Our American Apocalypse
In 1973’s Roe v. Wade and 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the United States Supreme Court made decisions in support of abortion that are indefensible, both morally and constitutionally. As of Wednesday this week, in Case 19-1392, Dobbs v. Jackson, the Supreme Court is taking up the most noteworthy reconsideration of abortion in decades.
For context, the Supreme Court (through Roe and Casey) currently forces all 50 states to allow abortion on demand up to viability, typically around the 24th week of pregnancy. (By comparison to the international norm, America is one of the most aggressive pro-abortion nations in the world — only six other countries allow abortion on demand past 20 weeks, including Canada, China, North Korea, and Vietnam, who have no restrictions.)
The event leading to Dobbs v. Jackson happened back in 2018 when Mississippi adopted legislation that restricts abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy — a contradiction to Roe and Casey. Therefore the lone abortion center in Mississippi challenged the legislation and it was eventually appealed to the Supreme Court, which is where we are now, with a ruling expected next spring.
The Primary Question
The primary question at hand is whether “pre-viability abortions are unconstitutional.” In other words, the Court will rule whether it is legal to abort unborn children before those children would survive outside the womb.
This is very significant.
Mississippi is asking the Court to overturn Roe and Casey. They’re asking the Court to no longer legally force states to permit what is morally wrong, the taking of human life.
Our Deep Divide
Already, the statements and questions this week have revealed the deep divide in our nation. Scott Stewart, Mississippi’s Solicitor General, said in his opening remarks that Roe and Casey haunt our country. Justice Sotomayor, on the other hand, later suggested that just because unborn babies appear to recoil with pain during abortion or other fetal procedures, that doesn’t prove that it’s real pain or consciousness.
First, make no mistake here, our country comes at this topic from two very different worlds. And second, that a Supreme Court Justice would make such a statement highlights the horrific problem with the Court’s overreach. Justice Sotomayor is pontificating on whether an unborn child can feel pain, claiming that it can’t be proven the child feels pain just because 1) the child acts like it’s in pain; and 2) a procedure is happening that would cause pain to us. Okay, fine then, but you also cannot prove that the unborn child doesn’t feel pain — and that possibility alone (among other reasons) should cause the action to be ceased, if, it seems, there is a legitimate care for the unborn child. But there isn’t among pro-abortion advocates. They support child-killing. Our country says it’s legal. That is what this is about.
As has been said before, if you were to describe our current situation to preceding centuries, they would have called it the Apocalypse. We’ve just grown so accustomed to it that it feels like home.
Why Now?
And I say all this now, during Advent, because part of Jesus’s incarnation is that he was once unborn, once in the womb, and he was even greeted by another unborn child (see Luke 1:41). Unborn children are children and they matter. Is there any time of the year when it’s as clear to us as it is now?
And lastly, at Advent, we remember that Jesus will come again — and we are desperate for him to come again. This world as it is will always be broken, and while we pray and seek to fulfill God’s kingdom come, it will only fully come when Jesus shows back up. I want that to happen tonight. Don’t you?
