'For Thine is the Kingdom': Redeeming the time after Roe

SINCE 1973, THE UNITED STATES has been by law a culture of death. We have wandered far from truth.

T.S. Eliot’s poem The Hollow Man, penned a century ago, envisioned such a time – a dismal culture characterized by deceit, immorality, and empty promises. And yet, with God, hope reigns eternal. Lines 77 through 79 provide a bridge to our time:

For Thine is the Kingdom Between the conception And the creation

We are called to redeem the time, to uphold truth, to proceed with faith, hope, and love. Because this is our calling, we must confront the truth that the failure to protect life from conception haunts our nation. This cognitive dissonance cannot stand.

On June 24, the Supreme Court overturned Roe, and for the first time since 1973 acknowledged its grave error: “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision. … Roe was egregiously wrong from the start” (p. 5-6).

The response to this meticulously documented decision could not be more stark. Abortion activists torched pregnancy care centers while advocates for life expressed prayers of thanksgiving. What happens next? 

Our nation began by declaring that we are all created equal. At conception, a new human being begins. Honoring this beginning can be the catalyst for restoring our nation. Let us seize this day, proceed together as one to bind up our wounds.

Five days following the decision, 23,000 people participated in a webinar featuring more than 50 pro-life organizations, perhaps the largest gathering of pro-life entities in the history of the movement. The program began with a succinct analysis of Dobbs followed by commentary from more 30 speakers representing diverse fields including law, medicine, higher education, media, and pregnancy care centers. It provided a roadmap for healing and a future full of promise.

Honoring the inalienable right to life restores life – the life of a nation and her institutions. This restoration begins with support for marriage and the family and is sustained by free enterprise continuously renewed by a free and virtuous society.

Government exists for the people and is comprised of citizens who faithfully uphold the Constitution, a blueprint for good government. No other government has ever enabled more people to prosper.

The genius is in the details: limited powers, enumerated responsibilities, checks and balances, mechanisms for accountability, pathways for course correction. This genius relies on the integrity of the people, all the people — the officeholders and the voters, the media and the viewers, the teachers and the students.

We are a diverse nation, from many one. We are held together by our ideals, and these ideals make us the land of opportunity. Authentic liberty bears rights and responsibilities, opportunities and obligations, considerations and duties.

Nothing has wounded America more than legalized abortion. Abortion harms everything, from law’s foundational principle to protect the innocent to medicine’s “do no harm.” The Dobbs decision offers a lifeline for recovery.

We are bound together by timeless truths. We are fortified by faith. It is heartening to note that the Dobbs decision occurred on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart and the Nativity of John the Baptist. The leaping for joy of a preborn child announced the presence of the Sacred Heart and prompted the Blessed Mother’s Magnificat. May our nation’s soul be stirred. Now is the time for healing.

We pledge our future together – our allegiance, as “one nation under God.” Let us also live – today and always – our nation’s motto, “In God We Trust.” By doing so, we will confirm “America the Beautiful” and, to paraphrase T.S. Eliot, “in this end is our beginning.”

Michael Kenney, J.D., LL.M., serves as president for Pro-Life Partners Foundation. A recording of the recent webinar on the Dobbs decision is available at www.prolifepartnersfoundation.com