The US Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision reversed the 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling which had for nearly 50 years legalized abortion throughout nine months of pregnancy.
Sixty-three million innocent pre-born children were “legally” killed before their birth under Roe. Now, baby denier abortionists and their sexual anarchist allies are promising deceptive “reproductive freedom for all individuals.”
Their new agenda goes way beyond Roe and abortion, and relies heavily on deceit.
For example, three states, California, Michigan and Vermont have “Reproductive Freedom Constitutional Amendments” on their November 8, 2022, ballots to amend each of their respective state Constitutions.
The proposed Amendments provide:
- California: “The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions.”
- Michigan: “Every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”
- Vermont: “That an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course.”
Because these Constitutional Amendments reference individuals, the “rights” bestowed are not limited to adult individuals. The “reproductive freedom” language would turn current sexual felonies involving minors into matters of personal choice. What is now illegal as statutory rape would be perfectly legal. Restrictions on selling or furnishing pornography or sexually explicit pictures, films, sexual devices etc., to minors would be legal.
Criminal sexual trafficking laws protecting minors from sexually predatory adults will be unenforceable because minors would have the legal capacity to “consent” to any sexual behavior with any number of people of any age. Parental consent requirements for birth control, abortion, and “transgender” drugs or surgeries which cause permanent sterilization would be prohibited. Sexually “progressive” school counselors, administrators, or social welfare employees could groom minors and “affirm” sex and gender changes behind parents’ backs.
Nor are these “Amendments” limited to actual legal residents of the three states. If passed, persons of any age, including minors, who visit California, Michigan or Vermont, would have the same right to abort their pre-born children, get sterilized, buy birth control, or have devastating “sex-change” operations without the knowledge or consent of their parents who are otherwise legally responsible for their children’s health.
Schools, clubs, fraternal or social welfare agencies, or organizations, which follow the teachings of Moses or Jesus would be violating their state’s public policy if they refuse to support this radical sexual “freedom.” In the future, state legislators would be bound by their state’s “Reproductive Freedom Constitutional Amendments,” and prevented from passing legislation violating their state’s Constitution.
Religious institutions which resist “Reproductive Freedom for Individuals” will face non-compliance lawsuits, revocation of agency and professional licenses, withdrawal of tax exempt status, loss of state contracts, draconian regulations and mandated employee qualifications, all designed to force Christians to comply with the amoral requirements of the “Reproductive Freedom Amendments.” If these Amendments pass, even private schools in California, Michigan, and Vermont could be required to comply with new state defined “standards” of accreditation, or standards of learning, as a condition of satisfying the school attendance laws.
Voters who think they are “simply” codifying Roe v. Wade are grossly mistaken. These far-reaching adverse effects are not due to poor legislative drafting. They are intentional. These “Reproductive Freedom Amendments” go far beyond the 1973 Supreme Court Roe decision. Under Roe, states could ban tax paid abortions, require parental notice or consent before a minor had an abortion, enact waiting periods before abortion, uphold conscience protections for medical personnel or institutions, and preserve the tax exempt status for religious hospitals that refuse to perform abortions or “transgender” surgeries. All of those protections would be unconstitutional in the states that pass these amendments by voter referenda.
The “Reproductive Freedom Amendments,” are really “Reproductive Slavery Amendments.” Both the Vermont and Michigan Amendments state that reproductive freedom may not be burdened or abridged “unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means.” Compelling state interest had been used to justify compulsory sterilization under a Eugenics law in Virginia, repealed in 1974. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote for the Court in Buck v. Bell (1927): “The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11. Three generations of imbeciles are enough.”
Interestingly, none of the Amendments require a “doctor” to perform an abortion. Michigan’s amendment references the “attending health care professional.” Michigan’s law books define “health care professional” as persons in the following occupations: Acupuncture, Athletic Trainer, Audiology, Chiropractic, Counseling, Genetic Counseling, Massage Therapy, Nursing Home Administrator, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Respiratory Care, Sanitarian, Social Worker, Speech-Language Pathology, Veterinary Medicine, and finally, nurses and physicians.
Citizens who fail to vote against these disingenuously named “Reproductive Freedom Amendments” or who fail to alert others about them will aid in destroying innocent lives, further damaging the family and eroding the moral fabric of society. Or as Jesus Christ expressed it:
“Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.” And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. [Mt 25:45-46]
Bob Marshall served 26 years in the Virginia House of Delegates and was the chief House sponsor of the 2006 voter-approved Virginia Marriage Amendment and a ban on late term abortion. He recently wrote Reclaiming the Republic: How Christians and Other Conservatives Can Win Back America (TAN Books). Previously, he co-authored Blessed are the Barren, a social history of Planned Parenthood (Ignatius Press). Finally, don’t miss Bob’s Civics Lesson for Catholics in the Catholic Culture Podcast Episode 17. See the full bio.
