On Friday, June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that invented a “constitutional right” to abortion. For nearly 50 years, the United States has upheld and enforced an unjust law that denied generations of preborn children the right to life by granting “permission” to arbitrarily decide who may live or die. This injustice has led to the death of more than 63 million preborn U.S. children – a number that continues to grow daily by hundreds and thousands.
If this gruesome reality were not enough to comprehend, this murderous, barbaric behavior is not self-contained within U.S. borders. Through its state policy and foreign aid programs, the U.S. advances and funds abortion; it is complicit in the deaths of millions of preborn children globally, especially in developing nations.
Prior to the overturning of Roe, we may have been tempted to lose hope, fearing that pro-abortion advocates were correct when they said that the “tide of history” was on the side of abortion. However, this was not true. Though the black clouds of injustice and murder seem to prevail, we know that behind those clouds shines the bright sun of truth and justice. Evil never has the final word.
From the day Roe was imposed, there have been innumerable individuals who felt the grave injustices of legal abortion so deeply that they were compelled to drop everything and commit themselves full time to save the lives of preborn children. Some spent untold thousands of hours standing in front of abortion facilities reaching out to women in crisis and offering them hope and love in their moment of doubt and fear. Several opened pregnancy care centers or even whole networks of such centers. Others with a gift for politics drafted legislation or lobbied legislators to whittle away at legal abortion, shifting the legal consensus in the direction of life.
Countless others, unable to devote themselves full time, nevertheless committed massive amounts of their spare time and resources to the fight. Hundreds of thousands of people have faithfully gathered annually at pro-life marches and rallies across the nation. Many others have volunteered in their local schools, legislatures, and pregnancy care centers, or have ensured that they raised children who embraced the gift of life.
Because of undaunted determination, persistence in prayer, and untold sacrifices, the overturning of Roe is now having immediate life-saving effects. Abortion is now illegal in several states, causing abortion facilities there to shut down. Thousands of preborn children are being spared a gruesome death. Countless more will be saved in the coming months and years.
Now, it falls upon us to take up the case in the defense of human life and the incomparable dignity of the human person to every state in America.
Yes. Overturning Roe is a great win for life, but our goal is stopping abortion, having a nation and world free of this heinous crime against human life. We cannot let our guard down or diminish our advocacy and services. Abortion activists will continue to prey on vulnerable women and their situations, requiring us to increase our efforts a thousandfold. It is also a time for healing wounds and repairing social divisions: united in building a culture of life, a society that supports marriages and families, where every woman has the support and resources she needs to bring her child into this world in love.
Abortion should never be the answer to a woman’s crisis. We must continue to sacrifice our time, our energy, our financial resources, and our comfort for the sake of loving others.
While the tide has changed, our work must continue.
FATHER SHENAN J. BOQUET
is the president of Human Life International and a priest of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, LA. Please keep Human Life International in your continued prayers and support.