Ryan Bomberger: Should abortion be “rare, legal, and … very early”?

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Wednesday, August 16th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Last year, the Supreme Court in Dobbs returned abortion to the states. But now that Republicans have the chance to legislate some of them are getting a little queasy.

WORLD commentator Ryan Bomberger says Christians ought to speak clearly in defense of life at every stage.

RYAN BOMBERGER, COMMENTATOR: In June 2022, our nation was given an opportunity to reassess decades of needless human destruction. The Supreme Court reversed its ruling in Roe v. Wade which allowed unborn human beings could be commercially killed throughout pregnancy. But the landmark Dobbs decision changed everything, for better and for worse.

The GOP, a Party whose platform calls for a Human Life Amendment, has gotten some things right. The Pro-Life movement and its GOP allies have successfully banned or severely restricted the violence of abortion in fifteen states including Mississippi (where Dobbs originated), Texas (where Roe began), and Georgia.

Tragically, the Democratic Party, Planned Parenthood, and their mainstream media allies have been fatally successful, too. California amended its constitution to enshrine abortion as a fundamental right, and the state’s website now says you can have an abortion “at any time to protect your life and health.” Taxpayers also funded a staggering 100,741 abortions in 2020 in California via Medi-Cal. New York’s Reproductive Health Act removed most restrictions on abortion and even erased the crime of fetal homicide. In Michigan, Proposal 3 made abortion a constitutional “right”, and the state now allows abortion throughout pregnancy, all the way until birth.

Increasingly, some GOP leaders and conservative media pundits seem unable to articulate why abortion is wrong, how it hurts women, and what extreme measures the Democratic Party will go to in order to codify unrestricted, taxpayer-funded abortion. Recently, Fox News’ Sean Hannity had a terrible solution. After insisting he is “pro-life”, he expressed concern that the GOP may be losing votes for being “very restrictive.” Invoking former President Bill Clinton, Hannity proclaimed abortion should be “rare, legal” and allowed “very early in a pregnancy.”

That’s not principled conviction. That’s responding to a political condition. And politics change like the wind. Still, one thing that hasn’t changed–the Left radically eliminates the most vulnerable. The Right–at its best–radically elevates the most vulnerable.

That’s why Republican legislators in Congress introduced the Unborn Child Support Act last year. It requires men who father children to be financially responsible from the first month the child was conceived. The Providing For Life Act allows tax credits for unborn children. The Standing with Moms Act requires the (pro-abortion) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide information about pregnancy-related support services. On the state level, Texas is pouring over $100 million into its Alternatives to Abortion program, and Florida allocated $143 million for pregnant and postpartum women and children in its Heartbeat Protection Act bill.

Slavery was once “safe” (for slaveowners), “legal” (throughout most of the country), and “rare” (in that most Americans didn’t own slaves). It was still, unquestionably, wrong. It took a long time to abolish, but that turn of justice was exactly what this great nation needed.

I’m Ryan Bomberger.

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