On Tuesday, the pro-life movement suffered yet another defeat at the ballot box. Ohio voters approved by a significant margin an amendment to the state’s constitution enshrining a right to abortion.
There certainly were tactical and messaging problems particular to this election that those supporting the unborn could have taken to improve on this dismal outcome. Those issues should receive thorough examination so we might avoid them next time.
ABORTION RIGHTS WIN OUT IN 2023 ELECTIONS, SHOWING GOP HASN'T FOUND FOOTING FOR 2024
However, the nearly year and a half since Dobbs v. Jackson has made painfully clear that the battle over abortion, far from being on its way toward ending, has just begun. Many have been surprised at how effective abortion advocates have been in winning these votes across the country, whether in blue states, purple states, or red ones.
But we shouldn’t be surprised. We must remember what Roe wrought. Roe v. Wade stood for almost 50 years before being overturned in 2022. In that time, abortion access became an assumption, a normal part of the lives of many whether they themselves terminated a pregnancy or merely knew someone who did. It became a marker of who we are as a society and as individuals. It helped define how we understood relationships between the sexes and expectations for financial success and social acceptability.
Along similar lines, Roe grew from and fed into the broader sexual revolution which detached the act of procreation from its possibility. We saw an argument for women’s equality that sought sexual liberation for both sexes rather than the demanding mores of marital monogamy. It is not clear that abortion aided in real freedom for women or even equality in relation to men. But its potential to do so has so allured the contemporary mind that contrary evidence seems more like prudish superstitions of bygone eras.
Thus, Roe has wrought much of the rot we see around us. And that rot has entrenched itself into the very soul of society. To think that one Supreme Court decision would immediately, magically heal us should never have been thought probable. Most people didn’t think it would go exactly that way. But many pro-lifers did seem to act like the treading was downhill from here in the cause of protecting the unborn.
Perhaps we were drunk off the elation of that June day when Dobbs came down and Roe went away. Now we must sober up to the task before us. The Supreme Court victory has been won, the cultural and legislative war continues. We should not over-interpret these defeats. A substantial part of the country does believe in the cause of life from conception to the grave. Even many of those who do not agree fully still would support some protections for babies in the womb. The fanatical foes of all abortion restrictions are not a majority, either.
So, we must persuade. We must make our case to those who have been formed by the sexual revolution and by Roe itself. This persuasion itself will be an act of healing. It hopefully can heal the immense damage we have done to ourselves and to others wherein, in the name of liberation, we bound ourselves in other chains and wrapped ourselves in the mantle of death. That healing can be — it must be — the right mixture of scientific fact, moral reasoning, assertion of justice, and genuine compassion. That healing can be the affirmation of all of our humanity, not just for those privileged to have been born.
Roe hath wrought much rot. Let us not run from the fray it continues to cause. Let us redouble our efforts as we reform our tactics. Let us not grow weary in doing this good but remain tireless in pursuit of justice. Roe was built up over the course of 50 years. Let us be willing to fight the next battle twice as long, if need be.
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Adam Carrington is an associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College.
The pervasive, enduring rot of Roe v. Wade
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09.11.2023
On Tuesday, the pro-life movement suffered yet another defeat at the ballot box. Ohio voters approved by a significant margin an amendment to the state’s constitution enshrining a right to abortion.
There certainly were tactical and messaging problems particular to this election that those supporting the unborn could have taken to improve on this dismal outcome. Those issues should receive thorough examination so we might avoid them next time.
ABORTION RIGHTS WIN OUT IN 2023 ELECTIONS, SHOWING GOP HASN'T FOUND FOOTING FOR 2024
However, the nearly year and a half since Dobbs v. Jackson has made painfully clear that the battle over abortion, far from being on its way toward ending, has just begun. Many have been surprised at how effective abortion advocates have been in winning these votes across the country, whether in blue states, purple states, or red ones.
But we shouldn’t be surprised. We must remember what Roe wrought. Roe v. Wade stood........
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