Roe Aborted
January 16, 2024, 5:00 AM

This article was originally written to celebrate the overturning of Roe vs. Wade.  It is being reposted now in light of the fact that our Vice-President is currently set to travel the nation beginning January 22, 2024 to "rally the troops" in support of abortion.

 

Abort - to cause to cease or end at an early or premature stage (from dictionary.com)

One of our church members wears a shirt from time to time that reads, "Abort Roe".  Well, after 50 years, God has done it.  Roe is dead.  January 22, 1973 - June 24, 2022.

 

Norma McCorvey (aka Jane Roe) sued, in opposition to Texas state law which criminalized the act, for a woman's right to abort her child.  Her case eventually made it to the United States Supreme Court where Justices Blackmun, Burger, Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall and Powell ruled 7-2 in favor of the plaintiff, setting the deadliest of precedents which, as we now know, would take 50 years to overturn.  Justices White and Rehnquist were opposed to the ruling.

Last week, in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court overturned Roe, ruling that the original precedent set in the Roe case was entirely erroneous, citing "faulty historical analysis".  Justices Alito, Thomas, Roberts, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett overturned Roe, while Kagan, Breyer and Sotomayor voted to uphold.

Justice Alito wrote the Opinion, while Justice Kagan wrote the Dissent.  Personally, I like what Justice Thomas wrote in the first paragraph of his concurring opinion as it explains the clear reasoning in overturning the 1973 decision - 

"I join the opinion of the Court because it correctly holds that there is no constitutional right to abortion. Respondents invoke one source for that right: the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee that no State shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” The Court well explains why, under our substantive due process precedents, the purported right to abortion is not a form of “liberty” protected by the Due Process Clause. Such a right is neither “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition” nor “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.”  The idea that the Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment understood the Due Process Clause to protect a right to abortion is farcical.”

All glory for this victory is to be attributed to God.  James 1:17 tells us that, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights..."  It is a time to praise Him for this mighty work.  After 50 years and more than 60 million bearers of God's image having been sacrificed to the god of convenience, this is a tremendous victory.  In fact, I know of no greater victory achieved in my lifetime.

Consider this, nearly 1.4 million Americans have been killed in all of the wars fought in U.S. history.  According to the Guttmacher Institute (who loves death by the way), more than 63 million lives have ended prematurely due to abortion since 1973.  That equates to 45 times more deaths attributed to 50 years worth of abortions than to nearly 250 years worth of wars.  Staggering!

Friends, I want you to understand this if you do not already, the grace that God has shone toward us in this victory is incalculable!  Just how much wrath do you think that God has stored up (Romans 2:5) over the past years for these 63 million murders?  This is a terrifying thought!  What God has done here and now is He has extended mercy to us in the most merciful of ways!  We very easily could have been justifiably treated worse than Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), but we have been given a reprieve.

What we must do in this moment is not receive His mercy in vain.  What we must do is praise Him for His mercy.  What we must do is proclaim His mercy to the world, bringing their attention to it and calling them to repentance in light of this mercy.  Church, it is the time to capitalize on the moment.  Whether anyone responds favorably to the message is irrelevant, but whether we are prepared and do communicate His message (I Peter 3:15) is entirely relevant.  It is our reasonable worship!  We must do it, for we are His people.

 

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:22-24)

Pastor Jeremy