On this Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Supreme Court of the United States has formally held that the United States Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.
Furthermore, SCOTUS overruled both “Roe v. Wade” and “Planned Parenthood v. Casey” and stated that, in the United States, “the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives“.
The complete 213-page Statement by SCOTUS can be downloaded at https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
We wish to quote some salient points from the Statement:
- the Constitution makes no express reference to a right to obtain an abortion
- procuring an abortion is not a fundamental constitutional right
- the right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and tradition
- the Fourteenth Amendment clearly does not protect the right to an abortion
- Roe and Casey have led to the distortion of many important but unrelated legal doctrines…that effect provides further support for overruling those decisions
- The Court emphasizes that this decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right.
A few more points worth quoting from the SCOTUS Statement:
- until a few years before Roe, no federal or state court had recognized such a right. Nor had any scholarly treatise. Indeed, abortion had long been a crime in every single State.
- by the time the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, three-quarters of the States had made abortion a crime at any stage of pregnancy
- Finally, the Court considers whether a right to obtain an abortion is part of a broader entrenched right that is supported by other precedents. The Court concludes the right to obtain an abortion cannot be justified as a component of such a right.
- The nature of the Court’s error. Like the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, Roe was also egregiously wrong and on a collision course with the Constitution from the day it was decided. Casey perpetuated its errors
- An even more glaring deficiency was Roe’s failure to justify the critical distinction it drew between pre- and post-viability abortions. The arbitrary viability line, which Casey termed Roe’s central rule, has not found much support among philosophers and ethicists […] viability has changed over time and is heavily dependent on factors—such as medical advances and the availability of quality medical care—that have nothing to do with the characteristics of a fetus.
- Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act is supported by the Mississippi Legislature’s specific findings, which include the State’s asserted interest in “protecting the life of the unborn.” These legitimate interests provide a rational basis for the Gestational Age Act, and it follows that respondents’ constitutional challenge must fail.
We also encourage you to read the statements by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB): https://www.usccb.org/news/2022/usccb-statement-us-supreme-court-ruling-dobbs-v-jackson
as well as the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops: https://www.flaccb.org/news/statement-on-us-supreme-court-ruling-in-dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-organization
In a special way, we wish to highlight the statement of our Benevolent Ordinary, H.E. Archbishop Thomas Wenski: https://www.miamiarch.org/CatholicDiocese.php?op=Article_archdiocese-of-miami-wenski-statement-supreme-court-dobbs-decision
Today’s decision of the US Supreme Court overturning the fateful Roe v. Wade is certainly welcomed by all those who recognize that human life begins at conception and that this is a scientific and biological fact and not merely a religious belief or ideological theory. As such the unborn child should be welcomed in life and protected by law. […]
We hope that dismantling Roe will allow legislation protecting the unborn to move forward in our state legislatures and to survive constitutional challenges in the future.
Abortion too often is seen as the solution to an unforeseen problem, a fall back position if contraception failed or was not used. But abortion is no solution — and it is no right. It is a wrong, a grievous wrong that has prematurely ended the lives of more than 60 million souls in this country alone since 1973.
A number of sources, among which we quote this one (without by this intending to endorse in any way the source) have summarized the current situation as far as individual States banning abortion:
(Click on map to enhance)
We encourage you to continue praying – in private, with your community, even with us – and to find out locally (as well as through the major Catholic institutions and associations) how you can continue supporting this aspect of the pro-life ministry at this crucial moment in the history of the United States.
The date chosen by Divine Providence is very fitting indeed. Today we celebrate Our Lord’s Most Sacred Heart, and tomorrow we celebrate the Immaculate Heart of Mary, ever-virgin, the most pure Theotokos who, when in her kindness she appeared at Fatima, promised triumph!
(C) SCTJM – https://www.piercedhearts.org/sctjm/congress2022/congress2022_mainpage.html
We continue united in prayer and action, against all violence and evil, proclaiming the sanctity of human life and reaching out – as much if not more than before – to women and men facing a crisis pregnancy.
To quote a recent article by the Director of Respect Life Ministry Archdiocese of Miami: “Our post-Roe plan is missing one thing: You!”
There is much work to be done – locally – and the Lord calls us to step forward boldly, here and now! Vita ad Vitam Vocat – Life calls out to life!
In the beginning was the Word
In Him was life, and that life was the light of humanity.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
“I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly!“
– Gospel of St. John, 1:1,4,10:10
Vita ad Vitam Vocat
Franciscans of Life 
[…] time passes from the Dobbs decision that struck down the unconstitutional Roe v. Wade decision, we give thanks for the many states (and countries) who are passing pro-life laws to protect the […]