The leaked Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization prompts the question of what is next for the pro-life movement. How do we heal from the harm that has been done by the lies and propaganda against the pro-life movement? The answer is simple: Continue to care for both the mother and the child in an even more courageous way. Here is what that looks like.

Education:

Educating people about abortion and what it really entails is a topic that should be preached from the pulpit and taken up by community leaders. Furthermore, pro-lifers should be using their gifts to spread the hope that comes with the preservation of life.

As Florida Family Policy Council President John Stemberger put it, “Churches must be mission-minded on this issue — preaching, teaching, and directly engaging with and supporting pregnancy resource centers.” These women, men, and children who are struggling with an unintended pregnancy need love and support. What better way to be the hands and feet of Christ than to care for the least of these?

Community leaders outside of the church should be embracing women in poverty or other sad circumstances. That could mean giving women access to pregnancy resource centers and fostering a community that doesn’t leave them alone in raising the children or making an adoption plan.

All pro-lifers should be courageously exposing the lies and weak arguments of the pro-abortion camp. Science and morality are on our side. With that in mind, the nuclear family should be celebrated and held on to as the ideal for building a healthier society.

Law and policies:

Should Roe v. Wade be overturned, abortion will be sent back to the states, where the people get to fight it out in a more direct way. This is both the exciting part of federalism and potentially the saddest.

In states that have declared themselves “sanctuary states” like California, Illinois, and New York, the pro-life movement’s job will be to continue to fight for the rights of the unborn. This includes electing pro-life politicians and continuing to advocate for women and their unborn babies through pregnancy resource centers.

In states that are ready to put even stricter restrictions on abortion or even abolish the practice, the pro-lifers’ job is to encourage politicians to fund life-giving services and also to pass laws that help make adoption easier.

Reforming adoption and the foster care system:

This is perhaps the most important cause pro-lifers should advocate for. Mothers who bravely make adoption plans for their children, and families who are waiting to adopt, need to have an easier time with that transition. The biggest pro-choice lie is that pro-lifers care only about preborn babies. I.e., once those babies are born, mother and child are left out in the cold. They point to the foster care system and adoption agencies that have thousands of children waiting to be adopted and question whether it’s more traumatic on the baby to have to endure that than to simply be aborted. This radical and evil sentiment was articulated by a Twitter user who said: “I would rather get an abortion than have a Brown child who ends up being adopted by white evangelicals. It is not a kindness to children of the global majority to give them to people who’ll traumatize them with self and ancestral hatred. An abortion is an act of love.”

There are so many things wrong with that statement that could be unpacked. But suffice it to say, its author assumes that children are better off dead than having a chance at a loving family. Just evil.

The most important takeaway is that adoption is the real act of love both by the birth mother and by the family that is going to adopt that child.

Adoption, though, is a difficult process. It is expensive. Twenty thousand dollars is considered an inexpensive adoption, and that’s only for domestic. Overseas adoptions are even more expensive. This effectively excludes lower-income families from being able to pursue an adoption.

The process of becoming adoptive parents can take years. Each year that a family waits, they have to re-do a home study. Some adoption agencies are now changing their standards and not allowing white families to adopt children from a different race. Children who are adopted struggle with that fact along with feelings of trauma and sadness. It is especially difficult for children who are older or have special needs to get adopted.

This intrinsically ties in to the need to reform the foster care system that primarily deals with older children. These children are removed from their homes because their parents are unable, unfit, or unwilling to take care of them. The system is rife with abuse, and it is notoriously difficult for parents or other family members to get their children out of the system.

Adoption should be and could be made better. Potential adoptees need resources to help with children who are struggling with trauma, who are special needs, and who are needing that community of support. Foster care is in need of reform. There are several ministries that are dedicated to walking alongside these families, helping them get their children back and giving them a community to not only hold them accountable but also to act as a support system.