One year after ‘Dobbs,’ we must better persuade our fellow citizens of the pro-life position

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court, with its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, reversed its intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which invented a constitutional right to abortion under a right to privacy and a trimester scheme. As a result — according to a report compiled by the Pennsylvania Family Institute and based on numbers from the state Department of Health — abortions in Pennsylvania rose from 8,540 in 1972 to a peak of 65,777 in 1980 to approximately 34,400 in 2022.

Pennsylvania currently has a 24-week gestational limit, with some exceptions for when the health of the expectant mother is in danger. Expanding this limit is not currently realistic because of the election of another pro-abortion governor. However, our movement remains able to defeat pro-abortion legislation, such as House Bill 428, introduced by the narrow Democratic majority. The bill seeks to eliminate many of Pennsylvania’s current abortion regulations, such as parental and informed consent, and permit nonphysicians to perform abortions.

Dobbs has also renewed the public square debate on abortion, which has produced mixed results. Governors who articulately defended protective legislation (such as in Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, and Ohio) easily won reelection in 2022. However, candidates who did not articulately defend their pro-life position and did not criticize their opponents for support of pro-abortion legislation (e.g., Mehmet Oz) lost.

State referendum results also emphasize the need to articulate the pro-life position regarding exceptions. The pro-life movement supports the most protective legislation that is politically viable. Such a position allows support for legislation with “exceptions” (which will still save many mothers and children from abortion) as long as the pro-life position is publicly expressed.

Abortion is the direct and intentional killing of a child in the womb. Thus, a procedure done to preserve the life of an expectant mother, such as the removal of an ectopic pregnancy or a premature delivery, is not an abortion.

Support for a rape exception removes all of the love and justice from the pro-life position. The basis for banning abortion then becomes whether the expectant mother consented to sexual activity that led to the child’s conception. Such an exception also punishes the child for the crime of his or her biological father.

We acknowledge the need to better persuade our fellow citizens of the pro-life position, which is that every child should be welcomed in life and protected by law. However, we will never persuade our fellow citizens to this position if we abandon it.

The position that abortion is health care requires a view that motherhood is a disease and the child in the womb may be treated as a tumor. The pro-life side needs to emphasize that, along with his or her mother, children in the womb are patients who have been successfully cured of numerous adverse conditions. The website www.ProLifeDoc.org presents the details of these amazing stories, which are summarized by: “A patient is a person, no matter how small.”

Our Philadelphia-area pro-life movement will observe the one-year anniversary of Roe’s reversal on Saturday with a Center City March for Life at 10:30 a.m., and a rally on Independence Mall at 11:30 a.m. We will also conduct what is arguably the world’s largest baby shower for the benefit of our area’s network of services for expectant mothers and their families, which remains one of the most extensive in our nation.

Michael J. McMonagle is the president of the Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania. paprolifecoalition@gmail.com