Life has only declined since Roe
Curt Smith, Chairman of Indiana Family Institute, penned an op-ed yesterday which highlights the lies we’ve been told about abortion since the Roe decision was first handed down. He writes:
Court observers tell us the U.S. Supreme Court will hand down a landmark abortion decision overturning Roe v. Wade any day now. This observation is based on the unprecedented “leak” of a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito declaring that Roe was wrongly decided, because the U.S. Constitution includes no right to abortion.
Assuming that legal logic holds, which is a safe assumption as the Court verified the authenticity of Alito’s draft and any substantial departure from it would show the majority was bullied by the leaker, states will soon determine their unique abortion policy.
That will be a healthy debate, though full of acrimony. I say healthy because among Roe’s most pernicious progeny is an overall coarsening of the culture as the value of life was diminished. We began America with a heart-felt cry for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” But post-Roe we dropped “life” for a third of the citizenry, leaving only liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And a libertine culture we have.
This cultural coarsening occurred even though the pro-abortion side promised when Roe was originally decided in 1973 that America’s social problems would only get better when children were “chosen” and “wanted.”
Instead, by any measure, quality of American life has dramatically declined since. There is more fatherlessness, more teen violence, more incarcerations, more people in poverty, fewer intact families, and increasing drug overdoses…
…The causes of these maladies are far broader than one court case, of course. Yet Roe, which ranks among the worst court decisions ever along with Dred Scott (slaves are property, decided in 1857) and Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal accommodations by race are legal, decided in 1896), belongs on the ash heap of disgraced social policy. This is because Roe is more, far more than horrible public policy.
Roe helped deaden our society’s empathy. Roe sent the signal that we should not meddle in others’ affairs – no matter who may be hurt by it. Roe set the stage for generations taught to worship the self, and that one’s own desires always comes first. Roe embedded moral relativism into our society.
When Roe is overturned – and we expect that decision to be handed down any week now – we will be fighting not only for increased legal protections for the preborn child in Indiana, but to change our sick culture.
We depend on your help, activism, prayers, and generosity to advance protections for life and liberty. Thank you for being part of Team IFI, and let’s get ready for life after Roe.