Why Roe Doesn’t Matter

On Friday, June 24th I was driving three hours from home into the middle of nowhere with a camper, kayaks and a couple of buddies. I got wind of the SCOTUS decision at a truck stop and, when back in the truck, found a local station that was running news coverage. Unfortunately, it was an NPR station. More on that another time. 

The cool thing is that I didn’t really hear much about it for three days. I had text ability and occasionally phone reception but no internet. So, no social media or email. It was fantastic! I didn’t want to be in the middle of the insanity. I didn’t want to watch people on one side melt down and I didn’t want to see folks on the other side gloat. 

Over the course of the weekend I had a great time with my life-long friends. We laughed, hiked, grilled, sat around the camp side, kayaked and fished. But one thing about fishing on kayaks is that it provides ample opportunities to be alone and reflect. 

Processing the SCOTUS decision on Dobbs and what that would mean for the ministry of Almost Daddy was just what I needed. And I found the answer while gliding across a glassy lake. The answer? Nothing. Not a thing. Not really anyway.

I’ve recently realized that the better part of the past five decades have been spent by pro-life groups legally fighting Roe v. Wade. Millions of dollars spent in that effort. The other side has no doubt spent about the same fighting to keep and expand abortion access. And both groups have worked hard to keep their respective bases motivated to the cause of overturning or keeping Roe. 

Now what?
Now the fight continues in the courts and state legislatures. 

Let me pause here for a second to clarify. Abortion should be illegal. My beliefs are based on my understanding of God and the Bible. My position is based on logic, consistent belief in the value of human life and on the science of human life development. Do I think there should be exceptions with regard to the life of the mother? Of course. But abortion on demand needs to end. 

So there’s that. 

But the abortion misinformation has long been mainstream. Lots of folks that truly believe they are fighting the good fight for “women’s reproductive rights” are reading from a flawed script. Their information is wrong and their talking points rife with logical fallacies. 

If those of us truly wish to see an end to abortion on demand, education is a great place to start. 

The other thing is that abortion in this country is a symptom. It isn’t the problem. It’s a symptom of bigger issues that must be addressed to impact the former. 

One of the biggest is fatherlessness. This one thing has done more in the past 50 years to damage every level of society than any other. It has damaged schools, churches, families, women, children, men…name it. If it’s a societal woe we’re dealing with, fatherlessness is likely at the core. 

A former professional athlete was quoted over the weekend as saying that access to abortion is the only reason he doesn’t have 30 kids. Without any further commentary, I’ll let that one sit for you to process. 

The other thing we need to put WAY more energy into, from a standpoint of pro-life efforts, is healing. We simply can no longer ignore the millions of moms and dads that have experienced abortion loss. I’ve actually had folks in the pro-life camp fight me on this. As hard as that is to imagine, it’s true. 

But my life has taught me that a healed person is a powerful thing. I’ve seen it in my life and the lives of hundreds of others. When a person finds healing from whatever their pain is, they find peace. That peace is contagious. People can see it in them…especially people that know them well or knew them before. 

And it is often the case that the healed person, knowing the pain they once felt and what life looked like, want to share with others so that they may be healed too. And so one finds healing, then helps another find their path to healing and then they help another and so on. 

To quote a friend of mine, “it’s like a spoon. You pull it out and it just works.”

And, if you’re of the Christian sort, there are countless verses that tell us we are to heal others as God has healed us. 

And this is how Almost Daddy first became a novel, then a ministry. 

And I’ll tell you something else, a man that is healed of the shame of lost fatherhood via abortion is a powerful force for life. He will often reclaim his place as an authentic man. He will fight to do what’s right and let his voice be heard instead of hiding in the shadows. 

There is a part of me that is glad to see Roe overturned. That part is thankful for the tireless efforts of many to end abortion. And I know they will continue to battle. 

But in light of the millions of hurting that have lost parenthood to abortion and the millions of young men that don’t know what it means to be a man or how to navigate those waters, the SCOTUS decision is a small matter. 

Almost Daddy: The Forgotten Story only came out in 2020. My work, as I understand it, has just begun. There is much to do. As it says in the Bible, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”