Celebrate Dobbs: Donate to Crisis-Pregnancy Centers

A t long last, the Roe v. Wade regime is over. “Our fundamental law will no longer effectively treat unborn children as categorically excluded from the most basic protection that law can provide,” our editorial on the ruling says.

Praise God for Friday’s Supreme Court decision. Years upon years of prayers from millions of people have been answered. Read the opinion of the court delivered by Justice Alito, and know that it actually happened. It’s not a leaked draft, and we don’t have to read tea leaves from the Supreme Court any longer. It’s the real deal — Roe is gone.

Phil Klein wasn’t being hyperbolic when he called the decision the greatest victory in the history of the conservative movement. But our work isn’t over. There are countless legislative battles to come, but there’s one way we can start the work right now without politicians having to do anything: donating to pro-life crisis-pregnancy centers.

One line the Left always likes to use against the pro-life movement is that we are only pro-life in the womb, not after someone is born. By this, they usually mean that because conservatives don’t support the Left’s social-spending priorities, they can’t be truly pro-life

This argument is not responsive to the central claim of the pro-life movement. As Charles C. W. Cooke has written, “If unborn children are worthy of protection, then what the state does in other areas has no bearing on the matter.”

Conservatives oppose large government-run social-spending programs because we believe that they don’t work well. We believe that private charities have a much better record on caring for the poor and vulnerable. We believe that charity cannot be coerced by taxation and that people should make a becoming use of their wealth by giving voluntarily to causes that they support.

Americans in general live out this vision. We donate far more to charity than do people in the social-democratic European states that the Left wants us to emulate. And it doesn’t just go for helping our people, either. Natural disasters or wars all over the world generate attention from Americans, and we open our pocketbooks to help.

If you already donate to a crisis-pregnancy center, God bless you. I must confess I haven’t before. I’m not writing this article on behalf of any crisis-pregnancy center, or any charity whatsoever. Everyone has different charitable-giving priorities and different amounts of income from which to give. There’s no one-size-fits-all prescription.

I just know I have room in my budget for a small, recurring donation to a local crisis-pregnancy center, and I intend to start it in response to Friday’s Supreme Court decision. It’s something I should have done before, but it’s better late than never, and I don’t want to let this moment pass without acting. I encourage you to do the same, if you’re able.

Crisis-pregnancy centers need our help right now. Over a dozen states already have laws on the books making abortion illegal after Roe is overturned. That’s great news, but women in those states are still going to consider getting abortions. They need care, and they need people to tell them there’s hope.

The Left is already on a crusade against crisis-pregnancy centers. From the journalists at the New York Times and the Associated Press to the criminals in Gresham, Ore., Dearborn, Mich., Buffalo, N.Y., and elsewhere, crisis-pregnancy centers have become targets in more ways than one. They’re prepared to meet the needs of a post-Roe world, but they need the resources to do it.

Let’s provide. Wouldn’t it be something if pro-life crisis-pregnancy centers were overflowing with donations tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that? Wouldn’t it be something if the entire pro-life movement responded to this victory by demonstrating, with our charity, that we really mean it when we say we’re pro-life?

A recurring donation puts the “you’re not truly pro-life” argument to rest for each individual who does it. But let’s be sure not to give out of a desire to own the libs. Let’s give because it’s the right thing to do. Let’s give because the services that crisis-pregnancy centers provide will only become more important in a world where abortion is illegal. Let’s give because we’re joyful that the future will be one where more unborn lives are protected, and more babies are born.