Just two weeks after the Bostock v. Clayton County Supreme Court case decision that redefined biological sex to encompass sexual thoughts and behaviors in the form of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity,” a surprising decision came down Monday that puts pregnant mothers in danger.
It’s regarding Louisiana's Unsafe Abortion Protection Act, enacted in 2014, requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital within a 30-mile radius. Although it passed both houses of the Louisiana legislature and was signed by the governor, it still had a treacherous journey ahead.
The law simply mandated that abortion clinics abide by the safety standards required of other stand-alone surgical centers, a provision that assures swift, proper care of patients who experience medical complications. Complications, by the way, are not anomalies for abortion procedures.
The requirements of the law were straightforward and achievable for most doctors working in surgical clinics – but not for abortion clinic “doctors.” As a result of the law’s passage, only one abortionist in the state was able to perform abortions up to 16 weeks, and none could do later-term abortions (up to 21 weeks of pregnancy).
Before working for AFA, I coordinated physician credentialing functions for a network of hospitals and am aware of the issues many abortionists face – why they are typically unable to secure admitting privileges.
Abortionists often travel from state to state performing abortions. They fly in for a day of abortions, hop on a flight, and head to the next state for another frenzied day of killing babies. Admitting privilege status typically requires a physician to reside in close proximity to the hospital and participate in the on-call schedule.
Why? For the safety of the patients; to provide continuity of care and coverage for patients beyond office hours.
But a federal court in Louisiana prohibited the implementation of the law stipulating these more-than-reasonable safety requirements, claiming it placed an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to an abortion.
But then good news came. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit reversed that lower court ruling and enabled the state to enforce the law.
Having now made its way up the ladder to the U.S. Supreme Court, many pro-lifers expected a positive outcome.
Instead, “Women were dealt a huge blow in [Monday’s] ruling from the Supreme Court,” said Abby Johnson (ardent pro-life advocate and former Planned Parenthood director). “By deciding that abortion doctors and clinics need to follow a separate, less stringent set of rules than every other medical facility leaves women open to the consequences of an industry that has mastered cutting corners on healthcare.”
Chief Justice John Roberts, who has veered from his conservative judicial philosophy, essentially replacing Kennedy as the “swing vote” after his 2018 retirement, sided with the liberal justices in this 5-4 ruling.
Perhaps you remember Roberts strongly rebuking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for his threatening comments directed toward justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominees. Those threats were concerning this case.
"I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh,” Schumer had said. “You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price! You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."
Roberts called Schumer’s statements “inappropriate” and “dangerous” and insisted, “All Members of the Court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter."
In the end, however, Roberts sided with his liberal counterparts. The golden idol of abortion (and the money it circulates as a result) is not about the health of women at all.
“The Supreme Court has issued a tragic decision that continues its practice of putting the interests of for-profit abortion businesses ahead of the health and safety of women,” said Louisiana Sen. Katrina Jackson, a Democrat who authored the law.
Meanwhile, abortion clinics continue to operate with gross inadequacies, “things like rusty equipment, the use of expired medications, tears in surgery and exam tables, holes in floors where rodents can slip inside are all fairly common citations,” said Johnson.
To see for yourself, click here for a map of health department inspection reports for abortion clinics across the U.S.
We need to break down the narrative created by the abortion industry – that it cares about women. It’s using our selfishness and self-idolatry to push an evil, murderous agenda – to cause us to ignore the truth that innocent babies are being put to death in the thousands every day.
Pray that we will be given the hearts of our loving, grieving Father – to see as He sees. And, yes, pray for the overturn of Roe v. Wade and its companion case Doe v. Bolton – the two that give women a “right to abortion.”
How many in the church today have played an active part in abortion? Many were lied to and convinced its legality proved its rightness. I was once one of the “many.”
And others have been silent, and, therefore, complicit.
If sin is in our past, and no change of heart has taken place with regard to that sin – how we think about it – we are still “in” that sin.
First John 1:9 gives us some of the most beautiful and hopeful instruction in all of Scripture:
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It is easy to point our fingers at the Supreme Court, to become angry and frustrated. But we must look inward and upward for change to come…for revival and healing.
