Last week we celebrated ESCAPE from 50 years of U.S. Supreme Court TYRANNY protecting the killing of children in the womb as a constitutional “right.” In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Court held that abortion is not a protected liberty under the Constitution and that states can now regulate and even prohibit abortion – or not.
In response to Dobbs, five states – Alabama, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Dakota –immediately banned abortion from conception. Abortion is also prohibited in Wisconsin. Following the Court’s decision in Dobbs, an 1849 law that bans almost all abortions went back into effect. However, Wisconsin’s governor, attorney general, and a number of district attorneys refuse to enforce the law.
Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas, and Utah had enacted “trigger laws” that would criminalize abortion once Roe v. Wade was overturned, but those trigger laws are currently blocked by court orders. Trigger laws in five other states are scheduled to go into effect in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, in twelve states, abortions remain legal up to 26 weeks or the age of viability. In many of those states, however, abortions are permitted throughout pregnancy for the economic or social well-being of the mother. Six states and the District of Columbia have no gestational age restrictions whatsoever on abortion.
Moreover, Congress is revisiting the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) and other bills that would codify Roe and federalize abortion laws. Last year’s attempt to pass the WHPA failed in the Senate after Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema opposed dropping the filibuster rule that requires 60 votes on major legislation. But that was then.
Last week, in his official response to the Dobbs decision, Senator Manchin said he was “deeply disappointed” in the Court and was “alarmed” that Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh “chose to reject the stability the ruling has provided for two generations of Americans.” Apparently, Manchin forgot about the two generations of Americans who were mercilessly slaughtered by this “stability.” Manchin also said he “support[s] legislation that would codify the rights Roe v. Wade previously protected.” So much for Manchin being “pro-life.”
As if that were not enough, actual terrorists like Jane’s Revenge are blowing up pregnancy centers and threatening the lives of anyone involved in saving the lives of innocent children in the womb.
So what does all of this mean?
In short, it means that as we celebrate the end of Roe and Casey and rejoice that LIVES ARE BEING SAVED, we realize that our work to end abortion in America is far from over.
Not only are we facing battles in many states over the extent to which abortion can be regulated, we are fighting the unprecedent expansion of abortion in states like California. California lawmakers are fast-tracking a bill that will create an unconditional right to self-induced, DIY abortions and legalize infanticide in certain cases. Another bill will provide funding for women in other states to travel to California for free abortions. Of course, we are strongly opposing these and other bills and we have launched a massive campaign to let people know that their elected representatives approve of killing babies throughout pregnancy and even after birth.
We are also involved in litigation across the country to ensure that babies in the womb are protected. For example, last year we urged the Supreme Court to uphold an Arkansas law that prohibits abortion in cases where abortion is sought solely because of a diagnosis of Down syndrome. We argued that the law should be upheld because states should be able to ban all abortions: “neither the Fourteenth Amendment nor any other provision of the Constitution bars states from prohibiting abortions.” We did not realize then that just one year later, the Court would come to the same conclusion and overturn Roe!
This morning the Arkansas case was sent back to the lower courts for review in light of the Court’s decision in Dobbs. Precisely for the reasons we set forth in our brief, Arkansas may now prohibit ALL abortions, including the discriminatory killing of babies with Down Syndrome.