After Roe is Reversed

A preliminary Supreme Court opinion was leaked to the press on May 2, 2022, and the opinion was formally announced on June 24. The opinion was 5-4 (6-3 including Chief Justice John Roberts’ Concurring Opinion)

The Court held:

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The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives. ¹

As a result of the opinion of the Court about half the states will outlaw abortion, while it will still be legal in the rest. At least two states have declared themselves to be abortion sanctuary states. (California and New York) At the present time there are several lawsuits seeking to overturn state restrictions on abortions.

Pro-life advocates have worked tirelessly to overturn Roe v. Wade for almost fifty years. This was a great opinion by the Court, and many were very pleased.

But, the provision of the Court did not end abortion; it merely returned the issue to the states where it was before Roe in 1973.

When Roe, Doe and Casey were overturned many in the abortion camp insisted that their rights had been taken away. However, a careful reading of the Constitution reveals no support for a right to abortion. It is simply not there.

The standard for “viability” is vastly different from what it was in 1973 when Roe was decided.

Amicus Hannah began her life through in vitro fertilization. She was formed outside her genetic mother’s womb and was sustained there, in a frozen state, for over two years. Amicus Hannah was a human being from the time of fertilization.
The story of this “adoption” and this Amici Curiae Brief will reveal that Roe’s measuring line for viability has now been moved all the way back to fertilization by the modern scientific advancement called in vitro fertilization. Roe, at 160, has this viability definition: “viable”, potentially able to live outside the mother’s womb, albeit with artificial aid.” ²

The briefs filed in Dobbs give much valuable information.

Roe v. Wade was discredited when issued (1973) and remains so today (2021)
The position of the Court in Roe and Casey is illogical and only creates confusion when lower courts have to act in this area.
Stare decisis depends on settled case law. Roe is not settled after almost fifty years. It needs to be overturned.
Medical science has improved vastly since 1973 such that the unborn must be considered a person at conception (fertilization).
Women have believed that, if their birth control method failed, they could always have an abortion and not have their careers affected by the birth of a child. That is not as true today, as it is now very practical for women to work and still care for their children at home. Better that a woman be appreciated for her talent rather than simply have an abortion.
Much of Roe depends on the Fourteenth Amendment, which says in part: “Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.” In the pleadings in Roe, one jujstice said that, if the attorney could show that the unborn was a person, he would win the case. A number of different briefs proclaim the unborn a person.
Many briefs proclaim that it is the responsibility of the state to protect all life from conception to natural death.
It can be demonstrated that childbirth is safer than abortion.
Historically the Common Law prohibited abortion, and this was very evident in colonial America.
Several have commented that we would not permit the dismembering of a criminal or an animal the way an unborn child is treated in abortion.
Several briefs have said that Roe v. Wade was produced from “whole cloth”. It was pure fiction.
Traditional Judeo/Christian teaching has always emphasized the importance of protecting all life, conception to natural death.
Women can participate equally in the economic and social life of the nation without having an abortion.
Every child in the womb is unique. There was never another like him, and there will never be another like him.
Concerns over life and death matters belong with the state where they were before Roe (1973).
The unborn child develops much more quickly than the Court understood in Roe.
Abortions in the second and third trimesters involve increased risk to a woman’s health and safety.
There is no support for abortion in the text of the Fourteenth Amendment (Thomas).
Although science could not agree when life began in 1973, there is no question among scientists today that, at conception, a new life is formed.
Abortion is a medical procedure unlike any other as it leads to death: medical science should lead to preserving life.
For three thousand years, Jewish and Christian teaching has supported the sanctity of life.
People have begun, as in vitro fertilization, outside the womb, frozen for several years, and then went on to ultimately become functioning adults. This moves viability to conception as a fertilized egg, a fetus, can survive outside the womb.
No prior judicial decision is more important than the words of the US Constitution.
Viability draws an arbitrary line that is impossible to define as all unborn life begins at conception and continues until natural birth; it is a continuum of progress. No other dividing line will prove more workable. ³

Roe and Casey have proven hopelessly unworkable because no right to abortion exists in the Constitution.

Ninety-eight briefs were filed for the case. While they are all good, some of them are excellent. If anyone wants to be truly informed about the abortion issue, he should plan on consulting many of the briefs filed in the case. Here is the website for the briefs: ⁴

Here is the testimony of Jennifer Callender, who was almost aborted. She was a twin. Her brother was aborted, but her mother later elected to carry Jennifer to term.

She met a former abortionist, Dr. Kathi Aultman, who revealed something particularly shocking. Had Jennifer’s mother been under the care of Dr. Aultman that day in 1978, Jennifer would not be alive now. Having received specialized training in dismemberment abortions, she knew how to complete the procedure Jennifer described.
Now a pro-life activist, Aultman points out that only around 15 percent of obstetrician-gynecologists perform abortions, and most of those quickly give up the practice. Why? “The abortionist has to count the body parts,” she reasons, and “you can only count body parts for so long before it sinks in” that abortion is actually infanticide. ⁵

The Court may have overturned Roe, yet the prolife work has just begun. We must fight the many court cases against abortion law and seek to pass prolife legislation in states where it is still permitted.

Notes