Roe v. Wade

Good Morning and Welcome to this week’s Gospel and Culture update, by Alan Vink
Roe v. Wade
Monday 27th June 2022

Roe v. Wade

What just happened? The Supreme Court eliminated the constitutional right to obtain an abortion, casting aside 49 years of precedent that began with Roe v. Wade. The decision by the Supreme Court will set off a seismic shift in reproductive rights across the United States. It will allow states to ban abortion, and experts expect about half the states to do so.

To be clear the Court’s decision does not outlaw abortion throughout the United States but instead “properly leaves the question of abortion for the people and their representatives.” In other words every State legislature can now decide. It is no longer an automatic right enshrined in the constitution of the United States of America. It should never have been.

Here are four sources you may wish to watch or read.
ABC News that shows President Biden’s response. The BBC news coverage a few hours after the decision is made public. Here is an opinion piece written by SCOTUSblog and endorsed by Breakpoint at the Colson Center, entitled Supreme Court overturns constitutional right to abortion. And finally from Christianity Today an article entitled ‘Goodbye Roe v. Wade: Pro-Life Evangelicals Celebrate the Ruling They’ve Waited For”.

POV. No doubt about it, history was made last Friday in the US. The seemingly impossible happened and I am wrapped to say the least. But I am also worried. This by no means is the end of the story. Not by a long shot. What is already clear is that the two sides of the great American divide are now staring at each other and asking, “Now what?” It’s hard to imagine that in NZ we won’t see something similar. Already there is fury being expressed on social media. I agree that the social context in NZ is different then it is in America. However I think it is important that we remember that most NZ’ers when polled over the last 5 years or so are pro-choice. Somewhere in the region of 60-70%. This was reflected in the conscience vote for the Abortion Legislation Act in March 2020 where parliamentarians voted 68 (or 57%) for, 51 against. Those that voted for included senior National Party politicians. The great tragedy here is that the majority of NZ’ers by far believe abortion is a viable option for unwanted pregnancies.

To the Christian Church in NZ my question is this. How can we persuade the majority of New Zealanders that holding onto a pro-life position in relation to pregnancy is best for the child, the mother (and father) and indeed for the health of society at large? If we could achieve that then it is only a matter of a year or two and the law would change accordingly, guaranteed.