Roe Is Reversed, and the Right Isn’t Ready

A movement animated by rage and fear isn’t ready to embrace life and love.

By
1646

When I left the full-time practice of law and landed at National Review, my friends and colleagues Jay Nordlinger and Jonah Goldberg both independently gave me exactly the same advice. My job, they said, was to write what I believe to be true. It’s not to please a crowd or build a coalition. 

Their advice was good and true, and in the years since I’ve tried my best to live up that ideal. I’m going to try again today with the full awareness that I’m not sure anyone is going to like what I say, right or left. But here’s what’s on my mind and heart. 

Two days after Roe has been overturned, I’m far more conflicted than I ever imagined I’d be. Writing in The Atlantic on Friday, I described my attitude as joy in my heart tempered by disquiet in my spirit. Since I wrote that piece, that disquiet has only grown, and I think I know why.

I’ve been a pro-life advocate and activist for more than 30 years. I started in college by trying to change my Christian college’s policies to remove any penalty for unwed parenting. Young single moms should not be suspended from school. I then moved on to Harvard Law School where I started a pro-life student group with two dear friends and endured the considerable blowback of that hostile era on campus.

Keep reading with a free account
Create a free Dispatch account to keep reading Get Started ALREADY HAVE AN ACCOUNT? SIGN IN
1646
By
Comments (1646)
Join The Dispatch to participate in the comments.
 
  1. Deleted Comment

    This comment has been deleted

  2. Tamara Fisher

    Yeah, seems to be shaking out great. Doctors cowed. Women and families suffering. Well done.

    https://news.yahoo.com/theyre-just-going-let-die-182653375.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEIfcScyeToNk8hHBICJ9PnfNl-X6VTEoCgcB81KWo7xsQ4sOzzquk3UsfFExRth4g1p3rz7kEfvU3lCZTF9it8IYX8bibiv7d7ZxT0s8dRS12MHWBaSpR4MWQobBN5guQm8vKciREsDkGkbeD8eaCh5pfezEg4EKskhEx_RPJNE

    Collapse
  3. Jen Bookhout

    David,
    Thank you so much for faithfully speaking out about hard truths, risking the vitriol that comes your way in response. It’s so rare to find a voice that speaks to the grey spaces in our cultural divide, that understands the complexities of the heart and acknowledges that nothing is ever as clear cut as we want it to be. Your work so often helps me sort through the cognitive dissonance our headlines conjure more days than not. Keep fighting the good fight!

    Collapse
  4. Geraldyne A Johnson

    Greenknight, your numbers support my point. Thank you.

    Collapse
    1. Avatar photo
      Greenknight

      They really don't.

      Collapse
  5. Andy Warner

    Maybe I'm in the minority here but my celebration of the overturning of Roe is not that abortion can be outlawed, but that we the people get to have a say as to what we believe is reasonable. The rubber-banding of rules in conservative states seems more due to the fact that since abortion was protected at the national level, state politicians could posture in a dramatic way through legislation with no consequence. Now the consequences of these poorly written laws are coming to bear overnight. There will be pain and anguish until a reasonable middle ground is found. Its a sad but awful truth when there are no consequences for our actions our actions become radical.

    No matter what the decision that came down from the court, in our political and cultural climate, one side was going to declare themselves victors. The problem with that line of thinking is that we are all in the same boat, and instead of the government rowing... (ROEing)... i crack myself up... we all have to learn how to row together. The effect of this decision did not decide a winner and loser on abortion rights, the only winning opinion from this decision is that state and local politicians should be far more important in our lives than national politicians.

    To expand on David's observations of the American church, decades ago the American church took a turn away from the core teachings of Jesus in order to take a stand about which way is the "correct" way to live out your life. The problem with that, is while there is a "correct" way, original sin prohibits us from grasping what that correct way is, and even less able to live it out. Instead what Jesus is teaching us is that there is a better way to live, and its not about being correct. Its instead about being "right" with your neighbor and making the world around us a more loving place. This is something anybody can do, regardless of believing that Jesus was the son of God, and came to die on the cross for our sins. Christians have conveniently decided to focus on facts and feeling good through self righteousness all the while ignoring that they have become the very people that Jesus railed against when he taught.

    In the same way that pro-abortion activists are screaming in anguish and anger at the overturning of Roe, the self righteous Christian church must also go through a refining fire before it can fulfill the duties it has claimed to want. In a way it will be more painful than the re-realization of sexual consequences many people are screaming about today. For this group will have to put away their ritualistic self righteousness and in turn rely on faith that the teachings of Jesus will continue to change the world, not a legislature.

    Collapse
  6. Avatar photo
    OnceAnEastCoastLiberal?

    This column makes me a little ill, that anyone would rejoice over all the harm, to actual living women that will come from this, IS coming from this, already. That said, and I really would love an answer to this, is it fair to say "There is no historic grounds for believing that abortion should be deemed an unenumerated right," No? None, whatsoever? I would like to know how David would argue the case if working from the other side to get a truly fair assessment. If abortion is considered not just abortion, but a category of overall health care, can that really be true? Should women also be barred from getting a hysterectomy, for instance, unless the gov't ok's it? I know pro-lifers will say that the difference is the fetus is a life and has competing interests with that of the mother. But isn't that stacking the deck? Who says the fetus is a life? Where is the constitution on that? I don't know everything I don't know legally, but I want to know. I want to hear David do his best to argue the opposing position.

    Collapse
  7. Kier McAlpine

    Reading David French's content, I cannot shake the impression that the Evangelical Christian church's marriage with politics has become unutterably dysfunctional.

    Collapse
  8. Mike Miller

    So, I'm late to the party here, as there are 1,567 comments up as I write this, but given this audience perhaps someone can tell me. For the proponents of Roe/Casey who are at least interested in the Constitution, do they have a theory of how the abortion right is found in the Constitution that is more constraining than "whatever the judge thinks is best"? I'd like to know their line of thinking, beyond the fact that they liked the result.

    Collapse
  9. Leslie Powers

    Just to be clear, the “right” was never ready, never wanted to be ready and never will be ready. Match draconian abortion laws against maternal mortality, child poverty, education levels, and then let’s discuss a lifetime of focus on outlawing abortion instead of focusing on reducing causes of unwanted pregnancies and supporting children & families.

    Collapse
  10. Leslie Powers

    David,
    I am a socially liberal fiscally conservative centrist. As a native TN, we agree on many major issues. The “pro-life” movement, (anti-abortion fanatics) and structure has never focused on women, children, poverty, appropriate sexual education, free birth control, and the maternal / reproductive health deserts across America. Those of us on the pro-choice side have been preaching this should be our focus, these things will be “pro-life” & reduce abortion for decades.
    Last night, I watched the George Carlin special with several friends. As early as 1996 Carlin had a number of things to say about conservatives and the pro- life movement. My friends said, “ Wow, he was so ahead of his time.” All I could think was, “No it’s taken this long for the many to catch up and understand. They aren’t pro-life just anti-abortion.” I can’t stand to call the anti-abortionst “pro-lifers” when the majority of states with draconian abortion laws have the highest child poverty, maternal mortality and lowest education rates in the US.
    The faux pro-life movement isn’t just unprepared for what comes next, they are starting from way behind and the statistics for women and children in their states is going to get a whole lot worse before they can get the votes to change.

    Collapse
Load More