As the overturn of Roe v. Wade looks increasingly likely, pro-life advocates and pro-abortion activists have presented visions of America after Roe that could not be more different. The pro-life movement’s is hopeful and helpful. The abortion lobby’s is apocalyptic — and impoverished.
The pro-abortion movement’s post-Roe America involves letting people who aren’t doctors perform abortions, mail-order abortion drugs with no in-person doctor supervision, large corporations such as Starbucks paying for employees to travel out of state to have abortions, and blue states spending millions in taxpayer dollars to prop up the abortion industry.
One of these blue-state governors, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, perversely labels his agenda “pro-life.”
It should come as no surprise that he wants to borrow the moniker. Pro-abortion Democrats are losing hearts and minds with an unpopular agenda of abortion on demand up to the moment of birth. Life is winning across America as it becomes harder than ever to deny the humanity of the unborn child.
The end of Roe is just the beginning of a brand new phase of the pro-life movement, with the potential to enact policies that save millions of lives.
From each state legislature up to the White House, our job is to be as ambitious for life as possible. I’ve had the privilege of speaking with more than 20 governors in recent months. I’ve urged them to think big, and their response is encouraging.
We welcome healthy debate on life-affirming policies, whether that is extending child tax credits to unborn children, reforming the foster care system, or still others not yet proposed. Consensus will look different in different places. This is a feature of the democratic process, not a bug. The appropriate place to have that debate is in legislatures across this country and in Congress, as the courts have spent 50 years denying the public their voice.
Those who are pro-life have steadily built the pro-life safety net over decades. Thousands of pregnancy centers and maternity homes nationwide provide essential medical, educational, and support services to millions of women and families each year. This is all the more impressive considering their mostly volunteer workforce and historically private funding. And as one expert on these centers points out, their clients are overwhelmingly pleased, reporting satisfaction rates of more than 97%.
Smart leaders recognize that these centers represent the best of America, with neighbor helping neighbor, and are well worth supporting. Gov. Tate Reeves (R-MS) recently signed legislation establishing a new $3.5 million tax credit, the first of its kind in the country, to help more than 30 life-affirming pregnancy centers in the state serve women and children in their communities. In Georgia, Susan B. Anthony List has teamed up with former GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who will make a six-figure contribution to more than 20 pro-life groups, including pregnancy centers, faith-based organizations, and adoption and foster care efforts.
In addition, a growing number of state Alternatives to Abortion programs are providing counseling, material assistance, care coordination, and housing support. Texas’s program has a $100 million budget, and the resources available to families extend beyond childbirth or adoption into the formative early years of a child’s life.
There is certainly room to grow and strengthen the safety net — that’s why SBA List’s Her Plan program is working with local partners to identify and fill gaps. The initiative seeks to address the reasons why women feel driven to abortion, with seven areas of care: material and legal support; health and well-being; financial, work, and educational assistance; childcare; mental health and recovery; mentorship; and support related to prenatal diagnosis. And while we strive to protect all children in the law, we affirm that women deserve so much better than a package of pills and instructions to say they miscarried if they land in the emergency room. Ours is a movement of justice and mercy — we are committed to serving both mother and child with compassion.
America will see that the world doesn’t end if we let babies live. Far from it. Rather, we will allow our nation to be blessed by each child intended for this world, with unique gifts that only he or she possesses, and to have renewed hope of living up to our noblest founding promises.
Marjorie Dannenfelser is president of the national pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List.
