In all this excitement, it can be easy to forget that the work of the pro-life movement isn’t over yet. The decision to reverse Roe doesn’t ban abortions, despite what some hysterical leftists would like you to believe; rather, it leaves the decision up to individual states and/or Congress to pass actual legislation on the topic. Some federalism-minded libertarians who were part of the cause to overturn Roe might be satisfied with stopping here, as “leaving this up to the states” is the extent of their concern more so than, well, actually stopping abortions. But the pro-life movement at large needs to be prepared for what the next steps will be now that we have succeeded at overcoming our first major hurdle.

Phrasing: We’re not “just getting started”

I’ve been seeing this a lot by pro-lifers on social media in response to the reality of Roe being overturned. It’s probably nitpicking, but that’s something I do well. Many people are saying that the pro-life movement is “just getting started” or that “now the real work begins” and while they have good intentions, I think this ignores just how much work has gone into the pro-life movement for the past 49 years since that fateful Supreme Court decision first came down. The pro-life movement has been working for decades, more than twice as long as I’ve been alive, promoting their cause, lobbying political leaders to pass legislation, growing their grassroots movement, and getting us to the point where we can now say “Roe v. Wade is gone, now what?” To discount all that by saying that 2022 marks “the beginning” of pro-life momentum, that “now’s the time to get to work” is to ignore the countless efforts by so many pro-life leaders up to this moment. As much as overturning Roe v. Wade shouldn’t be our finish line, it’s also a lie to say that it’s our starting line. It’s a progress marker in our marathon race, and we’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.

Legislation: Moving from the courthouse to the Statehouse

I realize that the pro-life movement has already been dabbling in legislative politics even under the shadow of Roe, but now is the time to put the pedal to the metal. It was easy for squishy politicians to make vague promises or gestures to the pro-life cause and then say “Well, we want to do what we can, while Roe v. Wade is still precedent. Until that’s overturned, we’re limited in what we’re allowed to do. Sorry.” Now, they no longer have the excuse to hide under Supreme Court precedent limiting them, so bring them back to the table and get working on crafting legislation. If you find the hidden gem of an elected pro-life Democrat, offer them your hand regardless of any other issues you disagree with them on; now is not the time to be partisan. If you find a squishy Republican who just wants to pass tax cuts and only cares about babies when they can be used as pictures on mail pieces during the campaign, give them an ultimatum: work on passing pro-life legislation that protects the unborn that we approve of, or expect an opponent to receive our endorsement in your next election. Remember them and follow-thru with your promise if they compromise on their vote to protect babies; now is not the time to be partisan. Hold their feet to the fire and toss them to the side if they’re not willing to pass pro-life legislation.

Targeting the right energy to the right states is important to use resources most effectively. State that has a trigger law already going into effect? Keep the pro-life majority strong so it stays that way, but not an immediate concern. Progressive state that has a written law protecting abortion already in place outside of Roe? Constant vigilance is necessary, but we won’t see results in the next few years at best. States that can pass feasible pro-life legislation but haven’t yet, due to a variety of excuses and limitations? This is where the brunt force of our movement should be immediately, especially with an election looming this November that could shake things up. I may be biased, since I currently live in one of these “no trigger law” states, but it also seems logical to use the short-term momentum in places where it can have the biggest impact first. Focusing on electing strong pro-life leaders to the national stage with the looming red wave isn’t a bad idea either, but federal politicians have a “better” track record of breaking and ignoring their promises once in office, and it’s unlikely that there will be enough of a wave to override the power of the veto from President L.G. Brandon.

The laws themselves should be worded extra, extra, EXTRA carefully. As in, the law should be ironed out so smoothly that there’s no such thing as a loop dimple, much less a loophole. If you can think of any of the pro-abortionists’ instant objections to your law (beyond the obvious “waah we can’t murder babies anymore”) be sure you have an answer in the legislation to cite that is plainly and readily available to anyone with a 6^th-grade reading level. Does your legislation allow for the treatment of ectopic pregnancy, an uncommon condition where the embryo implants outside of the uterus where the embryo is highly unlikely to survive and can cause harm to the mother if not addressed? (Hint: if the legislation does NOT allow for this treatment, consider changing it so it does.) If your bill does explicitly draw a distinction between treatment for ectopic pregnancies (often times referred to as “abortions” in medical terminology) and elective abortions done at your urban-neighborhood Planned Parenthood, then make sure the language is as plain as the freckles on my face.

Heck, if the legislation allows for any medical discretion when the mother’s life is in danger (as most pro-life legislation already seems to do), make sure that it can be plainly understood by anybody who reads the bill at face-value. Most people aren’t lawyers, less than 2/5ths of the country have a bachelor’s degree, and the abortionists will use this to their advantage. The messaging wing of the Left, especially when it comes to abortion, loves to misconstrue or outright lie about the actual written details of legislation (check out Chalkboard Review’s “Read the Bill” series for the schooling equivalent of this phenomenon). If there is any grey area or flowery legalese in your legislation, the pro-abortion crowd will use that to frame the bill as something that it’s not, using an emotional Facebook post or hasty meme that will jump around the state and the nation before you can say “Well actually, on page 37…” Write the bill in as clear language as possible, accounting for any and every objection from the Left and having a response ready for their talking points. More often than not, the Left will not be arguing in good faith—they just want to crush you and crush your legislation so they can go back to crushing babies’ skulls with forceps. Do. Not. Give. Them. An. Inch.

Resources: When a STOP sign isn’t enough

This next section is going to be confusing and controversial, so I’m hoping I’m able to make myself clear with my intentions. First, a disclaimer that will probably sound like I’m contradicting myself but needs to be said anyway: your opinion on whether life begins at conception and should be protected from murderous abortionists makes you pro-life. Full stop. There are no qualifiers, like the ones that come from our opponents who say, “if you were really pro-life, you’d support (whatever government welfare scheme my pro-abortion Senator supports).” It’s a cause of frustration for many pro-lifers to be told that our opposition to murdering innocent babies in the womb isn’t enough to make us “pro-life,” especially when that criticism comes from people celebrating that same ‘murdering-innocent-babies-in-the-womb’ stuff. Plenty of pro-life libertarians are part of the movement because they believe in the right to life even without a right to “stuff paid for by the government.” If a woman gives birth in a McHospital and drives home on roads sponsored by Domino’s without the government doing anything else except protecting life at conception, they are content with that outcome. There are no qualifiers on being pro-life except…well, being pro-life.

That said…

A common criticism that comes from the pro-abortion crowd is that often times abortions are sought after by women in desperate situations who see abortion as their only option. Maybe they’re still in high school, maybe they’re in poverty and can barely afford to feed themselves much less a baby, maybe the scumbag who knocked them up conveniently skipped town on an 18-year journey to buy milk (friendly PSA that sex before marriage is wrong and should be avoided at all costs :D), etc. The desperation of these situations can lead people to dark places, and sometimes there’s no easy path out of the abyss once you’ve fallen in.

The pro-abortion solution is just to kill the kid because they think being dead is better than being poor or raised by someone who doesn’t want kids, which is a solution we can’t compromise on. But it is important to understand that the demand for abortions will likely continue to exist even if we reach a “utopian” point where abortion is illegal across the land. Some people use abortion as an easy out for rawdogging with their one-night-stand, and we can only hope that hookup culture is destroyed with Roe v. Wade like they keep promising us it will be. But some women will still seek that back alley abortion if they think they’re all out of options, which puts the life of the woman and child at immense risk. If the goal of the pro-life movement is to “stop abortions” as opposed to some arbitrary legislative win, then we need to recognize that writing a law saying “stop abortions” will not stop all abortions. And for those women who find themselves in desperate situations that they would consider an abortion regardless of its legality, the pro-life movement needs to be there saying “We want to help you and your baby, come with us, let’s find a better solution.”

A lot of this is helped by the massive network of pregnancy resource centers run by pro-lifers, which conveniently get firebombed and vandalized by the side claiming they’re “helping women.” These resource centers provide a variety of services to expectant mothers in their time of need, with an abortion being the only notable exception that earns a target on their back. I can’t expect the attacks to lessen anytime soon, but it should be acknowledged that these resource centers are not able to meet every need or every mother because of their own limitations. One way to help expand this reach is to launch a website for this network statewide. I may lose my conservative credentials for suggesting the government do something, but Republican governor Kristi Noem is already launching such a site to help South Dakotans find the resources they need without putting babies in harm’s way. I’m also in favor of expanding pro-child and pro-family policy, both to incentivize family formation and fertility rates (another topic for another blog post) and to help women in less-than-ideal situations find some aid as expectant mothers. Suggestions such as expanding the child tax credit (not the advance payments that just change the timeline under the American Rescue Plan, but actually expanding how much tax credit is received by parents for having children), providing paid parental leave (let’s not leave out the fathers to be good dads to their kids), lowering the real cost of adoption, and I’d even be on board with covering the cost of giving birth in a hospital, as skeptical as I am with a universal healthcare system overall. I’d also be in favor of copying Hungary’s ‘new family’ loan, where newlywed couples essentially get a $30,000 loan once they get hitched, with the interest being forgiven after having one kid and the entire loan being forgiven after having three. Policies like these can certainly be up for debate within the pro-life movement, but the point is that if our end goal is to end abortions in the United State, passing a law that says “No don’t do that” won’t be enough.

There are many places for the pro-life movement to go after our monumental victory in overturning Roe v. Wade and ending the “Constitutional” protections for abortion nationwide. Succeeding in our goal to end abortion once and for all will take a mixture of smart legislation, generous charity, and constant vigilance against those who would prefer to erect statues in the name of Margaret Sanger. If nothing else, this post is about reminding all of us that we have a lot more race to run after the Supreme Court decision. We still have a long way to go to that finish line, it’s just gotten a lot closer now.