After two generations of prayer, activism, and tireless organizing, pro-life advocates rejoiced Friday morning as the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The 5-4 ruling removed a nearly 49-year-old de facto ban on legislation protecting a child before she could survive outside the womb, legislation which is favored by a majority of Americans.
Pro-life advocates outside the Supreme Court erupted in jubilation shortly after 10 a.m. as the media announced the justices’ decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which affirmed a Mississippi law protecting children after 15 weeks’ gestation. Their joy stretched through pro-life hearts across the country.
“The prayers of millions have been answered,” cheered Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R).
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) declared June 24 an annual holiday for the state’s Office of Attorney General, citing the 63 million babies aborted since 1973. “I am closing all my offices as a memorial to these babies. Our hearts and prayers go out to all of them,” he said.
Legal scholars said the ruling rehabilitated the Supreme Court’s image, which took a hard hit after the legally unfounded Roe ruling and strengthened constitutional jurisprudence. “The Supreme Court has corrected a historically bad mistake in its precedent,” said Erin Hawley of the Alliance Defending Freedom, who acted as counsel on the Dobbs case. “Today’s decision is a win for life and for the Constitution. There is not, and has never been, a constitutional right to take the life of an innocent, unborn child.”
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, was thankful that Roe, “a pile of verifiable legal garbage that is responsible for the deaths of more than 63 million preborn children, is finally on the ash heap of history where it belongs.”
The decision came as the culmination of decades of work by untold millions of activists, many of whom gather every January to march against the taking of unborn life. The March for Life, founded by Nellie Gray shortly after liberal justices handed down the instantly-controversial opinion in January 1973, thanked “the countless pro-life people of goodwill who contributed & sacrificed to make today possible — including the millions of those who have marched for life over the years.” The group said the annual event will “continue … until abortion is unthinkable.” National Right to Life also credited “the 3,000 chapters and 51 affiliates of National Right to Life who have carried the pro-life message into every nook, cranny, and corner of America for decades” with setting the stage for today’s win.
Former President Donald Trump, who appointed three of the five justices in the pro-life majority, expressed uncharacteristic modesty when asked about his role in today’s event. Instead, the 45th president invoked a Higher Power. “God made the decision,” he told Fox News shortly after the decision came down. Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), whose campaign offices were vandalized by abortion activists on Tuesday, also cited the Creator and the Founding Fathers on Friday. “God’s most precious gift is that of life, and it is the very first unalienable right listed in our Declaration of Independence,” Walberg said. “By overturning Roe v. Wade, our nation will have an opportunity to better live up to this foundational ideal.”
The Dobbs ruling does not outlaw abortion in the revolutionary way the court’s activist branch legalized the abortionists’ trade through all 50 states. The decision merely removes the judiciary’s ban on pro-life legislation based on the newfound “constitutional right” to abortion.
“Laws across the country can now affirm that life is a human right and ensure women have greater access to the support and resources they need and deserve,” applauded Kristen Waggoner of ADF. “We now turn to the states to ensure that unborn children and their mothers are protected from the gruesome reality of abortion, and that they receive the care and resources they need to flourish.”
Pro-life advocates vow they will move the struggle to establish the human rights and legal dignity of preborn children from Washington to the 50 state capitals, 26 of which are expected to enact greater protections for the unborn. “Now that Roe v. Wade has been consigned to the ash heap of history, a new arena in the cause of life has emerged, and it is incumbent on all who cherish the sanctity of life to resolve that we will take the defense of the unborn and the support for women in crisis pregnancy centers to every state in America,” former Vice President Mike Pence told Breitbart.com. “Having been given this second chance for [l]ife, we must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land.”
Those in the fight say the pro-life movement’s continuing efforts will require the protection of Providence. Live Action founder Lila Rose called on Americans to root their future actions in a visceral love of God, the Author of life. May Jesus Christ’s “merciful heart touch each of our hearts, to see the value of every life, every child,” she said in an online prayer. “As we change law, may our hearts change, too.”
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins reiterated the gravity of the moment.
“While we are grateful that the tyranny of Roe has ended, we are mindful of the solemnity of this moment,” he said. “What the Court has done is an act of repentance out of which we bring forth the fruit of repentance, rebuilding a culture of life in America.”
Ben Johnson is senior reporter and editor at The Washington Stand.
