Editorial: Respect Life Month, post-Roe

October is Respect Life Month, and it’s now been more than a year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its Roe v. Wade decision. Overturning that egregious decision has been a primary goal of the pro-life movement for decades, and a point of unity. No serious pro-life laws could be passed anywhere in the country while that decision stood. 

Yet those who worked toward that goal for many years knew it was only the beginning, the starting place, for what would have to be done in the United States to build what Pope St. John Paul II called a “culture of life,” a society that protects, respects, and fosters the right to life and the dignity of every human person at every stage of life, from conception to natural death. 

Nowhere has the work that remains been more clear than here in Minnesota, where our state government passed, generally by slim majorities, a slate of extreme legislation, making Minnesota a kind of abortion “sanctuary” state, an unfortunate break with a long history of moderate, compromise legislation. 

As the scope of the work that remains to be done becomes clear, it is equally clear that the different parts of the pro-life movement need to continue to work together in pursuing a culture of life. It seems clear those efforts involve not only legislation but, more importantly, the ongoing work of changing hearts and minds, to see that no matter how difficult the circumstances, violence and death are never the best answer. 

St. John Paul II, pray for us!