Before Roe v. Wade was overturned, the pro-life movement’s strategy was to challenge the 1973 ruling in the courts. States drafted and passed legislation that pushed the boundaries of what was allowed under the Roe framework and escalated their cases in hopes the Supreme Court would rule that Roe was “wrongly decided.” Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization out of Mississippi finally presented that opportunity.
I joined the movement shortly after Roe was overturned and quickly saw that the battles in this new landscape were widely unpredictable. Strategies needed to be refined even though movement leaders had outlined some strategies for the post-Roe landscape.
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Increased prevalence of chemical abortion was arguably the most predictable outcome of the decision. Abortion advocates partnered with the Biden administration to make abortion pills available by mail. This concerted effort to undermine pro-life laws was combined with state abortion shield laws to protect abortionists in states such as New York and California when violating protective pro-life laws.
The movement has worked diligently to confront the harms of the abortion pill head-on by crafting enforceable policy at the state and federal levels. We have taken new steps to educate the public on the evidence-based harms of the abortion pill and the humanity of the child in the womb. These efforts have borne cultural fruit.
Public support for mail-order abortion has fallen over the past few years, and most Americans now support restoring in-person dispensing requirements. Pro-life leaders have spoken on behalf of women harmed by abortion and are continuing to seek justice for them. State attorneys general have taken this fight to the courts and led cases from Louisiana, Missouri, and Florida that show promise in preventing more women from being harmed by mail-order abortion.
Ballot initiatives have presented mixed results for the pro-life movement. Majority-conservative states such as Ohio passed state constitutional amendments that blocked their strong pro-life laws shortly after the Dobbs decision. The pro-life movement has been required to spend more time and effort at the state level to combat the misleading pro-abortion language in these proposed amendments.
The movement has now even won a few referenda, including in South Dakota, Florida, and Nebraska. This fight continues into the coming fall, when at least three more states will consider adopting abortion amendments, and pro-life leaders hope to rally coalitions to defeat as many as possible.
However, bad actors are attempting to undermine the efforts that brought about the overturn of Roe and the continued progress that has been made by the mainstream movement since. So-called abortion abolitionists are dividing the effort by insisting anything short of complete abolition is a moral wrong and demanding that post-abortive women be criminally prosecuted.
Leading legal minds suggest that post-abortive women could be unanimously deemed culpable in a court of law. Efforts that prioritize prosecuting women over ending abortion are self-defeating and only incentivize the majority of Americans who oppose undertaking this extreme policy position to sour on the pro-life movement broadly. Dobbs must not be taken for granted. Sowing division only prevents the strength in unity that is necessary for the pro-life movement to keep winning and pressing forward to an enduring abolition. We must have the support of Americans who have largely embraced a culture of life.
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We must also be wary of the tendency to be satisfied with an overly incremental approach that accepts the status quo. Pro-life leaders are charged with pushing culture to its limit by changing hearts and minds for generational impact. The synergy of advocating increasingly strong policy while challenging the worldview of the individual is what extends the limit to which the public will embrace even greater, durable pro-life policies that do not risk being quickly overturned.
Progress does not stop to allow the movement time to heal from internal fracture; it only allows abortion advocates to retake ground. New battles are upon us every day, and unity will drive us forward exponentially. United, the pro-life movement cannot be defeated.
John Mize is CEO of Americans United for Life.