I will not spend much space here discussing the SCOTUS decision in Dobbs that was announced June 24. However, the implications are huge and will affect every person in the US in ways they will either embrace, reject, or not even understand. My purpose herein is to acquaint subscribers with a cross-section of what is going on in just the last one week. After all, the purpose of this part of the web site is to provide subscribers information from many sources about happenings that they may not know about, and yet be interested in. However, we all have limited time and cannot seek out all relevant information or even read all that we get in emails. I hope you will find this update a useful overview.
First, the Dobbs decision essentially is that SCOTUS has no authority under the constitution to make any decision in the case; the 10th amendment plainly states that any matter not explicitly relegated in the constitution to the US Congress, is relegated to the individual states and to the people to regulate through their elected representatives. The court also ruled that the decisions in Roe and Casey are overturned because the court had no authority to rule in those cases either, for the same reason it has no authority in the Dobbs case. The decision is 237 pages in length and (to the extent that I have read it so far) clearly and systematically explains US cultural history on abortion, legal history, and the meaning of various constitutional amendments (specifically explaining in detail why this court rejected attempts to invoke certain phrases in the amendments as having “hidden meanings” providing women a “right” to abortion).
For the Pro-Life movement, the battleground now shifts to the states where the hearts and minds of the electorate are the prize. People elected to state and federal offices will determine laws that either protect or denigrate life. Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRC) have already been preparing to meet women’s increasing requests for help “Post-Roe.” Leaders across the country are calling for increased donations to fund an expanded outreach to women so they will know that help is available to meet their every need. In a poll of 120,000 households, 73% did not know about the services of PRC. There is much work to do.
On that point, we must observe the sobering fact that those we send to Congress have the power to pass a law permitting abortion throughout the country at any stage, even permitting unwanted newborns to die. The integrity of elections and those we vote for at every local and state level, for Congress, and for president matters now and in future more than ever before, with the lives of countless babies at stake.
These circumstances have been thrust rapidly upon PRC and pro-life activist groups in the context that 13 states (including Texas) have “trigger” laws in place that will take effect and regulate abortion in various restrictive ways now that Roe is overturned. There are many other laws passed by various state legislatures in years past that proposed to regulate abortion in those states but which have been under temporary restraining orders preventing enforcement. Now, these will also be released to become effective.
In Texas, the legality of abortion has become confused during the last week by a plethora of hastily written and poorly researched news articles, as well as by some inaccurate information deliberately distributed. Herein, I present below the facts as of July 1. However, the reader must realize that there is a great deal of legal action taking place that can alter the short term environment and add more confusion. Please check here for new posts as these issues evolve, which I pledge to be accurately resourced.
In 1925, Texas passed a law totally banning abortion: “If any person shall designedly administer to a pregnant woman or knowingly procure to be administered with her consent any drug or medicine, or shall use towards her any violence or means whatever externally or internally applied, and thereby procure an abortion, he shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than five years.” That law is still part if the statutes in the State of Texas. In the aftermath of Roe in 1973, this law could not be enforced, but was not removed from the statutes, and Texas began to issue licenses for abortion clinics. In 2004, the Fifth Circuit court ruled that the the law had been “repealed by implication.” However, while a court can block enforcement of a law, no court can remove any law from the statutes of a state. This must be done by a state legislature. When the Dobbs decision was published June 24, the Texas 1925 law immediately became enforceable.
In 2021, Texas passed The Texas Heartbeat Act banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, and the US Supreme Court refused to overturn it. Typically, this fetal activity can be detected by 8 weeks on abdominal ultrasound and by 6 weeks on a vaginal ultrasound. Of course, in routine exams, it is an abdominal ultrasound that is performed. Even if a heartbeat is present, the quality of the ultrasound machine and the skill of the technician will determine if the heartbeat is detected earlier or later in gestation.
In 2021, Texas also passed The Human Life Protection Act of 2021 “trigger law” that bans abortion 30 days after the overturn of Roe (e.g., on July 24, 2022), except when “the pregnant female on whom the abortion is performed, induced, or attempted has a life-threatening physical condition aggravated by, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function unless the abortion is performed or induced.”
On June 28, a Harris County Judge issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against enforcement of the Texas 1925 law totally banning abortion. The TRO expires July 12, and will be subject to a hearing on that date. Interval legal appeals of the TRO may alter the timeline and even set aside the TRO. However, the Texas Fetal Heartbeat Law remains in effect. That has given rise to comments that abortions can proceed “up to 6 weeks gestation,” which we have seen is an inaccurate statement. And the “trigger” law is set to take effect July 24. At this writing, the 1925 law totally banning abortion without exception for the life of the mother, although antiquated, is still enforceable (when the TRO expires), and it takes precedence over the heartbeat law and the “trigger” law. It seems highly improbable that the 1925 law will ever be enforced by prosecution (although it is likely that it will not be removed from the books), whereas the “trigger” law is legal under the Dobbs decision and will be enforced beginning July 24, regardless of whether the TRO survives that long.
With abortion clinics unable to do abortions in Texas, there are reports that some are referring women out of state, and some states (notably California) are attempting to become an “abortion-tourist” destination. Some organizations are raising money (and pledging tax-payer money) to pay air fare, food, lodging, expenses, and lost wages, to get women to California for an abortion. Legal action attempting to delay or mitigate the impact of the Dobbs decision is in process in all states, creating much confusion. Consult this web page for information as these events play out.
At the same time, some in the pro-abortion factions have reacted with hate speech, intimidating protests, and a call to violence against churches and PRC. There are about 300,000 churches and 3,000 PRC in the US. There has been some vandalism (relatively little so far), but churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, and businesses have all been hardening their perimeters with security. These are unplanned expenses that have a bottom line impact on churches and PRC that are dependent on donations and only exist to help people and were never intended to need a defensive profile. Perhaps unsurprisingly, donations have been pouring in to meet these needs as the mass of silent majority pro-life people want their voice to be heard and now feel encouraged. However, that additional need for financial support will be ongoing because there is an increasing need to reach and educate women about all the resources available to them. And, these must be expanded rapidly since the need is increasing rapidly.
Immediately after the SCOTUS announcement, a coalition of pro-life organizations (including Texas Right to Life and Houston Coalition for Life) organized a rally at the huge Planned Parenthood abortion factory on the Gulf Freeway in Houston the next morning. Then, astonishingly, over just 2-3 days, over 57 national organizations were drawn together in a webinar in which 43 leaders spoke before an on-line audience of 23,500 to discuss the many facets of the post-Roe challenges and how they will work together to meet them. Impressive knowledge, talent, organization, and commitment was demonstrated over the 2 hours and 40 mins event! One speaker had prayed at the Supreme Court location for an overturn of Roe every day for 6,500 days. Watch a replay of the webinar:
If it is a bit too big to consume at one sitting, try 30 mins a day for 5 days. Make notes to help yourself when discussing and planning with others…and share the link.
Many local, state, and national organizations have provided podcasts and webinars to reach their constituencies in the last few days. The 40 Days for Life organization is hosting a Post-Roe Symposium August 5/6 in Houston. https://www.40daysforlife.com/en/
[[Before you finish this post and leave the web site, please click on the “Upcoming Pro-Life Activities” tab on the Home page and review the entries to see what you might be interested in.]]
Changing to a more sobering topic, my latest Community Impact Newsletter just carried a story “Maternal Mortality Rates on the Rise in Harris County.” Hillary Clinton also said on TV this past week that “Women are going to die” because of the SCOTUS decision in Dobbs. So, what is the truth. The topic is quite complicated and does not lend itself well to discussion in this format. I spend time on this subject in my book Building a Culture of Life, which is now being rolled out everywhere and available to be ordered from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. We must be ready to meet the needs of women on every level, because she must also be able to survive a pregnancy, or the baby will die with her. This often involves health care long after delivery.
The bottom line is that more women have been entering higher risk groups over recent decades. There is a rise in obesity that is associated with high blood pressure and diabetes, and these lead to cardiovascular disease. One might think that CV disease would not be a major complication in young women, and you would be partially right. However, with more women entering these high risk groups, more women will have serious complications, including death. This is what is happening in Texas and across the country. The risk is greatest in women over age 35, and in Black women. The latter (as a group) have more morbidity (diseases), and thus higher risks and, consequentially, a mortality rate nearly twice the national average.
The blame has been placed on a complex of factors including failure to control risks before pregnancy, late visits to doctor when pregnant, variations in the perception of need for such healthcare, lack of healthcare resources, and variable quality of resources for high risk pregnancies…the discussion goes on. I must finish this brief narrative by saying that the problem is systemic and must be addressed at multiple levels concurrently… if our politicians would only do so.
On another front, the National Catholic Register (NCR) is reporting that the four Catholic bishops of Colorado have pronounced that Catholic lawmakers who voted for an abortion law stripping the unborn of any human rights and permitting abortion up to the moment of birth should not take Holy Communion. Colorado was the first state to legalize abortion, in1967. Every year nearly 300 babies are killed after 21 weeks gestation in Colorado, many because they are unwanted girls or because they have Down Syndrome. Perhaps they will compete with California for the title “Best Culture of Death.”
It is also a Catholic scandal that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, an ardent advocate of unregulated abortion at any stage of development, was prohibited by the bishop from taking Holy Communion in the archdiocese of San Francisco. So, she made a point of going to a church in Washington DC and calling media attention to her defiant behavior while taking communion there. Then, this week she visited the pope at the Vatican and was offered Holy Communion there.
For religious Catholics, taking Holy Communion is a sacrament, an act of affirming the teaches of the Catholic church (in a broad way) and bonding oneself with the “body of Christ” (which is the Church), and to Christ himself. To do so, one must be in a state of grace, that is, acknowledging one’s sins, asking forgiveness, and asking for the grace to be worthy of the same. The message many Catholics are getting from the pope is that one does not have to be in state of grace to receive Holy Communion, and that the sacraments are therefore meaningless. Come back here for follow-up on the stink produced by these events.
I normally post an update in pro-life news roughly every 2 weeks. However, I may publish follow-up posts more often in near future, if events dictate, since the situation is so dynamic and volatile. Take time to watch the webinar referenced above. Your whole perspective on life will be changed, and you will be greatly encouraged. Amid consternation over so many serious concerns that we face going forward, there are such magnificent people of impressive talent, faith, and dedication to uplift us, give us hope, and make us feel an important part of something great, which we are !