Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the National Pro-Life Summit on Saturday and encouraged listeners with the prospect that Roe v. Wade could soon be no more, urging them to prepare for the battle for life at the state level.
Quick Facts
“I’m Mike Pence, and I’m all in for life,” the former Vice President told a cheering crowd. “Life is winning in America again.”
The National Pro-Life Summit is held each year on the day after the March for Life in Washington, D.C. This year, there were numerous speakers, keynoted by Pence, a long-time champion for the pro-life cause during his tenure as a U.S. congressman, Indiana governor, and U.S. vice president.
During his speech on Saturday, Pence touted the Trump administration’s efforts to defend life and then contrasted it with the actions of the Biden administration, which have included efforts to use taxpayer money to not only fund abortions in the U.S. but internationally.
Pence then turned his attention to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a potentially landmark case before the Supreme Court regarding Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks that could result in the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, decisions which instituted the right to an abortion nationwide.
“The choice between the Supreme Court is the same choice that voters will face in the next election. It’s a choice between two distinct worldviews. They’re as far apart as the east is from the west,” Pence said.
“The left believes that children are a burden — we know that children are a gift from God. The left believes that the institution of family is outdated and unnecessary — we know that family is the bedrock of our civilization. The left believes its right to force its radical beliefs on society through unelected judges — we believe in government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Pence also discussed the effects of the Supreme Court’s long ago ruling to unilaterally legalize abortion, saying, “The heartbreaking consequences of the Roe decision cannot be overstated. More than 62 million unborn children in the United States have been aborted since 1973. In other words, nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population is gone. Lives of incalculable promise were ended before they were born.”
He cautioned: “Abortion is even being used as a tool of eugenics, with the elimination of children of the wrong sex or race or those suffering from a disability. Today more than two-thirds of babies with Down syndrome in the United States are killed in their mother’s womb. This must end.”
Pence lamented the plight of unborn children, saying, “In the 48 years since the Court’s ruling, unborn children have been segregated to the caste of second-class citizens, devoid of the most basic human right, the right to life. Precious babies have lived outside the protection of the law, at the mercy of a culture that devalues them and an abortion agency that profits off their suffering.”
With the “real prospect of a post-Roe America before us,” Pence urged the crowd to prepare for the battle ahead at the state level. “I urge you to prepare your minds for action,” Pence said.
Finally, Pence called on the Court to send “Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history – where it belongs.”
“We are asking the Court in no uncertain terms to make history,” Pence said. “We are asking the Supreme Court of the United States to overturn Roe v. Wade and restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law.”
In doing so, he insisted that “to be pro-life, you must be pro-adoption,” encouraging those listening to step up for mothers who have courageously rejected the option of abortion but cannot raise that child on her own.
Finally, he added. “Pray that the conservatives on our Supreme Court will have the courage of their convictions.”
Pence’s encouragement is true: Roe v. Wade could be on its last breath and to that Christians everywhere say good riddance. It may well be regarded by future generations as one of the worst Supreme Court decisions ever, along with the Dred Scott case and Plessy v. Ferguson.
The case of Dobbs v. Jackson examines whether or not restrictions on abortion can be made before the viability standards laid out in Roe and Casey. Mississippi is challenging Roe, seeking the overturn of the 1973 invention of a right to an abortion. Christians must pray over this case, and state legislators must be ready to implement life-saving restrictions on abortion.
Pence’s claim about eugenics may sound hyperbolic to some but that’s only because they either don’t know their history or ignore it. Planned Parenthood has its roots in eugenics — having been founded by Margaret Sanger, who wanted to rid society of “human weeds” — and today the organization still unapologetically targets black and Hispanic women and babies. Meanwhile, state laws allowing and justifying elective abortion, including for reasons such as the baby’s race, sex, or disability, continue.
It is also well documented that the government, universities, and medical organizations have engaged in harvesting baby organs and body parts in horrifying procedures and experiments. Take, for example the University of Pittsburgh’s research project under a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, in which scientists harvested the organs of unborn babies from 6 to 42 weeks old (42 weeks being 2 weeks beyond the average gestation period).
Not only has the university engaged in this repulsive behavior for over 10 years, but some of the babies involved were born alive after induced preterm labor, meaning that the baby’s organs were harvested during or just after delivery, with the cause of death being the removal of the organs.
Let that sink in. This type of sick and demented activity goes on in places around the country because our society does not value life. We are so far beyond the discussion regarding whether an unborn child is a human being or not that many don’t even opt for that argument anymore — they just don’t care.
It’s time for the Court to end Roe once and for all, give the states the right to restrict and eliminate these horrific practices, and reaffirm and forever enshrine the right to life in our Constitution.
