Super Bowl! The culmination of the NFL football season always occurs in close proximity to the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. While the Super Bowl is the final game of a season, Roe v. Wade was the supreme court opinion which kicked off the never-ending political football game of legal abortion.
Only two teams have been allowed to compete in the big game: the Pro-Life team and the Pro-Choice team. These two teams have highly paid promoters, advertisers, owners, players, coaches, political analysts, politicians, and referees. No matter which side appears to have momentum, the game never ends, and murder by abortion continues.
Politicians and lobbyists on both sides trade endless victories for dollars and votes. Here is how the game is played:
- Lobbyists arrange for donations to friendly politicians.
- Politicians are elected and support bills or fight bills as recommended by lobbyists.
- Lobbyists ask for more donations to fight for or against bills.
- You donate.
- Bills are passed, defeated, or stayed.
- Lobbyists report victory or defeat and ask for more donations to further the fight.
- You donate.
- Politicians claim victory and report high marks from lobbyists and ask for donations and votes to further the fight.
- You donate and vote.
- Lobbyists and politicians show up next year to do it all over again…yet another overtime.
You may be wondering who these players are. Individual politicians come and go, but the organizations that support them are entrenched. The Republican and Democratic Parties are obvious, but here are some of the most highly-paid coaches and support staff, along with recent annual revenues.
On the Pro-Choice team:
- Center for Reproductive Rights $31.9m
- Naral Pro-Choice America $25.5m
- National Institute for Reproductive Health $5.5m
On the Pro-Life team:
- Susan B. Anthony List $56m
- Students for Life of America $12.2m
- Priests for Life $10.6
- National Right to Life $5.5m
To summarize, lobbyists on both sides “fight” every year to get status-quo politicians and regulations passed or defeated. No matter what happens, they expertly use victory or defeat to keep the donations flowing, and they use the money to keep the game going. Similarly, politicians “fight” every year and claim success to keep the donations and votes going their way so they can stay in office and keep playing the game. All the while murder by abortion continues unabated.
This particular anniversary, 22 January 2022, marks the completion of the forty-ninth overtime. We now begin the fiftieth overtime of this perpetual game. In ancient Israel the fiftieth year was known as a “Jubilee.” Jubilee was a year of rest and recovery for the people and the land. Debts were canceled and slaves set free. Property was restored and there was no sowing or commercial reaping.
What would happen in this “Year of Jubilee” if we quit sowing and reaping in the traditional pro-life movement? What if we were to give it a rest this year and not play the game? Better yet, why not end the game by abolishing murder by abortion? In the same spirit as the Year of Jubilee and as twentieth century abolitionists, let us set the preborn captives free.
It is time to think outside the game. It is not enough to pass “pro-life” regulations on murder by abortion. It is not enough to pray for SCOTUS to reverse course. Just talking about it, donating to the marquee teams, praying about it, and regulating it will not stop the shedding of innocent blood. We need official action to end the game once and for all. We need the Oklahoma Legislature to pass the Equal Protection and Equal Justice Act, and we need Governor Stitt to immediately stop the bloodshed.