Like many of you, I was thrilled last week to see the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the terrible Roe v. Wade decision. The Supreme Court decided in this case that “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”
What does this mean for abortion law moving forward? The Supreme Court is simply saying there is no federally protected right to an abortion. Instead, individual states now have the ability to write their own abortion laws, rather than having these laws forced on them. I’m proud to be from Alabama where pro-life laws enacted by our state legislature in Montgomery can finally be recognized.
Life is a precious gift from God, and every human is made in God’s image. From the time of conception to the time of death, every life is worth protecting and fighting for. This has been one of my top priorities in Congress, and it’s why I’ve cosponsored more than a dozen pro-life bills during my year and a half in Congress. Some of the bills I’ve cosponsored are the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, the Protecting Life in Crisis Act, the Defund Planned Parenthood Act, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.
Pro-life bills like the ones I’ve worked on to defund Planned Parenthood and eliminate the use of taxpayer funds to perform or promote abortions have not gotten any traction this Congress, and they will not see the light of day as long as we have Speaker Pelosi in power. I’m looking forward to a Republican majority after November because House Republicans stand ready to take action on these types of issues.
Protecting life from conception to death is not a radical decision and it should not be a partisan issue. I firmly believe we as a society have an opportunity to build a culture that respects life and works to protect the most vulnerable in our society.
Moving forward, I urge all of you to insist your representatives are on the front lines of the fight to defend life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for every single American, especially the unborn who have no way to fight for themselves. As we applaud the Supreme Court’s decision in this case, let’s all take a moment to recognize the decades of tireless work from the pro-life movement and renew our commitment to making sure we never forget how precious life is.
Jerry Carl represents Alabama’s First Congressional District. He lives in Mobile with his wife Tina.
