Abortion and the Supreme Court

Needless to say there is much that has been said around the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and sending the matter of the legality of abortion back to the States for legislative action. Through the decision the Supreme Court communicated that the United States Constitution does not secure the right for anyone to seek an abortion and that the 1973 ruling guaranteeing that right was in error. The Supreme Court has overturned longer-standing precedents in the past, but that is not why I am writing about this decision. 

In full disclosure I am of the belief that human life starts at the moment of conception. I see this position supported in my understanding of the science of reproduction and I believe that this position is in line with mainline veins of western philosophical tradition, current societal norms and sensibilities concerning motherhood and child rearing, and a careful reading of the Bible. However, I am not filled with joy concerning either one of the decisions: not the one in 1973 codifying the right to abortion nor the 2022 decision throwing the matter back to the States.

I think that there is much to be wary of in the current ruling and it would take, probably, a dozen or so posts to posit why. One of the biggest issues I have with the current ruling is this: it assumes that the legislative bodies within a given State can (and should) decide for itself whether abortion should be legal. This is a grave error. Regardless of where one may fall on the issue, whether one believes that abortion is always a legitimate choice, always illegitimate, and every nuance of the position in between, to leave its legality and access to the voting public of a state does not settle the matter. In fact, it perpetuates the lie that rights are recognized and preserved through a democratic process. They are not.

God is, literally, the only one who can and has conferred any rights to anyone. One of the purposes of man is to submit to God, recognize those rights, and preserve them. Now, living in New York, I am just as human as someone else who lives in Louisiana. Location has nothing to do with whether I have one right and you have another. Humans, made in the image of God, should and must have full access to the rights that God has determined. The Supreme Court is anti-democratic for a reason.

I cannot imagine a country that threw the legality of slavery back to the States to decide. Or women's right to vote. Or prohibition. Or the legality of segregated schools. At a fundamental level, this decision is a picture of life devoid of the acknowledgement of God. Now, don't get me wrong, I think that a secular democracy is the best form of government this side of heaven. However, I now see, more fully and completely, its weakness. It denigrates the dignity of humanity. How could it not? The ignorance of the God who breathed life into us always does.

It always does.