roe vs wade

This is Pastor Tim’s article which appeared in the Evening Leader on May 9, 2022

I am writing this article on Tuesday, May 3.  That is important because by the time you read this article, a lot may have changed.  Just so we are clear, I am writing this article based on what I know today and I understand that a lot is going to be happening over the next week.  But I want to take the time to explain something that for some strange reason, the media does not want explained.

The media does have a bizarre relationship with the truth.  They characterized the recent legislation in Florida as the “don’t say gay” bill.  A bill that lived up to that name considering it did not say the word gay a single time in the entire document.  If you actually went to read the bill, it made the teaching of sexual activities to children under the age of 7 illegal.  How this is controversial is beyond me.  Why can’t we just let kids be kids instead of confusing them with a bunch of stuff that I struggle to completely understand, and I am 47 years old?  Anyone of any political persuasion has to agree, little kids don’t need to know everything.  We need to preserve their innocence as long as we possibly can because once it is gone, there is no getting it back.

Since the weeping and gnashing of teeth over the Parental Rights in Education Bill has subsided, now we are on to the latest meltdown over the fact that the Supreme Court is apparently going to overturn Roe Vs. Wade.  I say apparently because no official word has been cast down, but someone leaked the news to Politico and they ran the story.  By the time you read this article, I am sure an official announcement will be made as to whether or not the leaked opinion was valid.

There is a complete meltdown going on now, and a whole bunch of people are claiming that now more people are going to die because of this decision.  That is interesting in that every single abortion that is performed results in a death.  So if the overturn of Roe Vs. Wade prevents only 1 abortion, then by definition, there is less death because of this decision.

What it infuriating to me is that no one is taking time to understand what overturning Roe Vs. Wade even means.  In 1973, a woman in Texas was denied the chance to have an abortion because a law in the state of Texas at the time prohibited abortion.  She sued and her case worked its way through the court system to the Supreme Court and they ruled that women have a constitutionally mandated right to abortion and that no state has the right to pass any law hindering an abortion.

By overturning that decision, all that will happen is that states will be able to make up their own minds at the ballot box on the issue of abortion.  You can count on abortion laws to be on the ballot in the near future in all 50 states.  This issue is far from settled; all the Supreme Court has done is allow the conversation to continue rather than ending the debate by proclaiming a position that the whole country had to abide by.

I agree 100% with the court’s decision because I do not believe that the fundamental right to abortion exists in the Constitution and that has nothing to do with my own deeply held pro-life stance.  This is something that states should have a right to decide.

Now, having said that, I am frightened by the implication of what may happen here.  I am pro-life.  I can’t think of a single reason why I would change that stance outside of a few extreme cases such as rape or saving the life of the mother.  However, as you have watched the riots and protests come out over the past few days, it is clear to see that the pro-choice side is equally as staunch in their position.

The last time our country was this passionately divided on an issue was slavery back in the mid-1800s, and any student of history will know what event took place from 1861-1865.  Both sides of the slavery issue got to state their case on slavery in blood during the Civil War.   I wonder if this is where the abortion issue is heading today?