Thread by @joelrainey

Short 🧵
A few facts about #Roe that are getting lost:
1. Court decisions are not-and should not be—decided on the basis of what “most people want.” They are based on what does and does not constitute sound law. (1)

2, if Roe is overturned it will neither “end” nor “outlaw” abortion in the United States. It will simply shift the question of legality back to state legislatures. The question of Roe is not “should abortion be legal” but “who should decide if abortion should be legal?” (2)

3. Many of the passionate arguments made on both sides of this issue are presently moot, and will remain so until/unless Roe is overturned. Put another way, it’s the removal of Roe alone that makes our arguments mean anything at all. (3)

4. If Roe is overturned (and I’m a strong advocate for its demise), there will still be abortion. There will continue to be access to abortion. The variety of ideology of multiple state legislatures alone guarantee this. (4)

5. This is why the position and practice of someone like @KSPrior is desperately needed in this discussion. Those who view “the end of abortion” as the overturning of Roe are, quite frankly, delusional. (5)

6. All pro-life Christians should celebrate the potential for this terrible law to be overturned. But the “end of abortion” comes when, as Karen has eloquently stated, the practice becomes “unthinkable.”

7. The legal question is important. What a nation’s laws allow to happen to our most vulnerable days much about that nation’s character. And make no mistake, there is no more vulnerable population in the US than unborn children. (7)

8. But slavery has been illegal since 1865 yet it took more than 100 years after that moment for the culture at large to recognize African American men and women as having equal dignity. Today, trafficking still happens, but it’s “unthinkable.” (8)

9. @KSPrior says this is abortion 50 years from now. May it be so! But it’s going to take far more than the reversal of a single @SCOTUSblog decision to bring about that culture. (9)

10. The reversal of Roe can be the beginning of this. It puts the discussion back where it belongs—back into the hands of local lawmakers. But it doesn’t “end” anything at the national level. It’s just the start! (10–end)