In one stroke of the pen, five decades of abortion jurisprudence was undone. Abortion is once again an issue for states to decide on their own.
This was a remarkable victory, and adding details only underscores just how remarkable. Public opinion on abortion has been stable for decades. It’s fairly clear there was no overwhelming public support for overturning Roe, or for banning abortion more generally. Even more importantly, elite opinion in the United States is decisively pro-abortion. Dobbs was the rare right-of-center case where a smaller but more passionate and committed political faction carried the day.
This wasn’t a fluke or a random twist of fate. Alito’s ruling was the byproduct of decades of effort by the pro-life movement. That movement operates very differently from other conservative and populist political causes in America, so the fact that it has won so many victories, and just won its biggest one yet, deserves close attention. All patriotic Americans looking to secure long-term political victories should be looking to the pro-life movement for lessons on how to succeed.
Here are some lessons that everybody could learn from the pro-lifers’ success. Read more…