behavior and body language of the fetus as she recoils and flails as the vacuum nears. There are verbal descriptions and diagrams if you can’t stomach the real footage. It’s truly heartbreaking. One abortion doctor described the last abortion he ever performed, after the baby kicked him as he dismembered it. I don’t share this to shame, but to make us awake to the reality of abortion, and not believe it to be the euphemism it hides behind like “reproductive health”. There is nothing healthy or healing about abortion. It is damaging to all parties involved.
Abortion never undoes a circumstance and it is not a delete button. Do some research on statistics of miscarriage after abortion, suicidal ideation, abortion recidivism, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, infection, and yes even death. All of these are found in the Adverse Event Reports which are understood to be grossly underestimated because of the underreporting and lack of regulation in the US. Follow Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, who testifies of women vomiting in the hallway, crying out in pain. She says, “This is America’s greatest horror story, how we butcher people in the name of choice.” One of the more comprehensive studies that was done in Finland, where abortion is far more regulated and researched, revealed a maternal mortality risk three times higher compared to child birth and six times higher for suicide. Abortion is not medicine, health care, or saftey, and in almost all cases violates the hyporatic oath to do no harm.
Fourth: Follow the money. Do some research on the number one abortion provider, Planned Parenthood and the greed that runs their front of an organization with the billions they make from exploiting the desperation of women and siphoning from taxpayers. They DO NOT care about women there. Speak to former employees and directors of Planned Parenthood like Abby Johnson, who reveal the underbelly of the organization, from covering up sexual abuse and trafficking, harvesting and selling fetal parts for profit, botched abortions, hush money, and snapping the necks of babies who survive abortions. Yes, this actually happens! In fact, there are several organizations that have been started to help former abortion facility employees heal from the things they have seen.
Check out Jianna Jessen. She walks with crutches because of the cerebral palsy that she developed as a result of the abortion she lived through. When she speaks you can hear a pin drop. It is as if God bottled all the voices of every voiceless fetus and put them in her. Boy, does the Left wish that her abortion had taken. She is a real problem for the abortion industry. She survived a saline abortion and was rescued by a nurse that found her dying in a trashcan as an infant. She now travels globally and educates people on the value of the unborn who are deemed “trash” by many.
Learn about the promotions and incentives, metrics and quotas to get as many women to have abortions as possible at Planned Parenthood. They are not really about choice at PP. Follow Dr. Steve Hammond, former abortion doctor, who testifies of women often sobbing and protesting when dilation begins and him telling them it is too late to stop. The “choice” is over. Understand something - they lie to women at these places. They falsely describe the fetus, the procedure, and hide ultrasound images from the eyes of pregnant women. (9 out of 10 women that see the ultrasound image decide to keep the pregnancy.) No wonder they want to hide them.
Care to understand the motives behind the organization. Founder, Margret Sanger was a racist eugenicist, who wanted to exterminate minority populations. She wrote admiration letters to Hitler regarding his implementation of eugenics. She strategically built Planned Parenthood facilities in urban areas, promoting them through local black clergy to “take undue burden off of the poor”, Really she was trying to engineer a “pure” population. And still to this day, abortion disproportionately affects minority races. 79% of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities are located in predominantly Black and Hispanic areas. In New York more black babies die of abortion annually than are born. This makes my heart weep. And the day they board up their doors permanently will be another day of celebration and the end of decades of horrors that took place behind those walls.
Fifth: For women and men, 99 percent of the time, we have choices before we demand “choice”. Since I was 8, I roughly understood the idea of the “birds and bees”. Sex between a human biological man and a human biological woman makes a baby. It is the only act in the universe that produces human life. And it has always been that way. The storks are not actually white, republican, male politicians materializing babies in the wombs of unsuspecting women the way third wave, progressive, feminist activists assess.
Personal responsibility is something our culture does not like to talk about, but there are so many choices we have BEFORE pregnancy becomes a reality. Birth control is abundant and inexpensive, and while I was uninsured and living under the poverty line, I managed to be able to afford and prioritize this. And I know this sounds crazy, but if you can’t swing a dollar a day and your life context cannot support a baby, then don’t have sex. Sex is a powerful and weighty expression. It is not a candy machine that gives you a treat for a quarter. Its potential effects are profound and far-reaching emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Sex should always be taken seriously. And yes, sometimes when we do all the right planning and take the right precautions, things still manage to surprise us. And with that comes another choice - Parent or Adopt.
It is your body, and what you do with your body should be your choice, but the body of a fetus IS. NOT. YOUR. BODY. For babies who survived abortion, they would say, “I was not my mothers body”. A fetus has its own brain, heart, skeleton, blood type, feelings, sensations. Her body is wrapped in her skin, and it is hers. Dependency, geography, and “wantedness” are not determinations for life when human beings are out of the womb, so why would they be when they are in the womb? When is that demarcation when we recognize value and why? Calling not killing your unborn child “forced pregnancy” is like calling not killing your toddler “forced parenting”, Miss Ocasio-Cortez. We don’t have the choice or right to do a lot of things in life, including smothering our children when we feel “done” being a mom. I believe in reproductive rights. I believe women should have the right to determine whether they reproduce. And true forced reproduction is a crime and punishable by the law. But once a zygote has formed, human life has begun, and reproduction has already occurred. A more fitting terminology to describe the right to end that life would be to say, I believe in “delivery rights” or “birth rights” or “unborn human fetus termination rights”. “Reproductive rights” and “healthcare” are terms guilty of concept-creep for the purpose of manipulation.
Men, BE men. Too often (and I mean too often), women are left to bear the consequence of both individuals' choices. The answer isn’t more abortions; it is more masculine men. If you make a baby and walk away, you are a coward. She is not a conquest. But if you take from her what is most precious and leave her with full hands and a heavy heart, you are a thief. Men, you were made for greatness, to protect her, to provide for her, to cherish her, to accept responsibility and reject passivity. Masculinity defined and displayed in those ways leaves me with unrivaled admiration and gratitude for men and the incredible capacity and possibility in this world for the role of men as I have seen lived out by so many men in my life.
Sixth and lastly: To any woman who has had an abortion, I love you. I don’t know your full story, but I know it was excruciating. There is healing and redemption for every aspect of every situation and decision you made, and…for the ones you didn’t make. Guilt and shame is not the language of the loving God that I know. As the Author of life, He is positioned with arms reaching down to carry you, not to heap more burden on you. His posture is forgiveness and His gift is joy. He weeps with you and wants to heal your heart and make it whole. And for any woman who currently finds herself in an impossible place, I know droves of families with open arms looking to invite new life into their homes. Check out your local pregnancy centers; they love you and will walk through your pregnancy and help get you connected to resources. And as for Randy and me, if you cannot or will not choose the parent option, we love your little one so much we will take them in ourselves or find a loving family who will. The phrase ad nauseum that you are just “pro-birth” could not be farther from the truth. Christians represent a population that adopts at a rate that doubles any other group. Christians almost single-handedly fund pregnancy help centers. Christians engage in foster care more than any other group. What they believe translates to how they live their lives in the service of others.
In closing, while I celebrate the overturn of Roe v. Wade, my heart for my community, my country, and my world is for a spiritual awakening and a revelatory experience that would ignite love for our fellow mankind and the value of all lives- an agape love that overcomes tribalism, division and wills the true good of others. In the 1850’s it took bold abolitionists to fight against the dehumanization of a people that were counted as nothing more than property. It came with great backlash, cost, and resistance, as it exposed the hypocrisy of the rights of one group at the expense of another. People bellowed then about “their rights” to do as they wished with “their property”. And even decades after the 14th amendment, the residue of rot still infested the human heart. The law began what could only be completed in the heart, and only there can these issues be eradicated. The world needs new eyes and new hearts. We must remove ourselves from being the deity of our own little worlds and surrender to a Creator who longs to lead us in the flourishing life. When we humble ourselves to His divine ethic which energizes a culture of life, (even when it isn’t convenient or always easy), it will always bring more life, freedom, and joy. As an abortion abolitionist, I will work and pray to that end.
Credit and sources: nih.gov, Not Created Equal, by Ryan Bomberger, Abby Johnson, Reasonable Faith with William Lane Craig - Stand to Reason, Choosing Death - The Legacy of Roe on Daily Wire, The Radiance Foundation, The Silent Scream, Gianna Jessen CSPAN Testifies - 2nd Trimester Surgical Abortions, Live Action, Stand to Reason, Red Pen Logichttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TzXNwLtKt0, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00243639211059245, https://jme.bmj.com/content/46/1/3, https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-united-states-is-radical-on-abortion-when-compared-to-other-countries?utm_term=&utm_campaign=dw_conversions_subscriptions_performancemax_political&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=6411461344&hsa_cam=16599826472&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=Cj0KCQjwn4qWBhCvARIsAFNAMijWebyP3PS8za4J_aoHFqccvSXWdCrnl-C1Ah2pddzwzhbLxHop9q0aAiu5EALw_wcB,