The only real path to a pro-life victory

Why a constitutional amendment isn't the answer

Pro-life advocates.
(Image credit: Illustrated | TASOS KATOPODIS/AFP/Getty Images, iarti/iStock)

For those who have fasted and prayed, in some cases since before 1973, in the hope that one day the evil of abortion will disappear from this country, the new laws in Georgia, Alabama, and Missouri will inspire feelings of jubilation. We should be grateful both for this legislation and for the restrictions long in place in states such as Kentucky, where abortion is more or less de facto illegal already, which have saved so many lives (an outsized number of them African-American).

But there are two realities that must be faced immediately. The first is that the battle for the unborn has only begun. One thing we agree with our opponents about is that the issue cannot simply be left up to the individual states, which is what would happen if Roe v. Wade were narrowly overturned by the Supreme Court on conventional originalist grounds. Babies in New York and California and Hawaii need saving too.

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.