Walk on a Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Coulson Center, I'm John Stone Street. January 23rd is the 52nd March for Life in Washington, D.C. Over the years, thousands have braved the cold to stand for the voiceless children and the crosshairs of abortion on demand. This year's theme, Life is a Gift, contrasts those who see all pre-born lives as being inherently valuable.
And those who see the value of human beings as being determined by convenience. It was back in 1974, just a year after the infamous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, that a small group realized they needed to speak out on behalf of pre-born lives. The March for Life is one of the most significant, ongoing political acts in all of American history. In fact, it's difficult to think of another movement in our history with such a consistent testimony.
Each year, tens of thousands of Christians and like-minded people show up and remind the world that life is sacred. Back in the 1970s, many evangelicals considered abortion to be a Catholic issue and therefore not their cause. And then came the notable efforts of people like Francis Schaefer. And so more Protestants awakened to the realities of abortion and the need to defend life. Since then, the movement has attempted to lay the groundwork for a culture of life through speeches, rallies, and training.
And contrary to the claims of pro-abortion propagandists, pro-lifers have built networks to provide real help for pregnant women in crisis and for their children through thousands of pregnancy centers throughout the country. This work made the Choose Life slogan practical. On the political front, the struggles to defend life have been palpable. The occasional small gains that were made prior to the Dobbs decision were just no match for the judicial overreach of Roe v. Wade.
Whenever a pro-life law was passed, it would be either shot down or seriously mitigated by the courts. And Roe also provided a lot of cover for pro-life politicians in name only. But after years of activism and prayer, the Supreme Court ruled that Roe was unconstitutional in 2022. The aftermath of that has been mixed. The Dobbs decision did not make abortion illegal, but it did mean that after years of hope and anticipation, pro-life communities were free from the immoral stranglehold of Roe and could now enact laws to defend life.
Several states, like Tennessee and Missouri, already had laws in place to protect the unborn. Others, like Ohio and Kansas, put life and death on the ballot, and time after time, voters chose the latter.
Meanwhile, pro-abortion states like Colorado and New York advanced draconian laws to enshrine abortion as some kind of sacred right. And today, the pro-life cause faces opposition from within both major political parties. The Democratic Party has made abortion a non-negotiable, celebrated plank of their platform. And for many within the Republican Party, the call to protect life is just seen as a nuisance, the kind that threatens the rest of the platform. Pro-lifers owe President Trump a great deal for the court of appointees that delivered the Dobbs decision.
but he's also proven an unreliable ally. Though ostensibly pro-life, the Trump administration has promoted under-regulated IBF. And has also widened the availability of chemical abortion. And so this movement must continue. Events like the March for Life are a good place to start.
The marches that I have attended in the past were both inspiring and instructive. If you can't make the national march in DC this month, go to the website and see if your state has its own state march for life later this year. Continuing to move the needle on behalf of life will require individual courage, but also movement level efforts and shrewd political maneuvering. All aspects are required if this decades-long effort to create a culture of life is to eventually succeed. In which abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia are all swept into the dustbin of history and made both illegal and unthinkable.
For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Timothy Padgett. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. To download and share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org.
