Robert Busek
In the autumn of 1942, the Allies finally started winning battles against the seemingly unstoppable Nazi war machine. After Field Marshal Montgomery’s stunning victory over Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Corps at El Alamein, 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.”
June 24, 2022 will go down in history as “the end of the beginning” of the pro-life movement’s efforts against legalized abortion. The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization finally righted an almost fifty-year-old wrong by striking down the false notion that there is a constitutional right to abortion. This success would not have been possible without the efforts of millions of Americans who are dedicated to the idea that every human life has inherent value and dignity. However, the war is not over by a long shot.
When the decision was leaked in May, pro-abortion ideologues wasted no time in initiating their counterattacks on various fronts. President Biden once again mentally shelved his Catholic faith’s teaching on the sanctity of life and called for Congress to codify abortion into federal law, a gambit that failed in the Senate. At the same time, the mysterious activist group “Ruth Sent Us” encouraged protestors to break federal law by protesting outside of the homes of conservative justices to intimidate them into changing their votes. These efforts included the doxing of the school where Justice Barrett’s children attend and a plot by a disturbed individual to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh.
Democratic politicians and their lackeys in the mainstream media gleefully added fuel to the fire by conjuring visions of a “Handmaid’s Tale”-style dystopia of women enslaved by a theocratic state. The horrific story of an Ohio ten-year-old being raped and seeking an abortion in neighboring Indiana was twisted into a call to arms to protect the right to abort a child at any time for any reason. The fact that the Dobbs decision simply handed abortion legislation back to the individual states where it constitutionally belongs has been completely ignored. In the case of child murder, the self-proclaimed “defenders of democracy” are very reticent to allow the people to decide the issue through their elected legislatures.
Meanwhile, crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) throughout the country have found themselves targeted both politically and physically. In August, former presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) called for a massive crackdown on CPCs, accusing them of using “deceptive practices” in their efforts to provide women with options other than killing their babies. As of this writing, at least fifty CPCs have been vandalized by pro-abortion forces. So far, arrests in these cases have been spotty at best, despite assurances by federal authorities that their investigations are ongoing. All of this proves yet again that branding oneself as “pro-choice” is merely a euphemism for being “pro-abortion.”
State legislatures are already grappling with the abortion question. Some, like my home state of Colorado, have joyfully embraced this evil; every entry point into the state now has a billboard declaring “Welcome to Colorado, Where You Can Get a Safe, Legal Abortion.” Apparently, the natural beauties of the Centennial State are no longer enough to encourage tourism; our leaders must now promote the wholly unnatural practice of child murder to visitors.
Obviously, there is still much work for the pro-life movement to do to make abortion not only illegal, but also unthinkable. It is not enough for us to rely on our political leaders to take up the banner; we must expand our efforts to fight the re-invigorated Culture of Death. Here are some suggestions:
- Support your local CPCs and other pro-life organizations: Attacks on pro-life groups are likely to increase in both number and intensity in the months and years ahead. Most of these groups are non-profits that rely on donations and volunteers, so this is an excellent way to encourage change at the grassroots level.
- Encourage pregnant women to pursue adoption: The pro-abortion movement thrives by offering a “simple” solution to a complicated problem. To counter this, we need to support pregnant women who do not wish to keep their children by reminding them that many couples and individuals are willing to become parents in their stead.
- Offer help without judgement to those who regret aborting their children: When it comes to supporting women who regret choosing to abort, the pro-abortion movement is nowhere to be found because it does not recognize this remorse as legitimate. We must reach out to women carrying this burden and embrace them as our own, remembering that they are also victims of this cruel ideology.
- Keep the pressure on through peaceful demonstrations: Abortion supporters have shown their willingness to continue the slaughter of the unborn by any means necessary. We must counter their hate with love by continuing to exercise our rights to free speech and peaceable assembly. In particular, we should mark every June 24th by joyfully marching for life like we do every January 22nd.
Like Churchill in 1942, we know that our current hard-won victories open the road to our final triumph. As tempting as it is to rest on our laurels in a post-Roe world, this is no time to halt our advance. The enemy is still out there and is still strong; we must continue to look to our defenses and be courageous and vigorous in our attacks. Students For Life has been in the vanguard of the war effort for years and I have faith that it will continue to serve with honor and eventually be crowned with victory.
AMU & APU Students For Life Chapter Advisor: Robert Busek
Robert Busek is a Catholic homeschooling father of six, five of whom are still at home. He graduated from The Catholic University of America in 1999 with his M.A. in Medieval Studies. After a few years of bumping around corporate America in the Washington DC area, he moved to northern Colorado with his wife Susan in 2002 to teach middle and high school history at a nationally recognized K-12 charter school. He joined the Department of History and Military History at APUS in 2008 as an adjunct instructor, becoming a full-time instructor in 2010.
In addition to his teaching duties, Mr. Busek has recently started publishing short opinion essays on a variety of subjects, including the current crisis in American education. His work can be found online at The Federalist, The American Conservative, and The American Spectator. He looks forward to working with the Students for Life at this exciting time for the pro-life movement.
AMU & APU Students for Life 