2024 | Week of September 9 | Radio Transcript #1583
The past couple of years have been quite the whirlwind for pro-lifers. June 24, 2022—the day the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs decision—was just over two years ago, but may feel like a lifetime for ardent pro-life advocates.
Back then, the mainstream media and much of the left would have had us all believe that the Dobbs decision would totally end abortion – or, if using misleading euphemisms, would end “women’s health,” “reproductive rights,” or “reproductive freedom” – in the United States for good. Of course, that has not been the case.
The fight to overturn Roe was necessary course to correct a grave judicial error that had enormous moral implications for our nation. The US Supreme Court got it wrong in 1973, as it had done before in other cases like Dred Scott. Thankfully, with a mostly-conservative Supreme Court in 2022, Roe was overturned. That mostly-conservative court was in large part thanks to then-President Donald Trump, with his appointments of Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
Since the Dobbs decision, fourteen states have implemented either a total or near-total ban on abortion, with several other states enacting increased protections for preborn children. However, Wisconsinites know the fight is far from over since our state is not one of those fourteen.
Instead, we have witnessed Governor Evers veto multiple pro-life bills over the last six years, culminating in the governor and Attorney General Josh Kaul asking the Wisconsin Supreme Court to allow them to intervene in the court case brought by Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin – a case in which the abortion giant asks the high court to find a right to abortion in the state constitution
In Wisconsin and beyond, abortion is again taking the spotlight in national politics again. Recent headlines surrounding the GOP’s and even the former president’s stances on abortion are leaving many pro-life conservatives confused and concerned.
Ahead of the Republican National Convention this summer, the RNC announced a change in its party platform which disappointed many pro-lifers. Whereas in previous years, the platform emphasized a goal to limit abortion at the federal level, this year, the party line seems to be moving towards a “leave-it-to-the-states” approach, as recently confirmed by comments made by both presidential and vice-presidential nominees, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.
To some, this feels like a major backslide in progress for pro-lifers after the success of the Dobbs decision two years ago. Others are not as concerned and think that once successfully elected to the White House, the GOP ticket will change its tone and re-adopt a stronger pro-life stance.
Meanwhile, the Harris-Walz ticket is doubling down on its commitment to expand abortion at the national level if elected by signing the radical “Women’s Health Protection Act” which would nullify more than 1,300 pro-life laws around the nation, including laws we currently have place in Wisconsin that require parental consent for underage girls to receive abortions, that bar unlicensed individuals from performing surgical abortions, and that require an ultrasound prior to an abortion.
Here is what’s abundantly clear: pre-born children are being used as political pawns by both parties. In a recent commentary entitled, “Protecting Life Is No Half-Measure,” Family Research Council president Tony Perkins urges pro-lifers to stay the course. “Can we truly be one nation when just over half the 50 states protect the unborn and half do not?” he writes.
“America cannot and will not withstand being half for protecting life and half for taking life. We will be one thing or all the other. That is why we must not focus only on the presidential race, as important as it is. Every elected office matters. Be informed and be engaged.” End quote. Perkins takes a stance that’s helpful to biblically-voting citizens as we approach the ballot box this November.
Yes, this election absolutely matters, and could very well be the tipping point – for better or for worse – of the nation. But what we do in our own backyard, from our neighborhoods, to our counties, cities, and state offices is just as, if not more, critical.
As Tony Perkins says, Christians must stay engaged. We must continue ministering to individuals of all political persuasions on behalf of our nation’s most vulnerable: the preborn.
For Wisconsin Family Council, this is Julaine Appling, reminding you that God, through the Prophet Hosea, said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
