The Michigan Catholic Bishops released a statement Friday expressing their joy over the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade while insisting that pro-lifers still have much work to do.
The Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was “momentous and historic,” the eleven Michigan bishops assert, having finally overturned Roe v. Wade “which to this day has resulted in the tragic loss of some 63 million unborn children nationally and more than 1.5 million children in Michigan.”
With Friday’s ruling, “our country draws closer to a society that recognizes the God-given right of life for all persons, at any stage or in any condition,” the bishops declare.
Life is and always will be “a gift from our Creator,” they add, and it “cannot be given or taken by governmental structures, judges, or elected officials.”
The pro-life movement must now “redouble its efforts to ensure every woman has the support she needs throughout her pregnancy and beyond, whether she chooses to parent or create an adoption plan,” the prelates insist.
No woman should “face pregnancy alone,” the bishops declare, and “every pregnant woman should know there is a community of compassion and support waiting to help her and her unborn or infant child.”
We empathize with women “who struggle with daily challenges that may affect their decision to carry their baby to term,” which is why the Church must prioritize this work “to meet the physical needs of mothers and children as well as offer the emotional support and love new mothers need,” they state.
“We also implore men to be respectful of women and responsible when they father a child,” they urge. “We are all called to walk with moms in need, and we encourage all Michiganders to join us in this effort.”
In their statement, the Michigan bishops praise the heroic work of the pro-life movement over these 50 years since Roe v. Wade, asserting that the “prayer, action and witness from innumerable women and men who promote the sanctity of human life” laid the foundation “for a future of love, compassion, and support toward women and their unborn or newborn children.”
Though Roe is no longer relevant to abortion policy, “we must remain vigilant against future attempts to promote abortion as help for women, which in reality are attacks on human life itself,” the bishops write, warning against legislative and judicial efforts in Michigan and elsewhere to undermine the right to life.
Let us “pray for all pregnant women and continue to proclaim that human life is sacred from conception to natural death and at every point in between, and to commit ourselves to building a society grounded in that essential God-given right,” they conclude.
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