Is Dobbs 'Mission Accomplished'?

Roe v. Wade is overtunred. So is Planned Parenthood of Southern PA v. Casey. Praise the Lord! We should be thrilled, but should we be so quick to declare the victory so many want this to be?  Dobbs is a good step in the right and necessary direction, but it's only a step. It's a win for the constitution, but it's difficult to tell what the eternal impact might be.  

On May 1, 2003, President Bush stood on an aircraft carrier and gave the "Mission Accomplished" speech. That day, President Bush declared the end to major operations in Iraq. It wasn't just a political stunt. Previously, Congress gave the President the authority to attack Iraq and Iraq was the identified enemy. But what happens when America wants to be allied with Iraqi citizens and rebuild a nation? Iraq can't be the enemy anymore. Therefore, it was time to line an aircraft carrier with sailors and declare a victory speech that would legally change things. The Geneva Convention rules of war change when the enemy is no longer a nation but insurgents. POWs become detainees. Things changed, but the war went on. Many more soldiers were wounded or killed after the victory speech than before. 

On the same day we read the Dobbs decision, we can read articles about Planned Parenthood being "inconvenienced" to have to arrange transportation for women needing an abortion in a neighboring state. People are offering money to help with the travel and housing costs. Did Dobbs stop abortions today? Probably not many.  

What Dobbs did do was change the rules.   

On the first page of the Dobbs ruling, we find the following verdict: "The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives."    

Obtaining an abortion is not a constitutional right. Therefore, legislative bodies in all 50 states may regulate the practice one way or another. In addition, the US Congress can get involved. Although the federal government can't make abortion legal or illegal, Congress may be able to provide individuals with funding, assistance, or something like this. In any case, abortion is in the hands of many legislators.  

At this point, some states have outlawed abortions altogether. Other states are offering travel vouchers to come and get an abortion. It's about to get more crazy across the US. States could flip-flop depending on who's in office and what happens to attitudes toward abortion in the future. One state could make it illegal to get an abortion at any point in the pregnancy, while another could give the green light to extremely late-term or partial-birth abortions.  Pregnant women are free to travel from one state to another.

The Supreme Court did not declare that an unborn child is afforded the rights as a human under the Constitution of the United States. Children do not yet have that kind of protection, and many Americans--voters and legislators alike--still do not see an unborn child as a person of any value whatsoever. There's still much work to be done, and at present, it has to happen in 50 legislatures over and over and over again. Although today is a victory, it's not over. The baton was passed to another generation, but there are still miles of running ahead. 

What has not changed is the need for thousands of parentless children to be adopted. These children were born before Dobbs. They need parents just as much today as they did yesterday, and there will be more tomorrow. And more the day after that. Not only will children need parents, but God must also move in people's hearts to become adoptive parents, and then God must keep moving in the hearts of more and more people to adopt as the days and years continue to produce parentless children locally and around the world.     

Discussions about preventing unwanted pregnancies must happen, including the value and abstinence and the godly wisdom of avoiding sex outside marriage. Sex and the sexual revolution cannot be valued above the cost of human life, and this happens best when God transforms hearts and minds to his will and ways. This was true before Dobbs, and it's still true now. Children must be discipled in godly homes. Christians must encourage and proclaim salvation and sanctification rather than behavior modification. Legislation has never brought the kind of justice that Jesus' salvation and sanctification bring to a community.  

Christians must continue to pray for our leaders, vote for godly leaders of godly character, and run for office if called upon to serve. Dobbs didn't change that, but it did make it more significant regarding abortion. However, Christians must also remember that the government's arm is far weaker than the Lord's. God raises and tears down governments. There is no authority that God does not give. Let us continue to pray and put our hope in God.    

Pregnant teens and the boys who impregnated them still need Jesus. Rape victims still need Jesus. The world still needs Jesus. A Supreme Court outcome is not the gospel, and state laws are not the eternal hope the world needs. Only the transformative power of Jesus Christ saving and sanctifying souls gives the world what it needs and brings about the fundamental changes we want to see.  Dobbs didn't change that. But the good news is Jesus can. Let us pray and share Jesus with the world.

We should be thankful for Dobbs. Praise the Lord! But let us not think this is the end. In the scope of God's Kingdom, this is just another step. In the reality of a lost world in rejection of God, we have a substantially bigger commission. We must pray for the end of abortion in our world, and let us hope Dobbs gets us closer to that reality, but let us pray even more for God to be glorified because the world worships and enjoys him.