Overturning Roe v. Wade — be careful what you wish for

American anti-abortionists are likely giddy over the Supreme Court’s tacit approval of Texas’ recently-passed draconian abortion law, one that banned it when a heartbeat could be detected and that contains the power of citizens’ arrest for anyone who assisted in procuring an abortion. They may be especially excited because of their commemoration later this month of Roe v. Wade, which removed most restrictions on abortion in 1973.

If they’re Christians and thus believe that abortion will simply end because they laid down the law so to speak, they will get a rude awakening.

This is for several reasons.

One, the linchpin of the entire modern conservative movement, especially the “religious right,” will have been eliminated. Republican candidates in states that have outlawed abortion will no longer be able to run against abortion, especially in “swing” states, and as a result, I suspect, a barrage of urban-based liberal political action in a way we’ve never seen before will result.

Because the “sanctity of human life,” despite what they might say, has never been the issue. It’s always been a pretext for bullying.

What most people don’t realize is that the “religious right” didn’t even start because of abortion — it added it only as moral cover for, in essence, segregation. In 1978 the Carter Administration removed tax exemptions for private Christian schools in the South founded to circumvent court-ordered public school desegregation — angering the likes of Jerry Falwell Sr., who founded Moral Majority with the help of secular conservatives. That should give you pause right there, because secular conservatives have never given a rip about God, faith or religion — except, as both Billy Graham and Barry Goldwater suggested, to manipulate religious people for the sake of power.

Another issue is that such secular conservatives subscribe to an anti-biblical worldview in that the second of Jesus’ two Great Commandments — “love your neighbor as yourself” — is at best abridged and at worst totally ignored or trashed. Sometimes doing what’s right means political action, the last thing secular conservatives want because it threatens their power. Oh, sure, they make allowances for a purely anti-abortion stance but only to sell a pro-industry and anti-poor agenda. That’s why they won’t support truly diaconal support for those women who really need help — they just don’t want the money to be spent.

Moreover, evangelicalism has placed an overemphasis on the “spiritual” aspect of abortion, which is never directly mentioned in the Bible. That is to say, many people and organizations have insisted, with no evidence, that once outlawed revival would result. (I do oppose it but did so before becoming a Christian as part of an overall “social justice” ideology.) On top of that, fighting abortion has built many an organization — and thus, what will happen when the money dries up, as it will?

This might be a case where Christians may be isolating themselves — not just from the greater society but even from the very movement that gave them power in the first place. Put another way, we may be winning this battle but ultimately losing the war for hearts and minds — and have nothing to show for it.