Above the cacophony of misinformation that erupted in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s long-overdue decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, one note of truth and clarity emerged: those claiming most stridently to be “pro-woman” were actually just “pro-abortion” all along.
The Biden Administration is now actively promoting abortion by highlighting a website that, among other things, provides information for minors age 15 and younger to avoid parental notification laws. The same website falsely asserts that chemical abortion can be used up to 11 weeks of pregnancy, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has only approved up to 10. That week can make a lot of difference in this context.
The White House could just as easily have directed attention to the thousands of pregnancy resource centers across the country that stand ready, willing, and able to assist women with everything from counseling to car seats. These organizations provide other free material resources such as diapers, formula, baby clothes and cribs, as well as parenting classes and other forms of educational, financial, job-training, emotional, and professional support. This type of assistance empowers women to overcome the demeaning lie promoted by the abortion industry — and even the administration itself — that women are incapable of being mothers and living successful, happy lives.
These truly pro-women pregnancy centers also provide training for fathers so that mothers will be supported by their partners in parenting. They also provide adoption referrals if a woman decides that is ultimately best for her child. Notably, many of these resource centers remain open to serve and care for women despite threats, vandalism, and firebombing, about which the Biden Administration has remained quiet.
President Biden’s Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, Xavier Becerra, called the Dobbs decision “despicable” and emphatically declared “all options are on the table.” Becerra refused to rule out setting up abortion clinics on federal land and sidestepped questions on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding of elective abortion.
Meanwhile, Biden’s Commerce Department issued a formal statement declaring that restoring states’ ability to determine their own abortion policies will interfere with women “living happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives.” Perhaps more crudely, the Commerce Department’s statement insists that abortion “enables millions of women to fully participate in our society” — as though it is a government priority for women to take the lives of their unborn children in order to be better economic producers.
President Biden, himself once a prominent member of the now-extinct species of pro-life Democrat, has missed an opportunity for reasoned, unifying leadership promoting real healthcare for women. Instead, this administration is throwing the full weight of the federal government behind dangerous and unnecessary procedures that put women at heightened risk of death, illness, and psychological trauma.
It also misses the critical essence of the issue. The Dobbs decision returned to the American people what Roe stole from them: the right to affirm the value of every human life, to protect the health and dignity of women and children, to provide mothers the support and resources they need and deserve, and to do so through the democratic process, where public opinion matters — in stark contrast to the court, where it does not.
Of the Allied invasion of Normandy, Winston Churchill said, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” For those who have worked for nearly half a century to holistically protect and support women and children, the court-imposed shackles have been removed. The decision which even the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg described as “unnecessary” and a “heavy-handed judicial intervention” no longer stands in the way. Now, the work of rebuilding a culture that values every life and supports mothers and motherhood begins.
It is a time for choosing. The first choice is between being “pro-woman” or “pro-abortion.” Sadly, the Biden Administration has made its choice painfully clear.
Lathan Watts is vice president of public affairs for Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal). He earned his juris doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.