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This edition of the Life Issues Forum is available in English and Spanish, and has been posted to our website.
The Life Issues Forum is a bi-weekly column by Pro-Life Secretariat staff addressing the latest issues on the culture of life. Columns may be reprinted as they appear here (in full and without alteration) without further permission.
In Christ,
The Pro-Life Secretariat
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LIFE ISSUES FORUM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Do You Know Roe? August 10, 2018
By Greg Schleppenbach
The retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has propelled Roe v. Wade
more prominently into public discourse. As the confirmation process for
his replacement moves forward, pro-abortion groups are spreading
misinformation about Roe as they raise alarms about its purported demise.
The Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life,
which began on August 3, urges our prayer and fasting for the intention
that this change in the Supreme Court will bring our nation closer to
the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.
It also seeks to dispel the misinformation spread by pro-abortion
groups by sharing accurate facts about Roe.
Here are a few of those facts:
Roe and Doe legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy
Many people don't realize that Roe v. Wade legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. Roe
says abortions may not be restricted at all during the first three
months and in the second three months may be regulated only for the
mother's health. After fetal "viability," Roe allows abortion to be prohibited, but still mandates an exception for the woman's life or health.
But in Roe's companion case, Doe v. Bolton,
the Court defined "health" to include "all factors-physical, emotional,
psychological, familial, and the woman's age-relevant to the
well-being" of the mother. In most states, this is broad enough to
permit virtually any abortion in the seventh, eighth, or ninth months of pregnancy if any of these reasons is invoked.
If Roe is overturned, the democratic process--not the courts--will determine abortion policy
Before Roe, all states permitted abortions necessary
to save the mother's life, and some permitted abortion in additional
circumstances. But Roe deemed any prohibition on abortion as unconstitutional.
If Roe is overturned, policy decisions about
abortion will be made by the citizens of each state through the
democratic process, rather than by courts. Some states will place limits
on abortion, and others will likely have few limits.
Roe's extreme abortion license is not widely supported
Abortion advocates claim that Roe enjoys broad public support, and some recent polls seem to provide evidence for this claim. But most polls don't explain Roe's
extreme abortion license, and some misrepresent it. For example, a 2016
Pew Research Center poll claims 69% of Americans favor Roe v. Wade and 28% oppose it. But the poll wrongly describes Roe as establishing "a woman's constitutional right to an abortion, at least in the first three months of pregnancy." The fact is, Roe made abortion legal through all nine months of pregnancy and for virtually any reason.
The vast majority of Americans oppose the policy of nearly unlimited abortion dictated by Roe,
and most believe abortion should not be legal for the reasons it is
most often performed. A May 2018 Gallup poll shows that 65% of Americans
said abortion should be illegal in the second trimester and 81% said
abortion should be illegal in the last trimester. A 2018 Marist poll
shows that a majority of women said either that abortion should never be
permitted (9% of respondents) or permitted only in cases of rape,
incest, and to save the woman's life (42%).
Readers can easily share these and other facts about Roe with their elected representatives and others by signing up for the Novena at www.usccb.org/pray.
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Greg Schleppenbach (photo)
is the Associate Director of the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities of
the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. For more information
on how you can join in the bishops' pro-life activities, please visit www.usccb.org/prolife.
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To download shareable images of these and other facts about Roe v. Wade, please visit our website.
