Last week the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) delivered their decision on a controversial case out of Mississippi. The case was named Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and regarded a ban on pre-viability abortions in the state. There is little doubt that you have all heard about the decision and plenty of opinions (sometimes very vocal ones) about it, but for the sake of clarity, allow me to recap the general result of the ruling.
In the Dobbs decision the court — in a 6-3 decision — determined that abortion was not, in fact a right afforded by and enumerated in the US Constitution. As a result the decision overturned the previously held decisions of Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) that got us into this mess in the first place. With the overturning of these two decisions, the power to regulate abortion has returned to each of the States per the 10th Amendment.
For those in the Pro Life camp this was a massive win. The those in the Pro Abortion camp it was like the end of the world was upon them. Now in the past I have broken down the Biblical case against abortion so I won’t go through all of that here, but to summarize:
- The Old Testament punishment for the harm of an unborn child was death (Exodus 21:22-23).
- The original Greek word for child used in the New Testament is brephos and is used to describe unborn children (Luke 1:41-44), newborn babies (Luke 2:12-16), and even small children (Luke 18:15), making no distinction.
- Ultimately abortion is the intentional taking of an innocent life, which is murder and thus ultimately forbidden (Exodus 20:13).
- Finally, the ancient northern kingdom of Israel faced God’s wrath and judgement in part for offering their children as sacrifices to pagan gods of power, wealth, and pleasure such as Molech (Leviticus 18:21, 2 Kings 2:16:3, 21:6).
Why so negative?
So if the bible is clear about God’s opposition to abortion, and the anti-abortion movement just got a huge victory, then why am I saying the Dobbs case is a national tragedy? Did I suddenly grow sympathetic to the cause of abortion activists? Of course not, silly. That would just be ridiculous. It’s because what this ruling truly did, was reveal the hearts of our fellow Americans.
In the days following the ruling, social media was full of people yelling and screaming about it. Domestic terror groups like Jane’s Revenge have called for violence against pro lifers and have vandalized crisis pregnancy centers; some were even targeted for fire bombing! Protests erupted across the country, and calls for states to expand abortion and to create sanctuary states. In addition to the population and the government, we’ve seen a number of corporations promising to pay for employee trips out of state to get them.
Is this truly a victory? Yes, of course it is, but it’s a bittersweet one. Once again we see the failure of trying to rule or legislate morality. It’s important to protect the lives of the millions of unborn black, white, hispanic, and asian babies that are murdered every year, but it neglects the underlying issue. We are a selfish and arrogant people. We choose to take life so that we can have ours the way we want it. We’ve been raised by the system to be a generation of narcissistic sociopaths and it’s shameful.
To wrap up, let me be clear. The Dobbs decision was a good thing. However, it does not atone for the millions of lives lost over the last half-century. It doesn’t make up for the culture of sin and depravity that we have cultivated. It doesn’t make up for the neo-paganism that we celebrate, and it doesn’t satiate God’s judgement that I believe is coming sooner rather than later. The people’s reaction to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health does more than return the power to the states; it exposes the evil within our hearts and our defiance toward repentance. That, my friends, is why I say that this decision is a tragedy.
Ancient Abandon 