A Response to the Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe v. Wade

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Chances are you will never forget where you were or what you were doing when you first received the news this past Friday that the Supreme Court had, in fact, officially overruled Roe v. Wade—something that many have been praying and longing for, for decades, some for as much as fifty years. 

This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast for Monday, June 27, 2022. I'm Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. 

Today we'll be sharing some initial responses to the dramatic decision we first learned about this past Friday, something that many people have longed for and dreamed of for decades. And yet, perhaps many had given up hope of this ever happening, and others have dreaded this day. So there are a lot of swirling emotions, a lot of intense discussions. 

And the question is, What are we as God's people to think, to do, and how are we to respond for such a time as this? 

In the wake of what's just taken place in this country, our team made the decision to preempt today's program from our continuing series on the book of Habakkuk. We'll pick up again with that series tomorrow. If you'd like to hear the program that was intended to air today, you can find that at ReviveOurHearts.com or on the Revive Our Hearts app. 

The news of what has happened with Roe v Wade means a whole lot to my cohost Dannah Gresh, as it does to me. She would have loved to have been a part of this discussion today, but she and Bob are out at the moment, expecting momentarily the birth of a new grandchild (and we praise the Lord for that). In God's providence, Erin Davis who serves on our team and is no stranger to Revive Our Hearts. She serves as the host for the Grounded weekly podcast and was able to join me in the studio on Friday for a very fresh conversation about the news as it was just coming out. Let's listen. 

Well, Erin, it's Friday afternoon as we're having this conversation which is being heard on Monday on our podcast. It was some morning, Friday morning. We were in the midst of a recording session for Revive Our Hearts recording programs that are to air, Lord willing, in December. You're here visiting from Missouri, working, in some meetings and stuff. 

You were sitting there on the front row, and there was a ding that went off on a phone or something, which is kind of unusual. One of our staff, Mike Moreledge , was sitting in the room. I was in the middle of a session with a roomful of women there. And Mike said, “Roe v. Wade has been overturned." 

Erin Davis: It was with a quivering, trembling voice. It was amazing moment. I won't forget it. I mean, it'd be like a 9/11 to me. I will always remember that I was in the Revive Our Hearts studio, listening to you teach out of the book of Psalms, when Mike said that sentence.

Nancy: And of course, we stopped. We were actually in a recording session like that years ago when the Obergefell gay marriage ruling came down from the Supreme Court. So it kind of brought back memories. But it is a very different kind of ruling today! 

And now it's Monday when this is airing. We don't know what will have happened over the weekend and what is going on in the country. I haven't even had a chance yet . . . I just finished teaching all morning. So I haven't had a chance to read a single news report. We're going on what we've heard, what we've been told. In the room with those sixty-some women and a handful of men who are visiting here this weekend, we didn't have enough Kleenex to go round. It was just that palpable.

Erin: Tears. Some women hit their knees, raising their hands, praising the Lord. Tom, who works in our sound booth, had his hands raised just thanking God for something that in many ways feels miraculous to me. I don't know about you, Nancy. Wow.

Nancy: Yeah, that's the right word. My husband was sitting in the back of the room as he always does in a recording day. He has had such a burden for this whole subject for years and years and years. I mean, long before we were married. I’ve often heard him pray, “Lord, save the babies, save the babies." If an election would come around he goes, “What about the babies?” I could just see him in the back of the room today. It takes your breath away. 

Now, we know that it's not over. There are people and mothers and dads and babies and families and activists and Christians and non-Christians and people with all different kinds of views. Some people are thrilled about this, some people are livid about this. 

As a church, this is a time when we have a huge responsibility to be sensitive, to listen to the Lord, to follow His Word, to love people well. You're doing that every week on Grounded. You've been covering these issues where you don't have to record quite as far out as we do on Revive Our Hearts. So, since you were here, I said, “Let's come in the studio.” I know you've got four sons. This is something that's been on your heart. You love children.

Erin: I'm a mother. I think about my children. They were my children even before I knew they were in the womb. But from the second I knew there was a baby growing inside of me, that life was precious and important to me. Now, there are women for whom their circumstances lead them to make a different choice to not choose life. But I can tell you, any mother who's ever brought a baby into the world knows the ultimate cost for that woman who doesn't get to see her baby, who doesn't get to watch that baby grow up . . . I mean, how devastating it would be for me to have missed my children being alive and well. Those women who have chosen abortion, they've missed that. So no matter man, woman, father, mother, wherever you live, this is an issue for all of us. Our mothers all chose life. And for those of us who follow Jesus, we know He is the God who comes to bring life. So I think that's why so many of us were so moved in that room,

Nancy: We stopped the session I was recording, and we picked it up, probably, I don't know, thirty or forty minutes later. We took time to just pray. We'll air some of those prayers here in just a few moments. But it was very raw, very spontaneous. My sweet husband closed that prayer time. Some giving thanks, some  just praying for moms who will still struggle with this issue. We know that in the States, many states, including the State of Michigan, where I live, life is still in jeopardy in many cases. So there's a lot more to come.

Erin: There had to be legislation at the ready for those who already thought this might go this way. We've used war language, which I think is appropriate. There are people who have been stockpiling responses and ammunition to respond in many states, in many places. 

Nancy: It's one way or the other. We don't want a civil war in this country. We want all people to come to Christ, to believe the gospel and be saved. So this is an issue that relates to the whole love we have for life, because God is the God who wants to give eternal life to people. 

So we're in the early stages of what I'm sure it's going to be still unfolding. It has been for the last fifty years, this issue has been unfolding in our country. But even over the weekend, from the time we had this conversation until the time it airs, I'm sure there will be lots more known, and there's been violence planned. We need to be praying for peace in our cities, in our streets, and in our hearts that only Jesus can bring. 

In God's providence, we had a woman sitting in the session this morning. I think she's only ever been to one of our recordings before. But she was here this morning, Kathy Wellin. I'd love for you to just introduce her. We pulled her away from a little lunch we had planned and said, “Can you come in and talk with us?” Because this is something that's been on her heart in a really significant way for a lot of years. Why don't you help set Kathy up to introduce her.

Erin: Kathy, welcome to Revive Our Hearts.

Kathy Wellin: Thank you glad to be here. 

Erin: You serve at an organization called Life Plan. Those who are listening can't see you. But you are this tiny, little, petite, sweet-faced woman. But I've just seen you respond today, and your attitude has been, this isn't over. This is the beginning of something not the ending of something. Share what's on your heart for women in light of the news that Roe v. Wade has been overturned.

Kathy: Mixed emotions, you know. I am rejoicing in God answering prayer in His time. And just as Christians, it's been hard recently. It seems like we're always on the losing end. And it's just exciting to see God at this time choose to overturn this decision. But at the same time, being in this ministry and knowing what's going on in other areas. People need to know abortions previously they'll say surgical abortions, but in recent years there's just an increase in medical abortions, chemical abortions.

Erin: Like “the morning after pill”?

Kathy: Yes, the morning after pill but more than that, it's called the abortion pill—RU86. 

After you have conceived and you have a baby growing within your womb, up until ten weeks, you can take it. There's two pills. Women used to have to go in to the doctor's office and get this pill and come back and take another one. But because of COVID, people thought, Oh no, if people can't get in to get an abortion and they're too far along, we need to get away from that so they can have an abortion. And so, the FDA has approved for that to be bought online. I think even recently, 50% of abortions now are done through the abortion pill. 

So this is great news that this has been overturned, but people who want to have an abortion will travel to another city or town where they can get an abortion if their state has different regulations. And they can also just order it online. And the sad thing, Erin, is moms are becoming their own abortionists with this. They don't realize that. There isn't a lot of teaching done with this. 

They are going to end up having an abortion at home. They're going to see that baby. A lot of women have been told, “Oh, this is a clump of cells.” They're going to experience and see that was a baby. I've seen with ultrasounds the difference between an eight-week and twelve-week baby. I mean, babies grow quickly in the womb. 

Erin: I saw all my boys in that window. And yeah, they were babies. You see their little noses and profiles and anatomy. That's why we were scanning at that point.

Kathy: It's been sad. I've already heard one of the ladies who has been interviewed on Revive Our Hearts. Serena Dykson has shared just really difficult situations with moms calling and experiencing this, seeing that baby and not knowing that that's what they were going to experience. There's going to be a lot of mental health issues based on this.

One of the things about Life Plan, we are about saving babies, but we are there to save the moms, save the dads, and share the gospel. We know that is what's going to help them. Our hearts for them is to not experience What a lot of moms who have abortions experience—the guilt, the depression, their conscience. I've had a woman recently who is seventy years old who had an abortion and is still struggling with anxiety and depression over that decision. We can minister to those people, too.

Erin: We have real hope to offer.

Kathy: That's our ministry mission statement. We exist to promote the gospel, helping people choose life, and live hope-filled lives. And that hope is with a capital H, because that hope is in Jesus. 

Erin: Hope is in a person.

Kathy: I think the sad thing for us is when we're counseling these women, and our hearts are like, we know what you're going to be if you choose the other way. There's a possibility of you struggling with alcoholism, drug addiction, suicidal thoughts, just having that regret of that choice that you made.

We don't push one way or the other. We want to give as much information so they can make the best choice. But we want them to know these are the consequences. And many of the women who minister at Life Plan, they regret their choices about life. They are able to speak into those moms. It's really neat to see God redeem stories of other women coming to Life Plan and ministering to these young moms who are in a crisis and need to make a decision.

Erin: I'm glad you said that word "redeem," because that is what we are asking the Lord to do—to redeem lives that have been shattered by this issue. We're asking Him to redeem a nation, which seems like we have turned from Him. We're asking Him to redeem our own perceptions about what is right and what is evil and what is life and what does it all means. Really, redemption is only through Jesus. So that's the hope we have to give.

Nancy I wish I could put every single woman I know in the room with us today because you started to talk about how we are to respond as Christ followers. It was a little bit like, “Look at me; eyes on me. We're going to handle it this way.” I would love to just hear your thoughts on a wise Christian response.

Nancy: Well, we're going to need the leading of the Holy Spirit in the days ahead. We always need the Holy Spirit, but there's so many levels and layers of all of this. Some are listening right now to this conversation and some that were undoubtedly in the room this morning who have themselves chosen abortion.

Erin: I read a statistic recently that maybe as much as 70% of abortive women claim to be followers of Christ, that when and where that abortion happened in their story changes, but we can't assume there aren't women in our pews who haven't chosen.

Nancy: Kathy, you may have better statistics on this than I do. But we know that something like 25% of the women sitting in a room have had an abortion. You'll hear some claiming today that this is celebrating that they made that choice and that this is the best thing they ever did. But far more often, I have interviewed and I've looked into the eyes and heard very similar stories from multiple women who had really hard, hard things— mental health issues, spiritual issues, promiscuity issues— these lifestyles that followed out of the shame of choosing an abortion.

Of course, we know there's healing, there's hope, there's redemption for every sinner who repents and trust in Christ. Abortion isn't like the greatest sin in the whole wide world. It's one that we're talking about today. So you have abortive of women, or abortion-minded women, you have women who would never choose an abortion would never have thought of it. They're just busy having their own babies, and they don't even get like how you could think this way. And then you have activists who are on both sides of this.

I've been in conversation recently with a woman who was forty-eight years in this field really trying to help  . . .

Erin: Almost the whole lifespan of Roe v. Wade.

Nancy: Exactly. Most of her life, adult life. But you have activists on both sides. I've been reading, as have you, over recent days and weeks since the leak of this document of this ruling. You know there are plans for upheaval in this world. So how do we view this? We're going to be seeing on the news (depending on what news you watch). Some of them will be celebrating the decision, some will be livid at the decision.

Robert and I talked just after the recording session this morning. We were talking about some of the top government officials in our land, who are incensed, who are furious over what has happened. Robert said, “Honey, these are lost souls.” These are lost souls. God has had mercy on us in our lostness, and our perversion, and our rebellion. I mean, I got saved at the age of four. I never had a chance to do some of the things that others in the world are celebrating as sinful practices today, but my heart was as far from God as theirs.

Erin: God's given us the eyes to see that that's a baby like us. Like Kathy said, that woman was deceived. She thought it wasn't a baby until she saw that little baby in her home in the bathroom. But the Lord has been gracious to help us see.

Nancy: We’re no better than those who believe differently and have chosen differently. So now is not the time for us—it never is the time—for us to pick up stones. Right? Non-Christians can be cruel; Christians can be cruel. They ought to be seeing us as the most loving, the most engaged.

A friend of mine and a couple in this area who were there in their seventies were telling me they went recently to where there was a demonstration going on somewhere in our area. They saw these two, college-aged girls carrying signs. They want the right to abort. And so my friends who are old-time Christians walked up to these girls, and they said, “We would love to just talk. We'd love to have a conversation.” He said there were some Christians there carrying signs basically damning everybody to hell who didn't agree with a Christian position.

But my friends walked up to these two college-aged girls and said, “Hey, can you help us understand like how you came to this position?” They ended up really having a healthy and meaningful conversation. They were able to plant some seeds. Those girls were not gonna listen to the sign carrying people yelling at them about how evil they are. That really is not helpful.

I do think the battle will be on our knees. Yes. It's in prayer. Thank God for the people been praying for this for years and years and years. That will continue to be the case. But it's also with our neighbors and with our friends' kids who are in an unexpected, unplanned pregnancy and don't know what they're going to do. I've seen this in my own world in my own family, extended family, and how we handle this one on one, life to life, is huge.

Erin: Well, just as we would say, “It's not a blob of tissues, it's a person.” We can also say, “It's not an angry woman or man with a sign. It's a person. They bear the image of God.”

As we're wrapping up here, Kathy, I would love for you to just put a face to it. Anytime it's "us versus them,” one side versus the other, screaming across the aisle, it becomes so easy to dehumanize the other side. And as you were saying, Nancy, as followers of Jesus, we're not immune from that approach. So I'd love for you to just put a face to this issue of abortion. Is there a woman or a child or somebody that comes to mind as a face of this for you?

Kathy: I'm thinking of one young lady in particular.  I think she was about eighteen when came into Life Plan. She worked at a local grocery store. One of her friends attended a local church and had heard of Life Plan and brought her in for an appointment. We did an ultrasound for her.

She had made an appointment for an abortion. I think she came in on a Wednesday and saw the ultrasound. She was about fourteen weeks pregnant. You can really see the hands and feet and a lot of things on a fourteen-week-old baby in an ultrasound. She came in the following day just to get some counsel.

I was able to go in and just share a little bit of my own story with some choices I had made that I still regret. As we often do, we'll go through some of the procedures and that type of thing, what you'll experience because she was going to have surgery. I was able to go through that with her and share some of the things that she might experience.

And then a little bit into the conversation, I was able to speak into her spiritual life. At Life Plan we're not government funded, so I have freedom. I'm always careful to say we don't force this on anyone; everybody's in a different place with their spiritual walk. But if you don't mind, can I share a little bit how I came to Christ at age twenty-seven? I was able to share just my own testimony of that.

As I talked to her, she just looked cold, like it wasn't touching her at all. And I was just like, “Okay, I'm going to step out, and I'm going to let you  this other lady will share with you and finish your appointment. I walked out of there thinking, Boy, that didn't make a difference.

Probably fifteen minutes later, they all came out crying. She had received Christ as her Savior. And the neat thing about it was, probably a month ago, I was in the grocery store. And there's this little baby in the cart in front of me. I looked at the mom and it was her. I was just like, “I cannot believe this.” I have not had that experience before, but God just orchestrated it .

It was so neat to have that opportunity to speak the gospel and think that it wasn't making a difference. I'm telling you, you may not know but the Holy Spirit is working with the Word of God. That's what's going to change people's hearts.

Erin: I want us to head into this day into this week and the weeks to come thinking about that scared eighteen-year-old who didn't expect to become a mom at eighteen. Who knows her relationship status, who knows what she was worried about her parents thinking? And she chose Christ, and then chose life. I want us to think about that.

You told us earlier that that baby was about two. I love two. That's when they’re chubby, and their faces are squishy. And that little two-year-old in that shopping cart . . . Those are the faces that this is about. Let's not be the screaming faces. Be the faces that reached towards those women and those children.

Nancy: Well, God is a  redeeming God who's making all things new. What we've seen today, it's Friday as we're speaking with that news of that ruling coming down. Now, it'll be Monday as this is airing and only the Lord knows what's going to happen in the next week and the weeks ahead, but heaven does rule.

We did the thing that was right that we need to keep doing as we were sitting in that recording session earlier today, and that was to pray. Our team was able to record some of those prayers. We want to share excerpts of those and invite you to join us maybe just slip to your knees if you're able and lift up your hands to the Lord. It was a holy moment in that room as we cried out to the Lord. But it was just a moment. We need lots more of those moments.

So join us if you would now as we pray with these that are lifting their voices up to the Lord. The skirmishes and the scenes in the battle background will change. It will continue to change in the days ahead, until we see Jesus. What we're recording today will be old news by this coming week. But God is still on his throne. He is still at work. He is still renaming, making all things new.

Kathy and Erin, I'm so glad that in the Lord's Providence He had you here in town. At this session, only God could have written that script. God's writing a script in your life. In your circumstances, He wants you to be a part of the good redeeming work He is doing in this world. So let's join these as they pray, and ask the Lord to continue to move in our hearts, in the church, in the lives of women, in the men who are in those women's lives, in our government, in our leaders and our officials. There are so many lost souls, but Jesus saves. Let's be praying for that end.

Erin: Oh, Jesus, you're the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and end. You call the stars out one by one and not one of them is missing. And you have not forgotten about this, but me of little faith, I didn't think You would do it . . . and You did. So we praise You that no battle is too big for You. We praise You that no person is too small for You, that You're on the move.

So we thank You for what You've done in our nation. Lord, I pray that it would just be the first domino to fall. We don't want court rulings overturned, we want revival. I pray that Your Spirit would fall.

I thank You for the millions of babies who might now live and experience eternity with us because of this shift. Keep it going, Lord. We trust You; help us to trust You more and more. I believe, help my unbelief. Amen.

Woman: Lord, thank You so much for what You 've done and for this decision. I pray that as the church that we wouldn't now rest, because there are going to be lots of hurting women who don't know You who are pregnant. There are lots of couples who would love children who don't have them. We pray God that Your Church would rise up and take care of these women, to share the love of Jesus with them, to help them to protect their babies, to care for them, practically speaking, to care for them spiritually.

God, I pray that we wouldn't let the government take the job of the Church anymore but that we would truly rise up and show them what the love of Jesus, and what Jesus can really do.

I pray that you would protect the places where women can go, the pregnancy resource centers, the churches. God, we know that Satan is not happy. We know that we have an enemy who hates life and wants to destroy those that are made in Your image. So we pray for protection. We pray for wisdom; we pray for guidance.

For the states who have laws on the books that were ready to counteract, Lord, we pray that as Christian people, we would be wise, that we will be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves with people who don't know You. I pray that we would be careful in our speech, that we would be loving and kind, but that we would stand firm on the truth that every life matters. It begins at conception, Lord. We pray that You would help us to not just stand for truth, but to stand for truth like Jesus did with an attitude of humility and meekness and love.

Woman: Gracious Father, we are so thankful for this decision from the courts. We just give You thanks and praise for that, dear God. I pray that as believers that we don't see those who oppose us as enemies, but yet remember that this is a spiritual battle that's still taking place.

God, You love them just as much as You love us. And so, I pray that as believers, we would be thankful for this decision. I pray we would learn to love others well, those who think differently than us, those who may see this and not be happy at all. So, I pray that in the weeks and days to come, Lord, give us ears to listen well, not just to hear words, but to hear hearts that really just don't know You.

Our hearts should break because they don't know You when we desire that they do. I pray the believers wouldn't get in endless arguments, battles, and debates, because that doesn't serve to seek Your purpose. I pray for the pregnancy centers, God, that You would grant them such grace and wisdom and protection.

I pray for our nation our government officials. I pray that the judges would be safe. I pray dear God in this place where it seems so dark where we don't know how to have civil discourse that we would learn to do so. But not just to win the argument there.

Lord, we are ambassadors for You. Give us the wisdom daily to put on the full armor of God, knowing that Jesus is interceding for us as we pray for others. Thank You so much that the lives of children will be spared and that we as believers will love others well.

Woman: Dear Father, I thank You with all my heart for being the protector of the innocent, the One who stands up for the weak and the little ones who can't speak. Thank You for what You've done.

I have grieved for many years, over the loss of the life of the unborn children. Roe v. Wade passed when I was a freshman in college. There were women who were just pushing for this, and I couldn't believe that they would take the lives of their own children, or that their doctors would tell them to do that. So many of them were so desperate, and they were really deceived by people who said, “This is not a child.” I was grieved as a college freshman, and for all these years, I've been so grieved.

Today, I'm a grandmother of eight. I ask You all the time to save these little ones. And today, You've shown Yourself mighty and great. You've given light in a very dark place. And so Lord, I pray for our nation, that You bring great spiritual awakening. Revive Your church. Help us to show Christ, to care for those who are hurting so deeply and feel like they have no other options than to get rid of what's in their way of the life they want to live. They think they only have two choices: either get rid of their child or have a terrible life. They don't realize that You will help them love and nurture this child and Your power can bring light into very dark places, and can bring such good things out of such trouble if they will only walk Your way.

So the choice isn't get rid of my child, or have a terrible life. The choices are love and accept this child as a gift, and see what God does, what wonderful things He does when I listen to Him and obey Him.

Thank You for what You're doing, Lord. Revive Your church. I pray people everywhere will fall on their knees and recognize You as the great One that You are and follow You. Change the hearts of people everywhere. Thank You for those who have the courage, even if they don't know You as their Savior and Lord, they have the sense that there is good and there is evil, there is right and there is wrong. And they want to do what's right, they want to honor God. They might not know You yet, but they know that You're there, and they want to honor You. And then there are those who are standing up for life because they know that it's a gift from You.

Thank You for what you're doing. Thank You for Your love. I pray Your hand be on our country, on the world, on mothers and their children and the fathers. I pray that You would do a great work, give great life to these little ones, and literally deliver them to walk with You. In Jesus name, amen.

Robert: Father, after fifty years, every woman has the right to choose regardless of their age, even little babies can live. And so we ask that You would give us grace and solidarity with Your Word, with Your will, and with Your grace. We do agree that we pray that these justices will be protected and that the truth be told. These machines that are now in these resource centers that show people what the baby really looks like has changed the tide because that really is a life in there.

So I pray for courage across the board—people are in front of cameras and people standing next to neighbors. Thank You for Your Church. I pray again, that people will open their doors to children who may not have been wanted by their parents that were selected and selected by a sovereign Father.

Nancy: Lord, we just, again affirm that heaven rules. You rule over kings and queens and governments and presidents and judges and elected officials, national, state, and local powers of this earth. You rule over Your Church. You rule over Your people. You rule over the wicked. You rule. There is not as an inch in this universe that is not under your rule. And so we thank You, and we trust You.

We do pray, Lord, for a blanketing of Your presence and peace and power, as we know all hell wants to break loose and is probably happening as we speak. But You rule, You reign. May Your people linking arms with omnipotence, in the power of your Holy Spirit, be those who love and care and share and are winsome and grace-filled and strong in the Lord in your power. The ones who pray the battle is going to be fought, that has been fought and is going to continue to be fought on our knees, Lord.

So we lift our eyes, our hands, our hearts up to You. We pray, Lord, in this land in these days, would you please have mercy on those who are and who will be in the streets? Have mercy on those who are angry. We don't know, Lord, what it all is in their hearts, what has given rise to what comes out as evil. We know that You love even these evil doers. In delaying Your return, You give time for them to repent and to know Christ.

So may we send forth the gospel. May we show Christ to be mighty and majestic and magnificent and tender and precious and beautiful in all that You are. Oh, Lord, come, come in these days. Our hearts are just so full. They're full of Thanksgiving, but they're also heavy, because we know that the battle is not over. But we know who wins. Heaven rules. Let heaven and nature sing our praise to Christ the King, amen. 

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth if calling you to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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