The United States Catholic bishops have registered their “joy” over the Supreme Court’s overturning of the ignominious 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that imposed legal abortion on 50 states.
“This is a historic day in the life of our country, one that stirs our thoughts, emotions and prayers,” the leaders of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference (USCCB) said in a statement Friday. “For nearly fifty years, America has enforced an unjust law that has permitted some to decide whether others can live or die; this policy has resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of preborn children, generations that were denied the right to even be born.”
The bishops’ statement, which comes in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is signed by Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, USCCB president, and Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
The truth that all men and women are created equal, with God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was “grievously denied by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized and normalized the taking of innocent human life,” the bishops observe.
Anti-abortion campaigners celebrate outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on June 24, 2022. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
“We thank God today that the Court has now overturned this decision. We pray that our elected officials will now enact laws and policies that promote and protect the most vulnerable among us,” they add.
The bishops mourn the loss of “the little ones whose lives have been taken since 1973,” and “entrust their souls to God, who loved them from before all ages and who will love them for all eternity.”
In their statement, the bishops also praise the fifty years of work by the pro-life movement, noting that their work for the cause of life reflects “all that is good in our democracy.”
The pro-life movement “deserves to be numbered among the great movements for social change and civil rights in our nation’s history,” they declare.
Anti-abortion demonstrators march outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., US, on Friday, June 24, 2022. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty)
“Today’s decision is also the fruit of the prayers, sacrifices, and advocacy of countless ordinary Americans from every walk of life,” they note. “Over these long years, millions of our fellow citizens have worked together peacefully to educate and persuade their neighbors about the injustice of abortion, to offer care and counseling to women, and to work for alternatives to abortion, including adoption, foster care, and public policies that truly support families.”
“Now is the time to begin the work of building a post-Roe America. It is a time for healing wounds and repairing social divisions,” they assert.
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