Back in November 1972, I was 17 years old and seven months shy of voting. But I campaigned against Proposal B, an initiative in Michigan that would have legalized abortion. We defeated it, with 61% voting Nay. We had a coalition of: Blacks, white evangelicals from the South, “ethnic” Catholics and rural farmers. Democrats in those days actually were more pro-life than Republicans
Two months later, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision, by decree repealing not only the anti-abortion laws in Michigan and elsewhere, but the recent laws legalizing abortion in New York, California and other states. By fiat, it imposed one law on the whole country, abortion-on-demand.
64 million dead babies later, today the U.S. Supreme Court repealed Roe. I’m both elated and exhausted. I’ve written hundreds of pro-life articles, hoping for this day, wondering if it ever would come. Every new Republican-appointed justice gave us hope of finally prevailing and finally seeing overturned that unconstitutional monstrosity. Only to have foisted on us “Justices” Stevens, O’Connor, Anthony “Worse than Teddy” Kennedy, Souter and John “Equivocator” Roberts. We also got some good ones: the late Antonin Scalia, the great Clarence Thomas, Alito, and the three Trump justices, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett.
Alito’s majority opinion put it well: “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” That’s a reference to the 10th Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
The Constitution is a compact among 50 states. It’s not supposed to dictate every jot and tittle of every policy to the states and the people. If the people of San Francisco want to elect as district attorney a radical leftist, who turns criminals out of jail to rob, rape and murder, that’s their prerogative. They also can recall said radical nut job, as they just did with Chesa Boudin.
The Constitution does guarantee a “republican” form of government for every state. And the post-Civil War Reconstruction Amendments guarantee a bedrock of civil rights, such as banning slavery and guaranteeing the right to vote. But aside from that, the states, localities and the people still are supposed to take care of matters themselves.
The Roe decision almost five decades ago also had major repercussions in reducing the country’s moral fiber. You can’t just kill all those babies — legally, often with taxpayer support — and expect your society will do well. Abortion mania also was pushed on other countries, with many hundreds of millions more babies killed globally because America is so influential. Now we can start rebuilding our country, while influencing other countries for the better.
Special thanks must go to President Trump, who appointed the three key justices repealing Roe. Whereas Presidents Reagan, Bush I and Bush II were not careful enough in choosing justices, Trump was. He came through and, for that, will be remembered as one of our greatest presidents. He also was pro-life in not starting any new wars.
Having written this article, I’m now starting to feel good about the decision, and the long fight. As T.S. Eliot said, “There are no lost causes because there are no won causes.” The fight always goes on.
Let us go forth and redeem America.
Well said John. Thank you.