June 24, 2022, will go down in history as a monumental victory for our constitutional right to life by delivering one of the most consequential rulings in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. I celebrate the overturning of Roe v. Wade alongside the rest of the pro-life movement and look forward to continuing to fight for life at the state level.
Last month, we witnessed a preview of the intensely divided reaction to this decision after the draft opinion was leaked, but the public response to the official opinion from both sides has been unsurprisingly more fervent. And we’re about to see even greater hysteria ramp us as abortion rights activists turn their efforts toward pressuring individual states to pass radical pro-abortion legislation.
So before the hysteria reaches maximum intensity, it’s critical that we set some facts straight and debunk the alarming falsehoods that liberals are perpetuating about what overturning Roe means. There are a few prevalent myths I’d like to address in particular:
Myth 1: Pro-lifers want to make women criminally liable for their miscarriages after Roe
The pro-life movement has been fighting against the death of the innocent unborn for 50 years now. Criminalizing miscarriage is not part of their agenda. Preventing the intentional termination of innocent life is.
Pro-life movement leadership even pushed back against the criminalization of abortion itself, responding in part to Louisiana’s anti-abortion bill. Lawmakers eventually withdrew from classifying abortion as “homicide,” but the dispute was vitally important as we discern a possible post-Roe legal landscape.
The problem with abortion, after all, isn’t just that the baby doesn’t make it to term. The problem with abortion is that it intentionally ends an innocent life. A miscarriage carries no such intent. It is not, and never has been, the target of pro-life advocacy.
Myth 2: Abortion is ‘healthcare’
This myth is particularly prominent — and pernicious. Everywhere we turn, a pro-abortion rights activist is ready to argue that access to abortion is an essential and constitutionally protected component of women’s “healthcare.”
It isn’t healthcare; it’s the intentional killing of an unborn child. The wordplay and euphemisms necessary to defend abortion betray the fact that abortion is, in fact, indefensible on its face. If pro-abortion people could be honest and direct about what it is they want, they would be.
But they can’t — so we get talking points like this one.
Myth 3: Abortion is the only adequate response to vulnerable women facing unexpected pregnancies
This last myth is one of the most important ones. You see it again and again in pro-abortion propaganda aimed at domestic and international audiences alike.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has personally furthered such a narrative, arguing that abortion restrictions would adversely affect women’s participation in the workforce. Others argue that restricting abortion would harm women in the military and, by extension, harm our military in general.
This reasoning is repeated endlessly, but it is basically the same wherever it appears. It insists that killing a vulnerable woman’s unborn child is the only way we may adequately support her. It insists, blindly, that the death of the baby is the only way to fix her problems.
What about offering her resources and support? What about guiding her through the process of carrying her child to term and putting it up for adoption, should she so choose?
The hardships these women face can be alleviated by other means than killing the unborn, and it is a grave injustice to pretend otherwise.
Of course, these aren’t the only lies that abortion advocates will generate and spread in the wake of Roe being overturned. But these are a few of the most important ones. It’s critical that everyone fighting for the unborn’s right to life speaks out sanely, charitably, and persistently on behalf of the truth.
That’s been true for the past 50 years of the pro-life movement, but it is especially true now. So, please, keep up the good fight. Keep fighting for truth. Keep fighting for life.
Timothy Head is the executive director of the Faith & Freedom Coalition.
