Yesterday a critique of the pro-life movement appeared on The Federalist site, authored under a pseudonym of Bill Kilgore. Regarding that pseudonym, the Federalist website says,

“Bill Kilgore is the pseudonym of a writer serving in the U.S. military. The author writes anonymously because conservative opinions are unpopular and harmful to one’s career in the military. He has also written for American Greatness. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. government.”

So, the writer lacks the courage/fortitude to write under his own name for fear of reprisal and detriment to his military career.

Let that sink in for a moment: a writer not willing to suffer detriment to his career for owning up to his convictions / opinions, is criticizing people in the pro-life movement who have sacrificed time, talent, and treasure (done/given under their actual names), including some who have suffered serious detriment/persecution including attacks both physical and legal. The writer deems such people as supposedly not doing enough or not being serious enough about the pro-life cause!

The Federalist writer seems mistaken on several counts.

The writer seems to think we are not winning unless we are winning in every single state of the union. The facts on the ground are that just as there are intense divisions in America over issues such as Israel, abortion, and right v. left, those divides are seemingly always correlated along geopolitical lines in which a few areas lean left (usually concentrated urban areas or historically “liberal” areas), while practically everywhere else leans right. Certainly the pro-life movement is not winning in leftist New York State (which is dominated by leftist urban New York City) and other heavily leftist areas. We’re seeing the same kind of increasing division happening over pro-Israel support.

Both the issue of supporting Israel (and opposing anti-Semitism) and the issue of supporting life (and opposing abortion) used to be bi-partisan, but with support in the leftist side eroding faster and faster over time.

The Federalist writer dismisses all the places where the trend happening is the opposite of what’s going on in the most left-leaning areas. The writer also dismisses, or is ignorant of, or misreads, for example, much data indicating the younger generation is far more pro-life and far more engaged and more informed than prior generations. The writer also seems ignorant of all the legal holes that have been shot through Roe & Doe over the intervening years since 1973. Legally, the Roe of today is a not what it was in 1973.

The writer is also clearly inaccurate in lamenting that all the successful regulations passed are failing in the courts. Tennessee’s successful Amendment 1 was upheld in court, and pro-aborts don’t stand a chance of defeating West Virginia’s successful Amendment 1 in court. Also many other successes in West Virginia have not been challenged in court.

We knew the fallout would be great when we made enough progress that the abortionists began to realize they could eventually lose Roe & Doe. I always suspected that the fallout would include moves to insulate certain leftist states “in advance” of a suspected demise of Roe & Doe. I also saw indicators there would be disunity in the pro-life side in the face of the fallout.

The writer may simply be in un-thought-out mourning and panic over the recent losses in places such as New York, which are typical of the kind of fallout I suspected would happen. Or the writer may have an agenda. There are some today who say that no one is really pro-life unless they agree with certain views on how the pro-life movement ought to conduct itself, phrase its wording, and set its strategies.

The gritty reality is that our history vis-a-vis slavery / the Civil War indicates that as we move as a union toward a major resolution to the issue of abortion, America will likely become even more bitterly divided, probably along geopolitical lines, and, as scary as it may sound, may teeter on the brink of civil war in a division where some whole states go “pro-abort” and more whole states go “pro-life” (just like there were “slave states” and “free states” before the Civil War).

The issue is certainly careening toward the US Supreme Court—again—because, contrary to their wrong-headed view in 1973, Roe v. Wade & Doe v. Bolton did not settle the matter. There is a chance that no matter what the Supreme Court does in the future, a harsh divide and even civil war may become inevitable. I saw a lot of complaints in the article, but saw no real solutions suggested.

Become a member of West Virginians For Life:
https://wvforlife.org/membership

Sincerely,
Pastor Doug Joseph
(Yes, that’s my real name.)