Jan. 22, 2022, will mark the 49th year since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade and forced universal legalization of abortion-on-demand in the United States. Many hope 2022 is the year it is reversed.
I am prayerfully optimistic that Roe as we know it is done. Reasons to be both prayerful and optimistic exist, but now is not the time to be assured of our outcome. Even a life-affirming decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case currently before the high court, will not end abortion, the culture of death or its appetite for the youngest, weakest and most vulnerable in our society.
Three recent developments particularly emphasize that this is an ongoing battle. The first is the Biden FDA’s waiver of certain health and safety warnings related to the abortion pill, a move that opens the pill to be provided by mail and retail pharmacies and without physician oversight.
This change is deadly for unborn children and dangerous for women. It will make it more difficult for pro-life states such as Ohio to end abortion. Combined with the blatant censorship of pro-life organizations, pregnancy resource centers and organizations promoting and providing abortion pill rescue and reversal, it will become much more difficult to provide and promote alternatives to abortion.
The second is ongoing litigation blocking enforcement of state-level pro-life laws. Several Ohio examples of this exist, including judicial blocks against Ohio’s law to prohibit abortion for the stated purpose of terminating a pregnancy because of a diagnosis of Down syndrome.
Many people who consider themselves “generally pro-life but with exceptions” often favor exceptions when the child is conceived in rape or incest or when diagnosed with a life-limiting condition or disability.
While all “exceptions” are fraught with ethical and theological inconsistencies, in early January The New York Times published a jolting expose on the frequency with which genetic testing falsely indicates an unborn baby has a life-limiting condition or disability. Nonetheless, Ohio’s modest law prohibiting abortion because of a diagnosis of Down syndrome is held up in the courts.
This is not the only example of modest pro-life laws that are fought tooth-and-nail by the abortion lobby. Recently a suit was filed against an Ohio law that requires burial or cremation of intentionally aborted fetal remains, and just before Christmas there was feral opposition to a bill that would require a baby born alive after an attempted abortion to receive medical care.
We will continue to see aggressive activism and legal maneuvers from the pro-abortion crowd in Ohio, even if the high court fully reverses Roe.
Third, Ohio is one of the most ballot-friendly states. It would not be difficult for a well-funded group to attempt to amend Ohio’s Constitution to allow abortion. An effort to do so is pending in Michigan.
The pro-life movement would fight such an effort with everything we have, but it would be difficult.
Before I came to Greater Columbus Right to Life, I was engaged in politics and lobbying. I was directly involved in or led three efforts to amend Ohio’s Constitution and one campaign to fight off a ballot initiative. Aside from one (a routine veterans bond issue with no opposition), they all took a staggering amount of money, grass-roots engagement and compromise. It is difficult and rare to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment once it gets on the ballot in Ohio.
But I am still prayerfully optimistic that Roe, as we know it, could end this year. I certainly am praying that is the case, and I have faith that one day it will be, and that our efforts, large and small, are part of God’s plan. We believe, after all, that Christ defeated death. I would, for one, prefer that we see the day that abortion ends sooner rather than later.
This is why I say that now is the time for optimism, but not complacency. Every reliable public opinion poll tells us that we are divided on the matter of abortion. A survey of my own family and friends tells me the same. When that is the case, the battle will be won by those who show up. So, this year, be prayerful and be optimistic, but show up.
Show up at the Respect Life Mass and Roe Remembrance on Jan. 24. Show up during 40 Days for Life or to pray with our team outside of an abortion clinic. Show up to the town halls and constituent coffees with your elected officials. Show up at your church’s holy hour or program. Show up when a pregnant woman or a single mom needs help.
There is no program, no algorithm, no app, no committee, no clever post or sophisticated apologetics that will get us from prayerful optimism to giving thanks in victory. This will be won by showing up physically and spiritually and doing the work that God has set before us.
Because the other side? They are showing up.
Beth Vanderkooi is executive director of Greater Columbus Right to Life.