Jane Roe, et al. v. Henry Wade, District Attorney of Dallas County, 410 U.S. 113 was decided simultaneously with a similar case, Doe v. Bolton. The ruling affirmed a woman’s right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
However, the Court stressed that this right must be balanced against the individual state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions. The interests listed were protecting the unborn child’s life and protecting the woman's health.
The defendant in the case argued that the state’s interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy. To satisfy this challenge, the Court resolved the issue by tying state regulation of abortion to the third trimester of pregnancy.
Later, the Court rejected the landmark decision’s trimester framework, while affirming Roe 's central decision/belief that a person has a right to abortion until the baby’s existence is considered viable.
This case’s decision defined viability of the unborn child as being "potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid.” The justices added that viability "is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.”
Eventually, the Court asserted that abortion is a fundamental right under the United States Constitution, which effectively limited any and all laws attempting to restrict it to a strict standard of constitutional adherence. In 1938, levels of case decision standards had been adopted by the judicial system. In this case, Roe v. Wade, the Court applied the “strict scrutiny” standard.
What does the Bible have to say about all this? A lot.
Our pastor had a lot to say about this too as Sunday was Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, which occurs every year the week of the aforementioned Supreme Court decision.
Pastor Andrew Manwarren of Newberry First Baptist Church began the message by quoting some unsettling statistics, comparing this tragedy to the Holocaust that ended the lives of 6 million Jews.
Did you know that in this country since the Roe v. Wade decision 42 years ago, 62 million (that’s right MILLION) babies have been slaughtered. That equates to 1.21 million lives lost per year; 3,315 murders per day; 138 tragedies per hour; and more than 2 baby annihilations per minute.
Inconceivable. Disgusting. Unbelievable. Agreed?
God made each and every one of us in His image, a fact that is confirmed in Genesis 1: 26-27 (NIV) where God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."
With those words of Creation ringing in our ears, why would we even consider terminating a life He meticulously put together?
Why? Because we are all “wicked, unrighteous sinners,” according to Manwarren, and he is right.
The apostle Paul nailed it in Romans 3:23 (NIV) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,. But all is not lost as Paul continues in Verse 24, “and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Another point our pastor made, which everyone should consider, is that the reasons for abortion would never be accepted as a defense for the murder of a person outside the womb.
I ask, why then would any of us accept the planned death of an unborn child? In a God-fearing society this death would be paramount to first-degree murder – murder planned in advance and subsequently executed.
As a forgiven sinner, I must confess that when my 17-year-old honor student daughter confided her pregnancy to me over 15 years ago, my knee-jerk reaction was, you guessed it, abortion. I cannot believe I even uttered the word, much less considered this “solution.”
Fortunately, the thought left my sinner’s brain almost as quickly as it entered, but not before it came out of my mouth, unfortunately.
Today, thanks to God’s common sense intervention of my murderous pondering, I have a wonderful grandson that is the first of five outstanding children born to my amazing daughter.
As I wrote in the beginning of this blog post, God has much to say about His creation of humankind and our life in Him.
You can read more of His guiding prose by turning to the following verses in your Bible – Matthew 22:36-40; Psalm 139:13-16; Leviticus 19:9-18; 1 John 4:19-21; and John 13:34. If you do not own a Bible, you can search the verses, in a translation of your choice by following this link.
When you visit BibleGateway.com, you can also check out the verse of the day and the many devotional offerings. I am taking advantage of the 365-day Devotional. You might want to take a look at it.
I end this blog with two quotes from our pastor's sermon that emphasize my Christian-inspired stand on abortion – “Abortion is a violent, anti-God act.” And, “Abortion is war against loving God.”
Until tomorrow – May God bless each and every one of you every day in every way.
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