Firm Foundation

Today, January 22, 2008, marks the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and a current death toll estimate of nearly 50 million aborted children.  I look forward to the day that we can celebrate the reverse: the death of Roe and the saved lives of millions yet to be formed in their mother’s womb. 

The March for Life was held today, as it is every year on this day, and is always a powerful reminder not only of the tragedy that abortion has been to our nation, but also that life—35 years later—is still cherished by many Americans and has not been surrendered.  But in the end pro-lifers don’t want to keep marching for its own sake: we want to get to the destination.  Fittingly, the March ends where the nationwide legalization of abortion began: at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.

If “Roe” herself can repent and defend life, then certainly the U.S. Supreme Court can repent of its unconstitutional ways.  Last year saw the first chink in what for 34 years had appeared to be impervious armor: in Gonzales v. Carhart, a 5-4 split Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on partial-birth abortion, the first ban of an abortion procedure ever to survive a legal challenge. But an armor dent does not a battle win: abortionists are now turning to the alternative of lethal injection in order to kill those late-term, unborn children that would have been victims of the partial-birth abortion.

On another good/bad news front, the number of annual abortion rate has dropped to its lowest point in 30 years to 1.2 million in 2005; but perhaps by way of explanation the number of chemical abortions via the abortion pill RU-486 is on the rise.  The number of abortion providers has dropped 2%, which may make it more difficult for women to get an abortion procedure at a clinic or hospital, but the increased popularity of and relative anonymity inherent in the abortion pill make the latter the more viable (pardon the pun) option for women seeking to end their pregnancy.

Regardless of the statistics, the specter of the abortion controversy haunts the Supreme Court and, by extension, the 2008 Presidential race.  Although many are already wearied by the months of campaigning that we have been subjected to, what everybody knows but few mention is the fact that the next President will most likely nominate 1 or 2 new justices to the Supreme Court.  Unless Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg embraces her past criticism of Roe (“the Court ventured too far in the change it ordered and presented an incomplete justification for its action”), the Court will remain essentially split 4 v. 4 on the abortion issue, with Justice Anthony Kennedy doing his best to straddle the two sides as the Court’s new Sandra Day O’Connor swing vote.

In short, Roe itself may be on the line within the next presidential term.  By all accounts, the confirmation battle that will ignite over the next appointment could make the Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito hearings look like patty-cake.

The reversal of Roe would be spectacular and explosive, but it would not make abortion illegal: it would simply make abortion subject to laws forbidding and regulating it.  Some states, maybe a majority, would jump at the chance to re-criminalize abortion, but many would not.  So even if Goliath be slain, the Philistines must still be routed from all the land.

Nationwide campaigns like 40 Days for Life are bringing the battle for life to the local “ground level” by organizing a city-wide, pro-life “push” for the beginning of the end of abortion.  Starting February 6 and continuing to March 16, 40 Days for Life comprises three specific components:

• 40 days of prayer and fasting
• 40 days of peaceful vigil
• 40 days of community outreach

See if your community is one of 59 cities in 31 states participating in the 40 Days for Life by clicking here.  And look for a second campaign in the fall.

The battle for life is always worth fighting on all fronts, regardless of whether the bad numbers are down and good numbers are up.  If I am tempted to lapse into apathy or frustrated despair, this scripture passage often gives me a swift kick to the spirit:

Prov. 24:11-12:

“Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?”

So long as the unborn children of this land are “led away to death” and their mothers stagger toward slaughter, we must continue to try to rescue them and hold them back from the “choice” of death. 

If you are pro-life but have never taken an affirmative act to try to stop abortion, now is the time to lend a hand.  Join your local 40 Days for Life campaign, give time and/or donations to crisis pregnancy centers, vote for pro-life leaders, and pray hard.  Help make this year the beginning of the end for Roe and for abortion nationwide. Millions of future children are depending on you to march on.