What Exactly are We Celebrating?

This week marked the second anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. While several states have curtailed legal abortions, others haven’t, making a hodgepodge of laws around abortion and maternal healthcare. Abortions are actually on the rise, partially due the uncertainty of the future of the country, economically and politically. The laws may have changed, but the fundraising hasn’t. Both prolife and proabortion advocates are using abortion this election year to stir up their base. Tens of millions will be spent in advertising and marketing this election cycle on both sides. It’s a sensitive, emotional issue that causes people to be single-issue voters. It’s a lucrative political tactic. To many it’s black-and-white and to discuss nuance or systematic change or other issues is anathema. Just vote for the one paying the best lip service.

But what of the real activists, the ones on the ground trying to save lives, care for mothers and children, provide medical care and food and housing? Where are their big budgets?

It’s so easy to be disillusioned by a movement that has been so politically hijacked. I was reminded of that again this week from a post from New Wave Feminists, a secular, prolife group that, among other things, aids mothers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

She wrote:

“For half a century, overturning Roe had been the goal for so many. They were passionate, convicted activists, many with very good hearts who put so much effort into that action because that’s what their elected officials told them was going to save lives. They did this earnestly. But it was also the lowest rung on the ladder. The step, in my opinion, we could’ve completely ignored had we jumped to the following steps of making society more equitable for those of us whose fertility is literally a liability.

“When I say we live in a patriarchy, I mean it.

“We live in a society that was built by men, FOR men. Wholly made to accommodate the male body. We live in a society where we are penalized FOR CONTINUING THE HUMAN RACE. Our superpower is constantly twisted into a curse in the workforce and academia. And when I say I want to smash the patriarchy, I truly mean it.

“Abortion IS patriarchy.

“Having to sacrifice our unborn children at the altar of late stage capitalism in order to simply exist in a man-made world, IS patriarchy. And creating equitable systems for those of us that menstruate, ovulate, lactate, and gestate is a full time job, no matter what the laws are.

“Which is why, the legality part is just whatever to me. As long as those societal barriers exist, pregnant people will find a way to order pills offline, find non-profits willing to bus them to another state, or much darker and more dangerous alternatives.”

Her group focuses on housing, childcare, transportation, and healthcare. While it is a prolife group that speaks out against abortion, the group is rather apolitical. Both before and after Dobbs, the group continued its work on the border. 

She continues in her post:

“I’ve already received a handful of newsletters to my inbox today “celebrating” the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe

“And I guess my question is - what exactly are we celebrating?

“More abortions? More walking wounded? A polarized country that thinks we only care about the unborn child in the womb, but not the toddler sleeping in the car with their teen mom because all of our shelters are at capacity? A pro-choice nation that gets closer everyday to winning the ‘war’ by codifying abortion because at this point they’re also winning the culture too?

“We had almost 50 years to address the actual issues… and instead we chose to be pawns in a political game, while pregnant people and unborn children paid the ultimate price.”

You can read her full post here.

But it’s important to remember that outside the legislative halls and pundit channels there are real people working to make the world a better, safer place. There is space for conversation and nuance. There is reason to work together. 

We can protect the unborn child, the born child, AND the mother. Not only protect, we can care for and celebrate them. Life is not just a political spear; it is the essence of our human experience.

Yes, laws matter. But community matters more. A culture that values one another matters more. The people who, regardless of political opinion, feed children and house families and drive neighbors to doctor’s appointments are the real prolife movement. They do not dictate morality but demonstrate it. Whether the law supports or opposes your values, you should continue to live according the higher law. Christ says to love your neighbor. Love can change so much more than laws can.