by Bishop James Conley
This has been a very historical summer on the pro-life front, to be sure! We all know that on June 24, on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart Jesus and the Feast of the Baptism of St. John the Baptist, the child who leapt for joy in his mother’s womb in the presence of the unborn Lord in Mary’s womb, the Supreme Court of the United States struck down Roe v. Wade, thus ending 49 years of legal protection for abortion at the federal level. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court ruled that restrictions on the practice of abortion must now be decided at the local level.
The first attempt at the state level to test the Dobbs decision took place in my home state of Kansas this month by way of a ballot initiative to amend the Kansas state constitution. The proposed amendment entitled “Value them Both” would have made abundantly clear that there is no Roe v. Wade-style “right” to abortion in the Kansas state constitution.
The ballot initiative was a response to a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision that ruled that a woman has a right to an abortion under the state constitution. This 2019 ruling bars legislators from passing abortion restrictions of any kind. It also threatens existing Kansas laws, including a ban on abortion 22 weeks or later into pregnancy, very similar to the law passed in Nebraska in 2010 that restricts abortions after 20 weeks. Sadly, Kansas voters defeated the Value them Both amendment by 59% to 41% in the Aug. 2 referendum.
The supporters of the failed referendum faulted “an onslaught of misinformation from the radical left organizations that spent millions of out-of-state dollars to spread lies about the Value them Both amendment.” Chuck Weber, the executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, reported that the pro-abortion rights advertising campaign outspent the referendum supporters 2 to 1 and, once the spending is finally tallied, the total number will be $20 million spent between both sides.
Weber went on to say that this campaign of lies, deception and disinformation, and flooding the community with pro-abortion propaganda from the secular media, “created an environment of confusion, we believe, that led the country, but also particularly in Kansas, into a narrative that the abortion industry pounced upon: that women were not going to get the authentic reproductive health care they deserved if the Value them Both was passed.”
As a result of the failed referendum to our neighbors to the south, Kansas will become a destination state for abortions, even up to and including the third trimester before birth. Weber stated that this will mean that parishes, pregnancy help centers and initiatives like “Walking with Moms in Need” need to be prepared to provide alternatives to “meet the needs of these women that are going to be bussed in and flown into Kansas for abortions.”
Unfortunately, Nebraska recently suffered a similar setback. On Monday, Aug. 8, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts announced that he would not call a special session of the Unicameral to pass a law restricting access to abortion. The Governor stated that there are not enough votes in the Legislature at the present time to pass any laws restricting abortion. This was a wise decision by the Governor. We don’t want what happened in Kansas to happen in Nebraska.
Let us be clear. After celebrating, and rightfully so, the June 24 reversal of the disastrous Roe v. Wade decision at the federal level, we must continue to roll up our sleeves and redouble our efforts at the state level to protect women and their unborn children from the violence of abortion at the ballot box, in the legislature and, most of all, through our prayers, compassion and the loving outreach of our communities.
But this redoubling of efforts will be no easy task. History has proven that “verbal engineering always precedes social engineering.” We saw this play out in real time recently in Kansas. Let’s be honest, abortion is not health care. Every abortion is an unspeakable tragedy. It is a violent and unnecessary act that destroys an unborn human life in the womb and leaves a woman traumatized and deeply wounded. It devalues them both. We can—and must—do better for women and their children.
As Mahatma Gandhi was attributed with saying: “In the end, a people will be judged on how well they treated the weakest and most vulnerable of their own.”
The amazing fact is that our diocese has many such good works taking place across southern Nebraska. Recently, I attended a board meeting of the Women’s Care Center (WCC) located in Lincoln directly across the street from Planned Parenthood at 48th Street and Old Cheney Road. In the past month the WCC has seen a marked uptick in clients.
Since opening its doors just 16 months ago, women and their unborn children and their families have made 1,954 visits. These clients have visited the WCC from 77 zip codes and five states, leading to 292 babies either born or expected to be born to the beautiful women the WCC serves!
In this post-Roe world these are the kinds of initiatives we need now more than ever.
The WCC center continues to grow at a rapid pace. This is evident when comparing the first four months of this year to the first four months of 2021. Women served is up 78% and visits are up 123%. Additionally, ultrasounds have increased by 44% and material assistance by 353%. Finally, the folks at WCC are closing in on 1,000 ultrasounds performed, with only 137 left to reach that mark!
Women's Care Center of Lincoln has grown much more rapidly than expected and they are quickly nearing capacity of their center. This growth is a true testament to the current environment and to its loving outreach to women in need; 23% of clients now come at referral of a friend or family member.
With regard to demographics, 81% of the women the WCC serve are single, and 43% are women of color. Nearly two thirds of the women the WCC serve are abortion vulnerable or identified as at-risk. But, because of your prayers and support, these women come to Women's Care Center and they find hope: 94% of women who have walked through their doors on South 48th Street have chosen life.
These types of efforts are at the core of what a post-Roe Nebraska looks like, and the WCC is not alone: more than two dozen pregnancy centers offer heroic, loving care to women in Nebraska. They are listed on our diocesan website at www.lincolndiocese.org/moms.
If we believe that abortion is the killing of an unborn child, and the science of ultrasound technology undeniably demonstrates this beyond a reasonable doubt, and if we believe that trauma of an abortion procedure can have a serious negative physical, psychological and spiritual effect on a woman, a trauma that can be healed, forgiven and made whole again, to be sure, then we need to act upon this truth.
In the words of Phil Lawler, author and long-time pro-life activist, in a recent article in Crisis, “we need the witness of committed pro-lifers who act, as morally responsible people ordinarily act, to stop the bloodshed.” We need sidewalk counselors and prayer warriors outside clinics. And perhaps we need even more.
The time for action is now. Let us learn from Kansas and let us renew our pro-life zeal, our love for women in need, and our role as missionary disciples of Jesus Christ!
