Today is a day that many Christians have been praying for and that many others have been hoping for. Today, the Supreme Court of The United States (SCOTUS) struck down the heinous 1973 Roe v. Wade SCOTUS decision, which essentially made abortion a right protected by the US Constitution. In the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, SCOTUS reversed Roe v. Wade after 49 years and some 63 million child deaths, not to mention deaths of some of their mothers.
This decision does not make abortion illegal, but it removes the Federal "right to an abortion found in the Constitution" that the drafters of Roe v. Wade created by misinterpretation, bad due diligence, and as the Dobbs decision quotes on page 52 of Justice Alito's majority opinion:
Roe was on a collision course with the Constitution from
the day it was decided, Casey perpetuated its errors, and
those errors do not concern some arcane corner of the law
of little importance to the American people. Rather, wield-
ing nothing but “raw judicial power,” Roe, 410 U. S., at 222
(White, J., dissenting), the Court usurped the power to ad-
dress a question of profound moral and social importance
that the Constitution unequivocally leaves for the people.
The point is that the 9 justices who handed down the Roe decision 49 years ago, essentially disenfranchised the American people by "enacting" a Federal "right" which is Constitutionally the business of the Legislative Branch and not that of “raw judicial power." In so doing, they removed not only the peoples' voice in the Congress, but the responsibility of duly elected state governments to determine, through elected officials, what that state's laws regarding abortion should look like. The Dobbs decision corrects that unconstitutional scenario, returning the power to make those decisions to the people (We The People), through their elected legislators.
Now, of course, we can expect the pro-abortion political faction and Big Abortion to perpetrate massive violence throughout the nation. They have promised to do so this very evening.
As Christian soldiers, we find ourselves in a challenging position. On the one hand, we can rejoice that the innocent image-bearers of God in the womb have gained some bit of protection, but at the same time we need to become even more compassionate for women who find themselves with child, when they hadn't planned to be. There are serious concerns these women are facing. Sometimes, they are being forced to seek abortions, because the child's father demands it on pain of physical harm or worse. Sometimes, they find themselves pregnant as the result of rape or forced human trafficking. The debate and the strident political arguing will continue, and may even increase in the aftermath of Dobbs.
In my opinion, this challenge is one the church cannot afford to ignore or even take lightly. The rate of abortion among self-identified evangelical Christian women is appallingly similar to that of the general population. How will the church compassionately minister to these women? How will the church minister to unbelievers who have relied on abortion as last resort "contraception?" How will the church protect itself and its properties from the violence that is sure to come?
God has told us that each human being is made in His image. (Genesis 1:26) That means not only the babies in wombs, but the mothers who are carrying them. If the church fails to step into this new paradigm with real solutions for women and their children, we will have failed to live up to Christ's command that His Ekklesia be salt and light in a dark world. (Matthew 5:13-16; 16:18)
I confess to having felt a bit hopeless and helpless in the whole abortion morass since 1973. Now I believe there is hope that many babies and their mamas will be protected from the scourge of abortion. That may present them with a whole host of other (but thankfully less dire) problems.
When I was in high school, occasionally a female student would "go to live with her aunt out of state" for nine or ten months. This was code for giving birth to an "illegitimate" child and giving it up for adoption. The practice seems to have disappeared, even though there are thousands (or more?) of couples who are longing to adopt; so much so that adopting children from overseas has had to fill the void.
The Book of James tells us that "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." I believe that in God's economy this verse applies to the post Roe v. Wade world in a magnificent way. Visiting orphans, of whom there may be many more now, in my own experience involves not only visiting but adopting an "orphan." His mother was in a broad sense a "widow." The birth father of my son, took advantage of her and then deserted her. I have had the good fortune to meet her some 20 years ago. She is a lovely woman who eventually married and had three more children. When my son was 18, he made contact with his birth mother and his three unknown siblings.
Of course, not every adoption works out this well, and this is where James's mandate to "visit orphans and widows" comes into play. These people, moms and children alike, have suffered unspeakable trauma, when the family that God intended for them did not materialize. My son, for example, made contact with his birth father via a letter and told him that he had only one question: "Why?" The man, who I regret to say was a youth pastor, denied knowing anything of what my son was writing about, including knowing his mother. I know that was traumatic for my son, because he told me it was. He felt rejected and devalued by a man who should have been not only teaching young people compassion, but living it out himself.
To be completely candid, his birth mom told my son that his birth father was married and had three other children at the time. I can see the moral, ethical and emotional dilemma this new child created for him. He chose to deny any responsibility. He also chose to lie and mislead for his own protection, rather than confess and repent. I was the one who benefited from that cowardice. My son is an upstanding citizen, husband and father to two beautiful little girls, my granddaughters.
But I digress. My challenge to all of us Soldiers of the Cross, is to do some self reflection, soul searching and praying about how we can be the church in this post Roe world and "visit the orphans and widows." There are God's image bearers who will now find that the "easy" solution of abortion is no longer an option. We need to be there for them, some how, some way.
This is a big assignment, Sergeant. Don't let the CIC down!
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