I confess to having conflicted feelings on the first anniversary of the end of Roe v. Wade. I am grateful beyond words that Roe is a relic of history. That’s amazing. But it’s not the stuff of popping champagne corks. Lives have been saved since last year’s solemnity of the Sacred Heart, when the Mississippi case brought the end of Roe. Thanks be to God! But lives have been lost, misery is ubiquitous, and in some states, like the one where I was born (New York), abortion is expanding.
The night of the leak of the Supreme Court draft decision from Justice Samuel Alito, the governor of New York — who went to The Catholic University of America’s law school — tweeted about her concern for her newborn granddaughter’s right to have an abortion. A Washington Post profile described how the governor of Michigan was concerned about her two daughters and their freedom to have abortions. To mark the one-year anniversary, Vice President Kamala Harris talked about how her goddaughter and her friends are making college choices based on how available abortion is.
And yet, in the face of all this evil and confusion and immiseration, we need to celebrate the beauty of life, but we also need to be prudent and compassionate. People don’t see things as we do. They don’t even see the fact that the same profile of the Michigan governor had an Ouija board on her wall during the interview made a lot of sense. Powers and principalities have much to do with this human-rights struggle of our lifetime.
Seeking reparation
A year out, I am grateful that Roe is no more. That’s something to give thanks to God for. At the same time, there is a trail of death, there is immense pain, and now, also, there is so much confusion. A pregnant woman who has sepsis can be treated for her sepsis. The media has been so misleading since the Dobbs decision. This is one of the chief lies of the last year, making the pro-life movement look cruel. It is a lie. And we need to counter it not just with the testimonies of women who regret their abortions but the stories of what wondrous things women are capable of when connected with resources and community to help them flourish as the mothers they already are.
Instead of champagne toasts, now is a time for reparation. Not of the monetary kind. We ought to be getting on our knees every June 24 (and even more often) for the forgiveness of the sins that made almost 50 years of Roe possible. We need to remember in prayer so many courageous birth mothers who sacrificed to give life to a child that they then gave to a couple who so desired to be parents.
Counter with love
Now is the time, too, for thinking about what more we can do. Most of us can do more to make sure abortion is unthinkable. Many people who consider themselves pro-choice think of abortion as a necessary evil. It wasn’t so long ago when Bill Clinton talked about his desire to make abortion “safe, legal and rare.” The “rare” part of that made clear that abortion was not desired. And, yet, since Dobbs, it has become increasingly clear that some advocates for abortion seem to prefer abortion for women. That’s not health care. That’s not reverence for women. And it’s that mindset that we must counter with love.
Pope Francis warns about the dangers of living in ideological silos. Lives depend on us going to the peripheries of our abortion culture. People are in pain. People are more confused than ever. Give thanks to God for the end of Roe. Encourage one another. And fight on with the deepest reserves of love that only the Sacred Heart of Jesus can provide.
