A Statement on the Dobbs Decision

A statement
on
the Dobbs Decision

Bishop Liam Cary

In 1973 seven Supreme Court Justices discovered a new and all-encompassing “right” that no previous generation had detected:  the “right” to abortion. Overnight, Roe v. Wade transformed the social, legal, and moral landscape of an America instinctively rooted in Constitutional respect for the right to life. For fifty years Roe banished that respect to the periphery of national political debate.

This June 24th Roe’s half-century reign came to an end. In the Dobbs case a different Court took a very different view of this most divisive issue and set us on a course to recover national integrity:  “We . . . hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe . . . must be overruled . . . .”

This extraordinary victory at the Supreme Court should spark even greater efforts to accompany women who bear the weight of difficult pregnancy with the compassionate care they deserve. Roe was wrong, and we now face the challenge of setting right the incalculable damage it wrought.

That is a particularly difficult challenge in our state, for in Oregon Roe still rules, its spirit entrenched in legislation and administration, its strategically well-placed supporters determined to keep the deadly status quo in place. The odds are decidedly against the pro-life cause.

So they were fifty years ago, and most of the years since. But those who resisted Roe were patiently, ever so patiently, preparing the path that led to Dobbs. They were sowing the seeds of a victory they did not live to see. It was a good seed. They left us plenty yet to sow.    


                                                                                   
                                                                                    Most Reverend Liam Cary
                                                                                    Bishop of Baker



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