Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, has launched a prayer crusade for the reversal of the fateful 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.
“In the United States, abortion takes the lives of over 600,000 babies every year. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health could change that,” Archbishop Lori said in a statement Wednesday.
“We pray that the Court will do the right thing and allow states to once again limit or prohibit abortion, and in doing so protect millions of unborn children and their mothers from this painful, life-destroying act,” the archbishop added.
“We invite all people of good will to uphold the dignity of human life by joining us in prayer and fasting for this important case,” he said.
Lori urged Catholics and other Christians to check out ecumenical prayers and other resources available at www.prayfordobbs.com.
“This is the case that could overturn Roe v. Wade — the Supreme Court decision which made abortion legal in all 50 states,” the website declares.
“Nine justices stand between life and death for millions of innocent children and their mothers,” it asserts.
“The most important thing we can do to is to bend our knees in supplication to our Lord Jesus Christ, asking for the end to Roe, and to the brutal practice of abortion,” it adds.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, on the Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks.
Reports suggest a clear majority of the Court indicated openness to the possibility of revisiting Roe.
“If we think that the prior precedents are seriously wrong,” said Justice Brett Kavanaugh, does it not indicate “that the right answer is actually a return to the position of neutrality?”
During the oral arguments, several conservative justices underscored the historical record of the Court discarding prior decisions that were egregiously wrong, including some of its most consequential cases.