US moves to protect unborn children

The US Supreme Court now appears poised to accept a Mississippi law barring abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, after conservative justices hinted that a majority backed upholding the law. Its ruling, expected in June, may see millions of women lose their current access to abortion.

Pro-life activists are urging the court to ‘protect unborn children’, but others warn of an increase in maternal mortality if abortion is restricted. Both sides of the debate regard this case – known as Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization – as an all-or-nothing fight.

Overturn Roe v Wade

Lawyers defending the Mississippi law want the court to overturn two previous landmark decisions. The first, Roe v Wade in 1973, gave American women an absolute right to an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy. In 1992, in Planned Parenthood v Casey, the court ruled that states could not place an ‘undue burden’ on women seeking abortions on foetuses aged under 24 weeks. If the court strikes down Roe v Wade, or rules that the Mississippi law is valid, at least 21 states are expected to introduce abortion restrictions, including outright bans after 15 weeks.

The US is utterly polarised on the issue. President Joe Biden said: ‘I support Roe v Wade. I think it’s a rational position to take.’ But Texas Republican Chip Roy takes the opposite view: ‘We want the court to do the right thing and overturn Roe’ and decries fears over the threat to choice as a ‘wailing and gnashing of teeth from the left’.

James Mildred, Chief Communications Officer at CARE, commented: ‘Very often, what happens in one part of the world can shape what happens elsewhere. If Roe v Wade is overturned, it could provide fresh fuel for the movement here to advocate for life-affirming laws. There are already two major attempts in the UK to clarify the law around abortion to birth for disabilities. One is through a legal challenge to existing laws by Down’s syndrome campaigner Heidi Crowter. The second is a bill in Northern Ireland to outlaw any abortions to birth in NI for serious disabilities.

‘Christians must keep pointing to the life of the unborn child. From conception the baby is an image-bearer of God. This is where our dignity ultimately comes from – the connection we have to God Himself. The preborn baby is as deserving of protection as a fully grown adult’.