Pro-Life, Pro-Family: The Challenge of a Just and Sustainable Post-Roe Future
June 20, 2022
It’s a time with great potential. But it’s also a time of risk. Commentators on the left and right are expecting the Supreme Court to overrule or substantially alter Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. A pro-life outcome in Dobbs, however, would not stop abortion in America. Overruling Roe would merely return the issue to the states. Many states are loudly declaring that they will continue to allow and even subsidize abortions while many other states have trigger laws that will limit access to abortion. Dobbs is likely to be the beginning, and not the end, of a new front in the long political and cultural struggle over abortion in America.
This reality presents both an opportunity and a challenge. In the immediate aftermath of Dobbs, pro-lifers will have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to influence abortion politics. Public interest and attention will be as high as they ever will be. Congress and state legislatures will be under immense pressure (from both sides) to act, to “do something.” There may not be another window of opportunity like this for decades.
