In the aftermath of Dobbs, I wrote for Deseret on what comes next for the pro-life movement.
The Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization limits the danger to children in the womb, but the justices cannot confer dignity, safety or hope by fiat. That’s the continued work required of the anti-abortion movement, work that offers chances for alliances with advocates for abortion rights. We don’t have to agree about the moral weight of abortion to acknowledge that America has neither a culture of life nor a culture of choice. We live in, as Pope Francis has termed it, a throwaway culture.
The majority of abortions in the United States are sought by women who have previously given birth to a baby. They don’t need to see an ultrasound to make the connection between pregnancy and parenthood. When mothers seeking abortion were interviewed in-depth, many said that they wanted to be able to give birth to the child they were carrying, but they felt it wouldn’t be fair to the children they were already struggling to care for. These women pass the test of the abortion-rights slogan “Every child a wanted child.” But they could tell that their children were unwanted by the rest of us. Death was the only “choice” that we, as a nation, made provision for.