Roe vs Wade and No Kids

Good Morning and Welcome to this week’s Gospel and Culture update, by Alan Vink
Roe vs Wade and No Kids
Monday 9th May 2022

Roe vs Wade

It would be fair to say that we are on the precipice of a remarkable and historic event, the overturning of the 1973 ruling known as Roe vs Wade regarded by many as one of the most consequential cases before the US Supreme court in the last five decades. His ruling was leaked on the 3rd May 2022.

The Court has voted to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, according to an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito circulated inside the court and obtained by POLITICO.

Here are three ‘key’ statements Justice Samuel Alto said in his ruling.

1. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.” Justice Samuel Alito said and goes on
2. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision....”
3. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled, it is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

Christianity Today have written a helpful analysis of the current situation entitled, This Is and Isn’t the Moment Pro-Life Evangelicals Have Waited For

POV. I for one didn’t realise that Roe vs Wade may in fact not be consistent with the Constitution of the USA. Clearly Roe vs Wade has shaped so much of our thinking about the rights for a women to have an abortion. The impacts of this legislation being overturned will be undoubtedly felt in NZ. This is going to be an important and interesting issue over the next few months.

No Kids

Yesterday Stuff ran an article titled, “The case for not having kids: Why women are putting the conversation on ice”

POV. It an interesting conversation for sure. I have noticed that it is coming up in Christian circles quite a bit more. As recently as this weekend I attended the Christian Medical Fellowship (Christian Doctors) and it came up in a conversation during a coffee break. This article points to ‘climate change’ as a major reason for increasing number of couples thinking a lot more carefully about whether or not to have children. Add into that housing issues in NZ and global instability and I sure can understand the growing hesitancy. It would be interesting to see if the trending in society at large is the same within the Christian Community. My instinct is that it won’t be. Christian couples are likely to want to have kids as they always have. That said, it is likely that the number of children per Christian couple may decrease a little if it hasn’t already. But we don’t have those numbers in NZ.

The Bible says that “Children are a gift from God”. That being the case how does that inform how we respond to what some say is our current existential crisis?