Yesterday, June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the fifty-year abortion ruling effectively legalizing abortion in all fifty states. They simply referred abortion law back to the states, where it should have been all along, according to the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito. What yesterday's ruling does not do is outlaw abortion. The Justices in the majority believed the states' elected representatives should make their own laws, removing from the Supreme Court the responsibility not granted to them in the Constitution. There will be continuous debate on this issue going forward into the November mid-term elections and beyond. Contrary to popular misguided opinion that is being trumpeted from the streets, this ruling will do far more to protect the rights of women nationwide than it will to curtail those rights.
What we believe about abortion determines much of who we are as individuals and as a nation. We are about evenly divided if the deadlock in the Senate over the number of Republicans and Democrats is an indicator. Abortion is carefully defined as "Pro-Choice" in one camp, and "Pro-Life" in the other.
Truthfully, since Roe v. Wade was upheld fifty years ago, America has killed more fetuses in the womb than any other civilized nation on earth. A woman's choice begins with the decision to have unprotected sex, not when she doesn't like the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy after the fact of conception. There are exceptions that are attempted to be carved out of laws prohibiting abortion, but those laws will now be written by the individual states going forward.
This legal concept of "states rights" is embedded in the concept of "federalism" as defined by our Founding Fathers. I have written about it extensively in the past. They held that the federal government should only be granted limited powers, while reserving to the states the broader powers that would assure the governed should have a larger voice in the local government closest to them. We must reject the loose and inflammatory rhetoric that will ramp up this summer, and anchor our public debate to the underlying core principles written in the Constitution. That is the path the Supreme Court has opted to follow, and I endorse their leadership.
The key elements of the majority opinion, in my view are these:
We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely — the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. That provision has been held to guarantee some rights that are not mentioned in the Constitution, but any such right must be “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition” and “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.” Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U. S. 702, 721 (1997) (internal quotation marks omitted). . .
It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives. “The permissibility of abortion, and the limitations, upon it, are to be resolved like most important questions in our democracy: by citizens trying to persuade one another and then voting.” Casey, 505 U. S., at 979 (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment in part and dissenting in part). That is what the Constitution and the rule of law demand.
You can read the entire text of the opinion here.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes in the sanctity of human life. Therefore, the Church opposes elective abortion for personal or social convenience, and counsels its members not to submit to, perform, encourage, pay for, or arrange for such abortions.
The Church allows for possible exceptions for its members when:
- Pregnancy results from rape or incest, or
- A competent physician determines that the life or health of the mother is in serious jeopardy, or
- A competent physician determines that the fetus has severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth.
Even these exceptions do not automatically justify abortion. Abortion is a most serious matter. It should be considered only after the persons responsible have received confirmation through prayer. Members may counsel with their bishops as part of this process.
The Church’s position on this matter remains unchanged. As states work to enact laws related to abortion, Church members may appropriately choose to participate in efforts to protect life and to preserve religious liberty.
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