By Judie Brown
The headlines were consistent in suggesting that more than 200 members of Congress—both representatives and senators, including two Democrats—had “asked the Supreme Court to consider overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.”
The elected officials filed an amicus brief on January 2 in the June Medical Services v. Gee case. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the arguments on both sides and render a final decision.
This case focuses on the Louisiana abortion law that “requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital in the event a woman must seek hospital care due to post-abortion complications.” Clearly the law in question does not come close to negating a “right” to abort a child. Nor does the law protect every preborn baby without exception. The case is about a regulation designed to protect the safety of the expectant mother who chooses to abort her own baby.
But that never stopped the media or members of Congress from misrepresenting what is at stake.
In fact, the congressional amicus brief suggests that while the Louisiana law does not pose an “undue burden” on access to abortion, the possibility exists that there may be a “need for the Court to again take up the issue of whether Roe and Casey should be reconsidered and, if appropriate, overruled.”
Further, it states that the Roe decision remains “radically unsettled” and that Roe never mentioned that abortion was a “fundamental right.”
Good for them, but surely nobody can read this with a serious consideration of the facts at hand and expect the Court to do more than address whether or not an abortionist needs admitting privileges at a local hospital. The stretch between overturning Roe and Doe—though Doe is not mentioned anywhere in the brief—and privileges at a local hospital is inane.
It is preposterous because, in the amicus brief signed by these 200-plus politicians, the word person appears seven times, but never in reference to the preborn human individual.
So, while the amicus brief may mean well, it is not a substantive piece of writing designed to convert the court into acknowledging that Roe and Doe are decisions based on politics instead of scientific facts about the humanity of the preborn human being. The flawed nature of Roe and Doe are not examined, and it seems to us that if Congress were serious about protecting the innocent children who are slaughtered daily by abortion, it would have delved deeper into the flaws of Roe and Doe.
Regardless, that won’t stop the rabid pro-aborts from piling on.
For example, the Seattle Times editorial board writes: “Disappointingly, Washington’s Republican representatives have all joined the call for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn decades of abortion rulings.”
Planned Parenthood threatens the signers of the amicus brief, saying: “To the members of Congress who signed on to this amicus brief: Brace yourselves for the consequences you will face at the ballot box in November.”
And the pro-abortion Emily’s List echoed the threat, writing: “Reproductive rights and the ability to make our own health care decisions are fundamental to the freedoms we have under the Constitution. Unfortunately, this amicus brief proves that not only is the threat to those rights very real, but it is at a critical tipping point where the minority is ready to strip our freedom away against the majority’s wishes.”
These examples sum it all up quite nicely. The pro-aborts will tolerate nothing even close to the truth when ginning up frenzy from their troops.
Those in support of the flawed amicus brief drive pro-life politics down the crooked road of compromise and incrementalism, never really getting to the crux of the matter: Preborn children are human beings, and abortion kills them.
Our answer to this most recent example of politics as usual is to be hopeful in the Lord and the intercession of His Blessed Mother Mary. We launched the Marian Blue Wave to focus on the power of the Rosary, to give much needed inspiration to the faithful, and to give a voice to the babies through our prayers, our actions, and our grassroots efforts. Never forget that ours is a struggle between good and evil; it is not partisan, and it not driven by hysteria, but it is destined to win the day for the babies.