{"id":3187,"date":"2022-06-24T20:29:10","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T20:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/?p=3187"},"modified":"2022-06-24T20:34:57","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T20:34:57","slug":"the-end-of-roe-v-wade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/2022\/06\/24\/the-end-of-roe-v-wade\/","title":{"rendered":"The End of Roe v Wade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Praise God that the legal, political, and moral horror of <em>Roe v Wade<\/em> is no more.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Roe v Wade<\/em> was a legal horror, for it made up a fictional right found nowhere in the constitution, presented as facts falsehoods about the history of abortion jurisprudence, and thereby distorted subsequent legal decisions for the past several decades.<\/li>\n<li><em>Roe v Wade<\/em> was a political horror for it was a raw assertion of judicial <em>legislative <\/em>power (as noted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/21pdf\/19-1392_6j37.pdf\">today\u2019s opinion<\/a>; see, for example, p. 10), rescinding laws then in existence passed by dozens of state legislatures, removing most questions concerning abortion from state legislatures and assigning them to the courts. By so doing, <em>Roe v Wade<\/em> played a central role in the politicization of the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court.<\/li>\n<li><em>Roe v Wade <\/em>was a moral horror, treating unborn children early in pregnancy as no more important than an appendix, and propagating the view that we as individuals are autonomous, having the right to do what we wish with our bodies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Millions have prayed, marched, and organized over these last decades to bring about today\u2019s decision. It has been my privilege to participate in some events \u2013 particularly given that, at age 20, I advocated for a theoretical abortion and thus incurred guilt (as discussed in this sermon: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/2022\/01\/28\/what-leads-to-abortion\/\">text<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eqotw.org\/media\/?p=2443\">audio<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>We rightly stand amazed at the array of people God used to overturn this monstrosity:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On the legal side: <a href=\"https:\/\/fedsoc.org\/\">The Federalist Society<\/a> has been instrumental in supporting and raising up justices who try to interpret the constitution as written.<\/li>\n<li>Political leaders: George W Bush, Mitch McConnell, and Donald Trump all played vital roles in bringing about today\u2019s ruling. As imperfect as all three are, and with as many disagreements as they have among themselves, God used all three to answer our prayers.<\/li>\n<li>Teachers and preachers: God used Roman Catholics, evangelicals, and secular scholars to make the case against <em>Roe v Wade<\/em>. In our circles, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desiringgod.org\/topics\/abortion\/messages\">John Piper\u2019s twenty-five sermons on abortion<\/a> were particularly powerful, as were <a href=\"https:\/\/prolifetraining.com\/\">Scott Klusendorf\u2019s<\/a> books and seminars.<\/li>\n<li>Workers of compassion: The movement to create Pregnancy Resource Centers around the country began more than forty years ago. Now there are thousands of centers where women can receive tests, ultrasounds, and counseling at no cost to them \u2013 and often can hear of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior. We have had the privilege over the years to support such centers in Charlotte \u2013 today, the <a href=\"https:\/\/myqcprc.com\/\">Queen City Pregnancy Resource Center<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While we praise God for the end of <em>Roe, <\/em>much work remains.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pregnancy Resource Centers may well see a substantial increase in clients. They will need more finances, more personnel, more spiritual support \u2013 and protection. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2022\/06\/22\/still-no-arrests-by-fbi-in-attacks-on-27-pregnancy-centers\/\">A number of such centers have been vandalized by abortion advocates in the last few months<\/a>, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wspa.com\/news\/pregnancy-center-vandalized-in-asheville\/\">one in Asheville<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Today\u2019s opinion returns decisions about abortion to state legislatures. There will be heated debates in many states, including North Carolina. There may also be attempts to have state Supreme Courts find a right to abortion in state constitutions. Thus we must vote wisely \u2013 for state legislators and for judges.<\/li>\n<li>Many of our most populous states will see no decline in abortions because their state legislatures have already passed laws that ensure abortion access. Indeed, it is likely that some will travel to such states to have abortions. So the need to teach and to advocate for the unborn continues.<\/li>\n<li>Most of all, the worldviews and consequent attitudes that lead to abortion continue to exert strong influence in our society. Challenge those worldviews; question those attitudes. Know and communicate the storyline of the Bible \u2013 highlighting our rebellion, our inability to think straight, and God\u2019s compassion and grace through Jesus. Remember that we are not autonomous \u2013 we are created for a purpose, to glorify God. We thus do not have a right to do what we want with our bodies. But we find freedom, joy, and fulfillment not in looking inside ourselves and \u201cdiscovering\u201d who we are, but in following Jesus. Abundant, true life is found only in Him (John 10:10, Mark 8:34-36).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But the most important task remaining is to continue in prayer \u2013 prayer for the unborn, prayer for confused, scared, pregnant women, prayer for legislators and leaders, prayer for compassion and witness, prayer for those who may seem like enemies, prayer for our light to so shine among people that they see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16).<\/p>\n<p><em>Roe v Wade <\/em>is no more. Praise God for answering so many prayers and using so many people. Today may be an important inflection point in the history of our country. But work remains. May we continue in the work of prayer, the work of love, the work of witness \u2013 and so hasten Jesus\u2019 return (2 Peter 3:11-12), playing our role in completing the task of filling the earth with the knowledge of God\u2019s glory as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Praise God that the legal, political, and moral horror of Roe v Wade is no more. Roe v Wade was a legal horror, for it made up a fictional right&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[83,2470,2526,432,2527,2528,845,2529,1203,1363,2530,2531,1506,1618,1723],"class_list":["post-3187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abortion","tag-autonomy","tag-dobbs","tag-donald-trump","tag-federalist-society","tag-george-w-bush","tag-john-piper","tag-mitch-mcconnell","tag-pregnancy-resource-center","tag-roe-v-wade","tag-scott-klusendorf","tag-state-legislatures","tag-storyline-of-the-bible","tag-true-life","tag-worldview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3187"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3190,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3187\/revisions\/3190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desiringgodchurch.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}