The Missing Element in the Roe v. Wade Controversy

The Supreme Court has spoken. The Roe v. Wade decision has been overturned. Some people are enraged. Some are overjoyed. Some simply see a way to gain leverage in the upcoming November election. But you know what’s missing from all the debates, protests, jeering, cheering and political maneuvering?
 
Love.
 
Love, regardless of how you define it, is conspicuously absent.

The choice to give birth or not is a deeply emotional one. It is a uniquely human option. It involves mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, children and certainly unborn children. Regardless of the choice, the decision has long term ramifications. Diminishing, dismissing or denying those ramifications is decidedly not loving.

The vitriol and attacks, on both sides of the issue, are incredibly un-loving and de-humanizing.​

The vitriol and attacks, on both sides of the issue, are incredibly un-loving and de-humanizing. Families are unconsidered. Grandparents are peripheralized. Biological fathers disappear, as if unconnected to the act of conception, or they are dismissed, as if irrelevant to the matter. Pregnant women are spoken of in the abstract…useful in the context of preserving “rights,” but unacknowledged in their humanity and distress.
 
And the babies… unfortunately, they cannot yet speak for themselves to let us know they are human, and they are alive.
 
The recent Supreme Court decision reversed the deeply flawed Roe v. Wade decision. The Court found no U.S. Constitutional protections for abortion. Each state now gets to decide how it will handle the matter. Here in Oregon, we have arguably the most pro-abortion laws in the country. That is unlikely to change.
 
Given that, a question for all Oregonians is, “How do we chart a course of love?” 
 
But by love, I don't mean the Pollyanna, fluffy, platitudinal kind of love. I mean the gritty, really care about people, roll up your sleeves and make a difference kind of love. I mean love backed by action. 
 
I am pro-life…for the reasons stated in the blog post published on 5/9/22. Life is precious and I want to see it preserved whenever possible. A wholistic pro-life philosophy goes far beyond the abortion question, however, and requires crafting a culture that includes protecting children, protecting the handicapped, treating the mentally ill and the addicted, protecting men and women alike from abuse, protecting against suicide and honoring and serving the aged. It requires protecting the freedom required for each of us to step into our full identities and grow into our God-given destinies. Pro-life is for all ages and stages. Crafting such a culture requires love.

I am pro-children. I believe life begins at conception. Children are a blessing, not a curse. Giving birth and raising children well requires love. When parenting is done with love, love comes back a thousandfold, generation after generation.
 
I am pro-women. Too often a woman’s pregnancy is reduced to an either/or choice: either give birth and wreck your life, or abort. I believe that, as a society, a path of love would give women a multitude of choices. Here are few.

1. Champion women. The argument that having a child will destroy a woman’s life is demeaning and ungrounded. Change it, yes. Ruin it, no. Of course, there will be challenges, but women are strong and capable of living a full and wonderful life while raising a child – with or without a biological father in the picture. Women should be empowered, with a multitude of choices, rather than diminished by the artificial constraints of “either/or.”
2. Create pathways for the biological father to raise the child he was involved in conceiving. The mother certainly has the unique role of bearing the child for 9 months, but raising the child is a lifetime decision, and it could involve a father.
3. Provide excellent education and support for pregnant women, biological fathers and families. That’s where organizations like Pregnancy Resource Center come in. For insights into this wonderful organization, tune in to my podcast interview with Leanne Woods.
4. Streamline adoption procedures, smooth the process and reduce the time and cost associated with placing a child with adoptive parents.
5. Build a robust foster parent infrastructure. For more understanding of some of the opportunities and challenges in foster parenting, check out my discussion with Melissa Williams of Every ChildCascade Views Podcast.
6. Create a community support system for birth mothers, the biological fathers, the adoptive parents and the foster parents. As the old saying goes, “It takes a village.” Let’s create villages. That would be a path of love.

I’m sure there are more healthy options to abortion that you could think of. But for right now, let’s stop tearing each other apart. Let’s come together and seek the highest and best for every person in our state…born and unborn.
 
So, when the tempers flare, when emotions run high, when fear, doubt and uncertainty bloom, when stress is overwhelming, when politics rears an ugly head, let’s pause, decide to lead the conversation to higher ground and ask the question:
 
“What would a path of love look like right now?”
 

DONATE

(to help elect Michael Sipe, Republican Candidate for Oregon House District 53)