The Biden White House has once again entered crisis mode over the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion suggesting majority support for overturning Roe v. Wade. Apparently the Gender Policy Council (whose name reveals their priorities), has held "nonstop meetings... conversations about what they could do to expand abortion into red states," FRC President Tony Perkins described. "They're debating a number of executive and regulatory actions the administration could take to make it easier for... particularly poor women to have access to abortion."
There is no moderation in this administration's abortion stance. Even President Biden himself, who formerly claimed to be personally pro-life, recently attacked the leaked opinion, "This is about a lot more than abortion... this MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that's existed in American history." What is extremism, in Biden's book? Saying out loud that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided as a matter of law -- which everyone, even the Left's beloved Ruth Bader Ginsburg, agreed with until five minutes ago. What's really extreme is the license abortionists enjoyed under America's fifty-year long mistake, which permitted babies to be killed up until the moment they were born. Only five other countries have laws so dismissive of life, among them China and North Korea.
The Supreme Court justices must have been surprised to learn they belonged to "this MAGA crowd," even more to be called superlatively extreme. In a nation whose history includes four presidential assassinations and many more attempts, a literal civil war, and domestic terror threats as disparate as ISIS, The Weathermen, and the Ku Klux Klan, Biden chose to conflate our government's third constitutional branch with "the most extreme political organization." On a court whose history includes eighty years of usurping legislative authority to create policy, the justices may be surprised that reversing their own precedent to relinquish power to the people's elected representatives would generate the most opposition.
Sadly, the Biden administration is obsessed with imposing the Left's radical agenda at any cost -- even the destruction of longstanding constitutional institutions. "We've been monitoring the Biden administration since the day the president was sworn into office," said Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill. "The administration is attempting to subvert... the Constitution itself.
If the Supreme Court issues a decision overturning Roe v. Wade, that would not immediately outlaw all abortions in America, despite what media hysterics may have misled many people to conclude. Instead, it would return the power to set policy on abortion (part of police power) to the state governments. The issue would primarily be fought out on the state level -- state-by-state -- although the federal government could find ways to interfere, as they are doing already.
State attorneys general are on the lookout, said Murrill. The federal government has tried to "use the Medicaid Act to force states to pay for abortions." They could try budget procedures, reconciliation shenanigans, and executive rulemaking. "We constantly monitor the federal register," she said.
While some states have already prepared for the end of Roe with laws on the books to protect the unborn, other states -- including some that might surprise you -- have inadequate protections or none at all. Family Research Council has compiled the complete picture here, including other interactive maps illustrating where states stand on the issue of unborn life.
But legislation is not the most important aspect of protecting life after Roe. "When and if Roe is overturned," said Perkins, "the work really just begins." Murrill agreed, "what's next is that we have to make good on our promise to take care of women and the unborn." States can play a role by supporting crisis pregnancy centers. But societies reliant on a government-sponsored safety net are diseased; individuals need to come together and step up. Ending Roe will save a lot of babies from being killed before they ever take their first breath, but those babies will mean "a lot of work to be done by churches, nonprofits and just everyday moms and dads," said Perkins.
The church bears a responsibility in this. James described "pure and undefiled" religion as "to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" (James 1:27). In the classical world, orphans and widows were the most vulnerable, without relatives to rely on or the means to support themselves. The same vulnerability describes many women with crisis pregnancies today. James adds that if you wish someone well but don't provide for their physical needs, "what good is that?" (James 2:15-16). The church in America has a great opportunity to show the love of Christ to those most in need. Will we squander it?
This column originally appeared here.
Notice: This column is printed with permission. Opinion pieces published by AFN.net are the sole responsibility of the article's author(s), or of the person(s) or organization(s) quoted therein, and do not necessarily represent those of the staff or management of, or advertisers who support the American Family News Network, AFN.net, our parent organization or its other affiliates.
