Last week, Alabama passed the strongest pro-life legislation in America. Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law The Alabama Human Life Protection Act, banning abortion in nearly all cases. The only exception has been reserved for the physical endangerment of the mother’s life. Mental and emotional reasons for aborting will not qualify.
Predictably, left-wing media headlined that 25 men passed the pro-life bill. Also predictably, they left out the Pew polling data that Alabama women are more pro-life than the men of the state. This came after a debate where Alabama State Rep. John Rogers shocked America with a despicable statement that “some kids are unwanted, so you kill them now or you kill them later.”
This year, pro-life measures such as Heartbeat bills swept the nation, limiting abortion at the point of an ultrasound detectable heartbeat. A fetal heartbeat begins around 21 days post-conception but is currently detectable with ultrasound closer to 6 weeks gestation. Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi worked tirelessly to pass these Heartbeat bills, which were all almost immediately halted by activist judges.
Unsurprisingly, the Hollywood elite raged online about trending Heartbeat bills. A slew of celebrities even promised to boycott Georgia for filmmaking due to their Heartbeat bill.
While a growing number of states stepped up to protect life, a couple of states tragically passed pro-abortion legislation. New York, being the most extreme, legalized abortion to the moment of birth and decriminalized the death of any preborn child. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was in favor of similar legislation in his state that ultimately did not pass. Gov. Northam infamously added in a radio interview how medical professionals might keep born alive infants “comfortable” while they die following a failed abortion.
In Connecticut, pro-life pregnancy centers are fighting for their lives as the legislature considers restricting their ability to ethically advertise. If successful, this legislation will meet a battle with NIFLA, the pro-life organization that triumphed at the U.S. Supreme Court last summer with a similar case brought forward in California.
Given this traffic jam of pro-life and pro-abortion legislation across the country, one might ask why now? What’s causing this huge flux in abortion legislation?
In short, the battle has restarted over Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision that first legalized abortion in all 50 states in 1973. Pro-life legislation like Alabama’s are welcoming disputes to higher courts.
On a national scale, this is the most politically feasible time to introduce pro-life legislation since the Reagan era. With two Trump-appointed SCOTUS justices, the first president to speak at the March for Life, lower court appointees recommended by conservative groups like The Heritage Foundation, the first Pro-life Senate Caucus, a pro-life cabinet, a civilian pro-life advisory council for Trump, a Supreme Court win for pregnancy centers, an executive order to end funding for the Mexico City Policy, and large social demonstrations such as last week’s ultrasound blasted in Times Square, it’s a good time to be pro-life.
The pro-abortion lobby also knows this. They also know that the number of abortions in the country continues to decline.
They have responded accordingly – with a screeching war cry. The left has tried so hard to back peddle this progress that they have gone too far even by some self-described pro-choicers standards. The U.S. Senate blocked efforts to protect babies born alive from failed abortions. New York, Virginia, and other usual culprits scrambled to become America’s biggest loser on abortion policy.
In some cases, these efforts brought them to a 360 degree, not a 180 degree, turn. Actress and social activist, Alyssa Milano, laughably called for a “sex strike” in response to the success of the pro-life movement. “Our reproductive rights are being erased,” she tweeted.“Until women have legal control over our own bodies we just cannot risk pregnancy. JOIN ME by not having sex until we get bodily autonomy back. I’m calling for a #SexStrike. Pass it on.”
Of course, conservatives have always offered abstinence as a great option to prevent unplanned pregnancies. In a strange twist of mental gymnastics, many on the left joined the #sexstrike and joined the sentiment of the religious right—only introduce sex when you are willing to accept the possibility of a child being conceived. The dichotomy has joined the ranks of the twilight zone. So, what can we pull from this conglomeration of legislation, cultural response, and political climate?
It’s come down to this – there is a blossoming Culture of Life and an aggressive Culture of Death. The Culture of Death will not passively lose. It’s becoming more and more difficult to take a stance in the middle, as the culture of death becomes more radicalized against any choice other than abortion.
When our descendants look back on this critical era, where will you say you stood?