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After years of prayer, sacrifice, we can celebrate
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July 26, 2022In New Earth’s June issue, I asked whether the end of abortion in North Dakota might be near. Even before the press ink had dried, the question had been gloriously answered: “Yes!”
To all who’ve been praying for this day, we’ve finally reached a time of celebration!
How tempting, though, to not savor the moment. As of this writing, lawsuits are springing up everywhere to thwart the valiant efforts of so many to reach this day, a day when our state’s only abortion facility would be forced to close down.
Just hours after the news of Roe vs. Wade being overturned broke, I began seeing sentiments like “Well yeah, but…” These melancholy notes so early on frustrated me.
I had to stifle my own enthusiasm by necessity, for I was participating that morning in a national conference with other professional communicators gathered in Fargo from across the country, and I knew many would not be as thrilled as I.
Seeing Negative Ned and Nellie coming out of the woodworks on social media made me wonder if we’re capable of savoring a victory anymore. Daily headlines remind us of just how fallen our world is, with every piece of good news seemingly matched by a dozen bad ones.
I’d like to encourage a different response. I think we need to take time to give thanks to God for this momentous decision, and let it linger a bit. Despite the flurry that’s followed, this is a solid victory, with positive implications yet to be seen.
Several years ago, while on the sidewalk, I approached a father who’d driven his wife to have an abortion. I could see a toddler in a car seat in the back of his pickup, and felt moved to ask, “Why would you do this knowing the value of a life, as evidenced in your backseat?” His answer: “Because we can.”
We can because it’s legal, in other words. I realized then that, in the absence of a moral base, we humans fall to something else to determine right from wrong. And in our country, that something else tends to be—as this dad demonstrated—the civil law.
You and I know that God’s law supersedes that, but for some others, if it’s legal, it’s moral. I could point to slavery as an example of how civil law isn’t always moral, but I digress.
Roe vs. Wade was a very poorly decided—and devastatingly so—decision. Despite the backlash we’re now witnessing, we shouldn’t relinquish the moment that’s ours to claim. In this decision, we are affirmed that God has heard our cries, along with the silenced whimpers of our tiniest, pre-born citizens and their broken families.
Certainly, we understand the complexity of this issue and that the hard work has only begun. But it matters that Roe vs. Wade has not only been challenged but kicked to the curb. It was wrong from the beginning, and our whole world needed to see the lies called out into the light of day.
Just days after the Supreme Court ruling, a national Harvard/Harris poll was taken that, as reported in an article by Catholic Vote, showed a surge in public support for abortion restrictions. The change of law is already affecting public perception of abortion, and as more honest conversations ensue, that likely will continue.
Despite my inability to let out an immediate cheer of gladness the day the news broke free, I will never forget that moment, nor what followed as I gazed out the south windows of the Radisson hotel in Fargo. Three stories below, I had a perfect view of the Kopelman building where so many babies had died of abortion in recent decades, and where I had stood many Wednesdays with others, including some of you, against this travesty.
It seemed symbolic, because normally on abortion day, we view the same hotel looming in the near distance to the north while standing on the sidewalk in prayer. With my vantage point now reversed, it was as if God were saying, “I’m giving you a chance to look at this anew. I heard the prayers of you and your friends, Roxane, and I want you to know, no matter how hard it might get from here, I am with you, just as I am in this moment.”
We have experienced a major victory. Even as we begin to gird our loins for the coming days, we must pause properly, taking necessary time to gather, celebrate, and love. Then, after refreshment, we can resume the necessary charge and let God continue to lead us into life.
