Roe will not decide abortion. . .

Now, to be sure, I would be hopeful about and happy to see the SCOTUS overturn Roe.  But Roe will not decide abortion.  For one thing, that would return the decision to the states and we all know that some states will allow free and open access to abortion -- perhaps even pushing for a more liberal law than Roe.  And we know that some states will limit access to abortion.  Overturning Roe will not end abortion but will return the question to the states.  They will have to find their way through legislative means to decide Roe on a state by state basis (or perhaps in their own state courts).  We all know that.  Even the voices of warning who try to say the sky will fall of Roe is overturn.

But there is another dimension to this.  Roe must be overturned in every heart and mind before Roe will decide anything.  What we need more than even a Supreme Court admission of error on Roe is for all people to agree on the sacredness of life and to agree that life must be protected every stage of the journey from conception to death.  Roe is being fought in SCOTUS now and is being fought in state legislatures and state courts but the real battle is being played out in the hearts and minds of people.  

The battle to get Roe back into the SCOTUS is nothing compared to the battle to find a common consensus on the sacredness of life.  In the minds of nearly half our people, flushing away the fetus is a woman's choice and a legitimate means of birth control.  The battle is not about the rape victim or the survivor of abuse.  The numbers of those who seek abortion is minuscule compared to those who use abortion as a means of birth control.  Let's be honest.  The problem is no one wants to be held accountable for the choice they may to have sex so they want the option to get rid of what they did not prevent.  This is not a debate about abortion as much as it is a clash of values -- the most basic and essential values over life itself.

While I hope that the court will act to overturn Roe, I know this is not the end of anything.  It is a marginal victory at best and will need to be fought then one state and one mind at a time.  Only then will we have something to celebrate and a reason to give pause to our constant battle since 1973.  We are not fighting an abortion battle but a war over the sacred character of life.  Abortion is a mighty battle in this war but not the only one and it is but the tip of the iceberg in a culture which is more interested in making an ally out of death than protecting life at any cost.

As we have seen with the vaccine push, my body my choice only works when your choice fits the woke culture of what is right and important.  If we want to make a long term difference, we will need to work harder than convincing nine jurists that a bad decision was made in Roe.  We will need to change the minds of half our people and convince them that how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable life is the mark of our civilization or the lack of it.  It is not a particularly religious question though it can have a religious answer.