Dobbs: A Golden Opportunity

1973 v. 2021: The Abortion Edition

I celebrate empowering women but condemn the dangerous feminist agenda that espouses abortion. The truth has been and remains self-evident that we are created equally. I value the words that declare dignity of life consecrated by my faith’s doctrine. As a young woman, I am infuriated by the feminist framework that emboldens women to silence the cries of the unborn and glorifies a solution of perceived inconvenience. Pro-choice ideology is rooted in female sexual liberation irrespective of moral obligation.  

For decades, the American government and our countrymen have established and fought for the advancement of women’s reproductive rights while simultaneously declaring war on the unborn. Pro-choice camps are blind to the stark reality that America’s existence was founded with the vision of protecting her people’s individual liberties without government or societal intrusion. It is incontrovertibly true that all human beings possess certain immutable, unalienable rights, even the unborn. 

Unfortunately, in 1973, the Supreme Court passed Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion in the United States. The Supreme Court refused to qualify viability instead deferring to the medical community’s judgment, skill, and technology. Some states offer explicit definitions of viability such as 20 to 25 weeks while others stipulate “likelihood to survive outside the womb.” Absent clear parameters, state authority ignores protection of the interests of the second life and empowers medical professionals to terminate a pregnancy at personal discretion. 

According to Statista, in 2018, an estimated 620,000 abortions were performed in the United States; Pub Med reported that 92.2% were performed at less than or equal to 13 weeks gestation. The unidentified point of viability and legalized fetal neglect postulates broad political interpretation and debate. Republican states have battled abortion policies for decades but have gained momentum in recent years. In 2018, Mississippi passed the Gestational Age Act banning abortions after 15 weeks, with exceptions such as medical emergencies and severe fetal abnormalities. Abortion providers challenged the law and the courts ruled that the ban violated Roe. The state of Mississippi appealed the ruling. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to the petition on May 17, 2021 and oral arguments are scheduled for this fall. 

The Supreme Court declined to modify standard abortion laws and will attempt to ascertain the central question of the case: “whether all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional.”  If passed, the 15-week ban could implement a plethora of restrictions that would either erode or obliterate Roe and enfeeble lower courts. Additionally, the United States is experiencing an enormous surge in abortion legislation. According to Guttmacher Institute, so far in 2021, 384 antiabortion provisions were introduced in 43 states and 107 abortion bans have been introduced, including 19 total abortion bans in 13 states. These provisions include total bans, gestational age bans, methods for receiving a procedural and chemical abortion. The Supreme Court precedingly considered a pre-viability gestational age ban in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in 1992; Dobbs v. Jackson is rendered noteworthy for vigilant observation and prayer.

This case is vital for providing a voice for the mute and deserves our undivided attention. Abortion activists and politicians are acutely aware of the potential to overturn Roe with pending legislation. The Women’s Health Protection Act has been reintroduced by congressional democrats; if passed, the act would guarantee abortion rights and prohibit restrictions designed to impede access. Pro-choice camps will strive to obfuscate the aforementioned case’s objective and rationalize their argument. 

According to Winchester Hospital, a fetus’ spinal cord, brain, heart, lungs, face, fingers, and toes grow rapidly during the first trimester. An unborn baby is able to hear its mother’s heartbeat at 18 weeks, sensory neurons and essential organs are fully developed in the second trimester. Allina Health states that during the third trimester their brain dramatically develops, bones harden and the skin thickens. The National Library of Medicine asserts, “Today, the prospect of survival is only about 1 in 10 at 23 weeks, and if the child lives it is more likely to be handicapped than not.” In today’s culture, our society tends to categorize murder as an active killing but fails to contemplate premeditated murder as withholding resources necessary to preserve and sustain human life. Many abortions are surgical, violent and gruesome. Abortion procedures include suction aspiration which involves an unborn baby being sucked through a vacuum tube and dismembered and dilation and extraction which physically rips apart their body with a metal clamp. The ubiquitous mantra, “my body, my choice” is scientifically incongruent as the two parties have uniquely separate DNA and organs. Abortion is precisely two bodies dependent upon one choice.

The indisputable truth stands. Abortion denies personhood to a living being who can respond to light, pain, and voice and has a heartbeat existing independently of its mother’s. The ill-formed abortion narrative of independent autonomy and women’s equality will provocatively echo in the forthcoming days. However, the poorly defined legal construction regarding fetal viability, advancement in medical technology, and decades of abortion research could counter the oppositional argument. Dobbs v. Jackson is America’s golden opportunity to reverse the death penalty for unborn children and defend their inalienable rights as fiercely as Roe v. Wade stripped their humanity and fundamental freedom in 1973.

Taylor McCray is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a degree in Communication. She is a copywriter for a Conservative Media Agency. Taylor plans to release her upcoming podcast, The Wake-Up Call with Taylor McCray in the Fall. Follow her on Twitter @TaylorMcCrayUSA