SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade better protects father’s right, state sovereignty

Marie Hamilton
Posted 6/28/22

On Friday, the Supreme Court of the United States

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SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade better protects father’s right, state sovereignty

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On Friday, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturned the controversial Roe v. Wade federal abortion law which allowed abortions to be constituionally protected the last nearly 50 years.

Consequently, this ruling also overturned Planned Parenthood v. Casey; a subsequent SCOTUS ruling keeping Pennsylvania from enforcing state law requiring spousal awareness and consent for wives seeking abortions.
On Jan. 22, 1973, after examining Roe v. Wade, SCOTUS in a 7-2 decision, ruled in favor of “Jane Roe”, affirming that under the “right to privacy” within the 14th Amendment abortions were granted a provisional Constitutional protection – it didn’t actually make abortions a Constitutionally protected right; no Constitution Amendment was created specifically to protect abortion “rights”.

Additionally, in a subsequent Pennsylvania 1982 case, SCOTUS upheld “Roe’s essential holding” under the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause, in a 5-4 ruling, that sought to not delay abortions due to emerging science supporting earlier viability of unborn children. Which laid the foundation for Dobbs v. Jackson, a 2018 Mississippi case, which banned most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

On June 24, 2022, after reviewing Dobbs v. Jackson, SCOTUS in a 6-3 ruling, held the federal government had no legal authority regarding abortions – restoring, strengthing individual state sovereignty. The ruling leaves the furture of abortions up to states, which more closely represent its constituents; Course correcting it’s 1973 ruling and declaring that neither the federal government nor SCOTUS holds Constitutional jurisdiction over abortions.

As of Monday, 23 states had pre-Roe, post-Roe and/or SCOTUS ruling “trigger” laws which mostly banned abortions – with the exception of medically documented medical pregnancy terminations. Only 17 states had laws establishing abortion “rights”, many of which are using viability as a standard of practice. Eleven states had neither restrictions nor protections; however, seven of those states are actively seeking to ban and/or severely restrict abortions, leaving four states still undecided.

Wyoming is among the 23 states which had pre-Roe, and SCOTUS ruling “trigger” laws, with many state politicians vowing post-Roe legislation to further restrict abortions within the state.

With the latest SCOTUS ruling, it’s unlikely the U.S. will ever see an abortion Amendment because an amendment may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in Congress – or, if two-thirds of the states request one by a convention called for that explicit purpose. Any Amendment must then be ratified (voted on, approved by – holding it legally binding) by three-fourths (also known as a “super majority”) of U.S. Congressional members, or three-fourths of states. Currently, politicians and states favoring severe restrictions on abortions are the majority.

For which, I am in support of.

I was never supposed to have children, not because I didn’t want them – I absolutely did, having children had been written on my heart as far back as I can remember. I was never supposed to have children because of a medical condition I have which makes childbearing excruciatingly difficult. 

I personally have had five spontaneous miscarriages, three in the first trimester and two in the second trimester; which was followed by the stillbirth of my oldest child, and only daughter, in 2008.

I prayed for children, I prayed for my children every day before I became pregnant with them, I prayed for them while pregnant with them, I prayed over them at birth and have continued to pray for them since their births. I wanted my children, all nine of them – but I was careful not to have children until my husband and I were ready and wanted them by using several contraception methods at any given time.

Today, I have three amazing little men who make me so proud to be their mama and who continue to teach me how beautiful and sacred the sanctity of life truly is – what a blessing and miracle life is. They are keenly aware of their older sister who made a brief visit here to Earth – and even though none of us understand why she was called home, they cannot wait to meet her with open arms once we become dust.

Shortly after I lost my sweet Elizabeth in 2008 – people asked me what happened; curious family and friends wondered why I came home from the hospital with no baby. I can’t explain it, even to this day I cannot, but I made an instantaneous decision to tell people I had an abortion that to face what I perceived as a failure of womanhood by losing my beloved child. It was more acceptable in 2008 to tell people who had an abortion than to explain a tragic loss – people left you alone and didn’t pester you about the details either.

It took me the better part of the next decade to be able to explain I lost her in extremely premature birth (28 weeks) as her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck during a very complicated birth. Alive in my womb – but not in my arms.

The fight we had to endure to be able to bury our daughter within Jewish customs was unbearable because she was never “alive”; she received no birth certificate. Without a birth certificate, laws were such that you couldn’t get a death certificate – which is needed to bury your child.

Years later, myself and several other mothers who had suffered the same tragedies eventually got state and federal laws changed which gave us a Stillbirth Certificate so that we could get death certificates to bury our children.

I don’t look at this abortion issue through the lens of “pro-life” or “pro-abortion.” My stance on it has nothing to do with my party affiliation, as I am neither red nor blue. My stance also has nothing to do with my faith as a Messianic Jew. My stance on this moral, ethical – state issue, is through the lenses of what it took for me to become a mother to three amazing, miracle boys, and as a hardline Constitutionalist.

So when looking at this through a gold lens: here’s what I see. The overturning of a moral/ethical law, which was never a Constitutional right means father’s and their rights as fathers are strengthened. However, it also means states have more regulatory powers over their sovereign state – as specifically designed in our U.S. Constitution; by design, states still hold more power than the centralized federal government.

Abortion laws never allowed the equal and same rights to men. Never gave  men any input or say. Never gave men the chance nor right to be the father of a child they fathered.

Many men had that right stripped from them in an instant and without legal or lawful recourse or consideration. My own brother was victim to that. I’ve watched two of the most dear men in my life suffer the loss of a child. My husband with our sweet Elizabeth’s stillbirth and my brother – when his former girlfriend took that right away from him and hung it over his head. Watching my brother go through that, it was the hardest thing as his big sister to ever watch him endure. Seeing how losing our Elizabeth hurt my husband, further broke my heart – I wish these pains on no man.

I’m well aware some in our county are streaming at me over this, but let me ask you something – if you are so pressed for “equality” isn’t this an avenue of “equality” we should also be considering? Why are we not? Why do women have the explicit, sole and final say alone when studies continue to prove that children can thrive despite every challenge – and when fatherly engagement is a game changer?

My life was in actual peril while I was pregnant not with one, nor two, but all three of my boys. Each time, I chose some drastic measures to keep them and me safe – for as long as we humanly could. Each time, I decided against abortion, namely because I weighted in what my husband was saying, my mother, my mother-in-law and various other members of my immediate community – my tribe. Together, we chose to use a cerclage, we chose strict bedrest from early pregnancy until birth (all three were preemie), and we chose medications to help reduce my risk of eclampsia and toxemia. My tribe helped me get as close to full term as we humanly could get.

With a lot of help, therapies and community support – my three preemie miracles, one of which is autistic, are walking and talking, thriving boys today, 12, 10 and 8 years old.

Raising these miracles has taught me so much – but especially – it’s not just a mother’s job to raise a child. Boy’s especially need male role models, and there is no better place to get that than from their own father. Statistically speaking, several government provided resources report that male kinship and role models – even in single mother households – break every barrier. 

When it comes to child raising – it’s neither solely my job and responsibility to raise these boys, nor is it solely my husband’s. We are both 100% equally responsible. True equality means the man has equal say and responsibility. The overturning of Roe v. Wade now gives us an opportunity to watch men shine in a way we might not have ever seen before. It restores a father’s parental right, responsibility and role in a child’s life.

Abortion inheritenly discriminated against men and their rights; SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade, ends the discrimination against men and restores their fatherly rights. That’s a move I think we can all applaud.