Deacon Greydanus speaks to the Roe leak

This is from his Facebook page.  Again, he banned me some years ago after suggesting my opinions about immigration are racially motivated.  That's where he was then.  Here is where he is now.  The comment was sent to me by a reader.  I was going to respond or go line by line, but I figured I would just post it and let others decide.  I know I've drawn my conclusions about what he did, and what he appears to be trying to do.

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Steven D. Greydanus

10 hrs ·

THOUGHTS ABOUT ROE V. WADE, RECENT SUPREME COURT NEWS, AND THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT

 1. I believe human life is sacred and inviolable from conception until natural death. Direct abortion is a grave injustice and a grave violation of the moral law.

 2. I believe no law permitting the wrongful taking of human life has any legal or moral validity. On the contrary, states are morally obliged to protect the lives of all members of the human family, including the unborn.

 3. In addition to having no legal or moral validity, I believe Roe v. Wade is terribly reasoned and without even nominal Constitutional validity. Roe is among the worst Supreme Court decisions of all time—along with Dred Scott (which excluded even free Black Americans from the rights of citizenship), Buck v. Bell (the 1927 pro-eugenics decision that included Oliver Wendell Holmes’ infamous opinion that "three generations of imbeciles are enough”), and Korematsu (the 1944 decision upholding the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII)—and absolutely should be overturned.

 4. I thus agree entirely with the statement of the documented drafted by Justice Samuel Alito, and leaked to Politico, that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences.” If and when the Supreme Court overturns Roe, that will be a significant per se victory for justice, one long in coming.

 5. Supreme Court cases are decided when the opinion is issued, and there is a reason that deliberations and draft documents are confidential. Whoever leaked the document drafted by Alito, whatever their motives (I can think of possible motives in both directions), has further undermined the already damaged credibility and legitimacy of the Court.

 6. I thus agree with Chief Justice John Roberts that the leak “was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here,” and I hope that the investigation that Roberts has directed the marshal of the Supreme Court to launch will identify the culprit(s) and hold them responsible.

 7. The Court’s legitimacy has been damaged in part by increasing partisanship conduct in the process of confirming nominees, an issue implicating both sides.

 8. To my mind, it seems that Democrats began the politicization of the confirmation process with nominees Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas. On the other hand, the last bipartisan confirmation process was for a Republican nominee, John Roberts, and since then Republicans have been the worst offenders. In particular the blocking of Merrick Garland in President Obama’s last year in office, the rushing in of Amy Coney Barrett in President Trump’s last year in office, and, finally, the evident determination of Republican leaders to block *any* nominee of President Biden if they have the power to do so regardless of circumstances, constitutes such a profound challenge to the legitimacy of the process that it would be hard to critique any Democratic response, including packing the Court if they have the power to do so, as excessive or unwarranted.

 9. In the process of getting the Court they wanted, conservatives have been implicated in, and have largely embraced and defended, troubling evils.

 They elected and largely supported a president credibly accused of sexual assault or misconduct by over 25 women. Many women, including conservative, Christian, pro-life women, have felt betrayed and alienated by the indifference of conservatives, including pro-life conservatives, on these matters.

 The Trump administration instituted a policy of systematic family separations at the border. Thousands of infants and children were separated from parents or guardians for months or years. Parents were tricked into agreeing to self-deportation on the promise of being reunited with children who were never returned to them. Infants and children slept on concrete floors with no one to care for them but slightly older children. Detainees had inadequate access to soap, toothpaste, and sanitary pads.

 Beyond all this, immigrants who had lived here all their adult lives, for multiple decades, were wrongfully deported to countries to which they had no meaningful connection and in some cases didn’t even speak the language.

 Trump stoked racial animosity. Among many other things, he made common cause with White nationalists, told congresswomen of color to “go back where they came from,” and called neo-Nazis and White supremacists “very fine people” (do *not* start with me on this, I am not wrong and I have receipts). Many Black Americans and other people of color, including pro-life Christians, felt betrayed and alienated by the indifference and complicity of their White brethren in connection with these events.

 Trump promoted election denialism and misinformation. He tried to influence or intimidate state officials into not certifying election results. He tried to force Pence to reject the election results on January 6. He had a legal team prepared to defend this and supporters in government pushing for martial law. He helped to instigate the Capitol attack. The full consequences of all this are still unfolding.

 This is just scratching the surface. To a sigificant extent—especially insofar as conservatives continue to deny or defend on the above points—the pro-life movement is tainted with all of this.

 10. Overturning Roe, while a significant per se victory, will not of course end or outlaw abortion in the US. At most, it will leave greater power to the states. What actions will conservative states take with this new liberty?

 Troubling signs include the new Texas law, which washes the state’s hands of its own obligation to enforce the law and instead incentivizes private citizens to sue anyone they suspect of aiding or abetting in an abortion. This may lead to ugly court proceedings (e.g., an activist plaintiff hoping for a $10,000 payout hauling friends or family members into court over a D&E that might have been a second-trimester abortion or a post-miscarriage procedure).

 Conservative states tend to have high maternal and infant mortality rates. They also have higher rates of out-of-wedlock births, single mothers, and children living in poverty.

 There is nothing pro-life about any of this. Overturning Roe will be a pyrrhic victory if we lose hearts and minds, not to mention our souls, in the process.

As a final note, I'll address that last sentence. It's a fair and true sentiment, but could easily be applied to any issue: Global Warming, fighting racism, immigration reform, feeding the poor, defending women's rights, etc.  Perhaps that's the best way to understand everything he wrote above.