A leading evangelical lecturer and expert on the US has told Evangelicals Now that the US Supreme Court uses ‘dubious interpretations’ of the Constitution – but has nonetheless made a judgement on abortion which is ‘to be applauded’.
Former Oak Hill lecturer Professor Gerald Bray (see photo) was speaking exclusively to en in the continuing controversy following the overturning of the seminal 1973 judgement, in Roe v Wade, that pregnant women were entitled to an abortion during the first three months of their pregnancy.
Bray said: ‘For 50 years activist judges on the American Supreme Court have used dubious interpretations of the Constitution to introduce (or prohibit) various practices like abortion, same-sex marriage and public prayer. Often these decisions have been taken on a split vote – 5-4 in favour – so in effect one judge has decided the issue.
‘By rowing back on this kind of behaviour, the current Supreme Court is tossing the questions back to the legislature(s), which is where they belong. It is a victory for democracy.
‘It is not true that abortion has been banned in the US. Rather, the US has come into line with other countries (like the UK) where such laws are made by elected representatives of the people and not by unelected judges. Whatever we think of the result, this is something to be applauded’.
