Reflections on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade

A recent historian said that a line from the Declaration of Independence is the most important sentence in history. Well, certainly that sentence is exceedingly important, but I agree with those who counter-argue, “No, actually John 3:16 is the most important sentence in history.”

Meanwhile, the great statement in the Declaration is: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The Creator has bestowed upon us the right to life, but how can you square that right to live with the supposed right to abortion?

I write this piece around the anniversary of the Jan. 22, 1973, Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade and its companion decision of the same day, Doe v. Bolton. These two decisions combined gave us abortion on demand even up to the moment of birth. And about 65 million abortions have taken place in the U.S. since that day.

Although Roe was overturned in 2022 by the Dobbs v. Jackson, the fallout from Roe continues. It’s like a phantom limb syndrome, where one is feeling a missing limb as if it’s still attached.

Abortion is the Holy Grail to the American left. It dominates virtually all other considerations. Roe v. Wade has been tantamount to Scripture to some on the left.

But, lo and behold, it was all based on lies.

One of the main lies was that an abortion was needed for “Jane Roe” (whom we later learned was Norma McCorvey) because she was supposedly gang-raped. But that was not true. She had just been impregnated by her boyfriend.

McCorvey just wanted an abortion, and her attorney falsely promised to help her get one, knowing full well it could not happen in time (since cases that go up to the Supreme Court take a while to adjudicate).

Another lie is that the baby in the womb is a blob of tissue or clump of cells – but not a human being, deserving of legal protection. The heart starts beating at 22 days after conception, arm and leg buds appear by 28 days, and brain waves can be recorded by 40 days. Some blob.

Yet another lie to sell abortion was the number of women who supposedly died in America because of illegal abortions. Abortionist Bernard Nathanson told the media that each year about 10,000 women died from illegal abortions.

And yet a willing media reported this statistic as if it were gospel truth. I’ve read that in 1972, the last year before Roe, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta had reported that 39 women in America had died from illegal abortions. That may be 39 too many, but it’s a far cry from 10,000.

Thankfully, both Norma McCorvey and Bernard Nathanson became pro-life Christians and came to strongly oppose abortion.

We are grateful that Roe was overturned in the 2022 case of Dobbs v. Jackson, but there is still widespread support for abortion among many Americans – even among some professing Christians.

But God says He opposes the shedding of innocent blood, and our nation’s founders said that God has given us the right to life.

America has recently celebrated Martin Luther King Day. And I’m grateful that his niece, Dr. Alveda King, is outspoken in her pro-life views.

I’ve interviewed Alveda King a few times for Christian media, and she told us: “In 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the first recipients of the Margaret Sanger Award. Margaret Sanger is the founder of Planned Parenthood, and they are the largest abortion providers in America. So, people say, ‘Oh wow, Dr. King supported Planned Parenthood.’ Actually, he did not.”

Alveda explains why not: “If you read Dr. King’s statements or if you knew him as I did, Dr. King said, ‘The negro cannot win if he’s willing to sacrifice the futures of his children for immediate personal comfort and safety.’ In 1966, abortion was illegal in absolutely every state. … If anybody had said that same organization will be at the forefront of the abortions or deaths of over 50 million babies, then Dr. King would have said, ‘No thank you.’ Dr. King was a pro-life, gentle person.”

Alveda added: “It’s unjust to kill a little person because they’re little. A woman has a right to choose what she does with her body, but where is a lawyer for the baby? How can the dream survive, if we murder the children?”

On this anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we’re thankful for the progress made in the right-to-life movement. But we also see we have much ground to cover in America to see a resurgence of valuing the right to life, at all stages of development.