Tulc, I am kind of torn between wanting abortion to just go away in order for pro-life voters to stop holding every single social justice initiative--almost all of which are very "pro-life"--hostage while they resolutely continue single issue voting for people whose support of "life" only extends to the pre-born.
But as they started experiencing success, drunk with power, they decided to go after birth control, too. It started by their redefining the pill and the IUD as 'abortifacient.' Then they launched all of these lawsuits to destroy the Affordable Care Act. I met one of the plaintiff auditors once, and he spoke, oh so proudly, about how the plaintiff group looked into the background of every district court in the country and picked the one where they had the best chance of winning and found an order of nuns willing to act as lead plaintiffs.
I used to think Roe v. Wade could be overturned, and the pro-lifers would come up to me and say, "Thank God! It bothered my conscience so much to be voting for lawmakers who didn't care about the poor, the immigrants, the disabled, the elderly, and people of color. It bothered me to see how our profligate use of fossil fuels were causing hurricanes and floods and forest fires, even affecting some people we know and love. It bothered me to support a president whose character and integrity was so lacking." I could rest, happy that my fellow Christians were on the same page as me.
But no! It all became about birth control and guns, and in my heart of hearts I began to believe that it was really about undermining women's rights. And I realized, sadly, that overturning Roe wouldn't mean that most of them would start looking around and seeing everything that needed to be done in America that they had deprioritized for so long. I still hope a few might.
Roe v. Wade should defuse the militant pro-lifers. Instead, it will empower them to find new battles on the periphery. Sigh.
