World Views

Storm Clouds Gathering Over the Supreme Court

Storm clouds have begun gathering over the Supreme Court since May, after the court agreed to hear Mississippi's appeal of the case, Dobbs v. Jackson. The state's initial appeal, filed in June 2020, argued The Gestational Age Act  complied with existing precedent, suggesting that Roe be overturned if the court found no other way to uphold the state law.  The Mississippi act prohibited abortion at 15 weeks and beyond. The state's brief filed on Thursday directly challenges Roe and Casey. The brief stated,"Roe and Casey are egregiously wrong. The conclusion that abortion is a constitutional right has no basis in text, structure, history or tradition. Roe broke from prior cases, Casey failed to rehabilitate it, and both recognize a right that has no basis in the Constitution." Mississippi is going straight for the jugular of the Roe and Casey rulings. State Attorney General Lynn Fitch has hired Scott Stewart, a veteran of the Trump Justice Department, a former law clerk to Justice Thomas, and is expected to argue the case.

Since the death of Justice Ginsberg in September 2020 and the subsequent appointment of Judge Barrett,  she is expected to join Justices: Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Thomas and Alito to vote against abortion rights. Justice Roberts, the "conservative " loose cannon on the court will not be of any consequence if he sides with the three consistently liberal judges.

The Jackson Women's Health Organization, the state's only abortion clinic, argued in its initial brief filed last August, that 50 years of precedent have established viability as a clear marker where the balance between a woman's right over her own body begin to yield to a states interest in protecting potential life. The clinic argued, "Before viability, the State's interests, whatever they may be, cannot override a pregnant person's interests in their liberty and autonomy over their own body."

Sadly, 50 years of "precedent" have claimed the lives of over 50 million babies and counting since the Roe v. Wade decision. "Precedent" that was based on a non-existent right. Oh, how we've hailed the Emperor's new clothes when we knew he was naked all along. This is not just an embarrassing moment that we can chuckle about afterwards. No, this is a  profound moral outrage that assaults the sacred value of human life and dignity, the likes of which have never before been witnessed in a modern "civilized" society. We await the 50 million would be babies day in court. 

Canadian Churches Ablaze

In response to finding old unmarked graves of indigenous children on church property, at least a dozen Catholic Churches have been burnt to the ground in Canada. In Canada's past history, the French forced native peoples to attend church schools for conversion purposes. Many of these children died of small pox and tuberculosis and were buried on church grounds. An official response to the fires and vandalism from President Trudeau  was delayed for over a week and tepid at best. He stated that he understood the feelings that led to this and that as Canadians  we should not do this, but he did state that the Pope should apologize  to his people for past wrongs. One church that was set afire ended up burning down a small village resulting in a fatality. In addition, "Antifa like" demonstrators have begun to vandalize and topple historic monuments and statues, much like their neighbors to the south have done. Never leave a  good crisis go to waste, is right out of the Left's playbook. One wonders what the government's response would have been if mosque's were torched instead of Christian Churches? It would have been immediate and no resources would be spared to track down and prosecute the offenders. So far no arrests have been made.

The Autonomy Argument

An opinion piece  authored by Alexis Drutchas, M.D., entitled, "In America, Is Bodily Autonomy a Human Right?," she explores this issue from the framework of today's modern medical practice. This appeared in the online CNN Opinion on June 3rd.  In her article she links bodily autonomy "rights"  together with abortion, assisted suicide and gender change. Her argument is that we must do away with the "Paternalistic Medicine" of the past and subscribe to not  having moral judgements  interfere with certain decisions about bodily freedoms- like aid in dying, transgender health and reproductive rights. Laws that limit these rights are deemed oppressive and are influenced by politicians driven by "religious fundamentalist leaders." (in other words any one with those outdated orthodox Christian morality views) 

First of all what exactly does human autonomy mean? Autonomy is a compound Greek word consisting of two parts, auto which means self and nomy meaning law or rule. So human autonomy means being a law unto oneself. How does this work out in society today? " I feel the need for speed," as Tom Cruise put it in "Top Gun." How does that argument work out for you when a State Trooper pulls you over for going 120 mph on the turnpike? You will get a ticket, a fine and points on your driver's license. Go ahead, appeal that in traffic court and I'm sure the judge won't buy your argument either. It's quite obvious that society places restraints on autonomy, as well it should. We cannot all be a law unto ourselves or we would be living in chaos. As we become a more secularized society the moral restraints of the Christian World View  have been marginalized , kicked to the wayside and it is considered ignorance. That's why we are able to murder children in the womb at any time, will ourselves to be the opposite sex, redefine marriage to be whatever we want it to be, and take our own lives or others in the name of quality of life decisions. However, one thing we cannot change is another Greek word Ontology (reality). We cannot will our xx and xy chromosomes to change. We cannot change reality. Ontology trumps Autonomy, that is truth, period. The Christian Word View stems from the very first four words of Scripture, "In the beginning God.." It does not say, in the beginning man, I, we, they... this is reality that we cannot deny, God is  Sovereign, to do so is moral chaos. If we do, to quote another movie line by Tom Hanks, "Houston, we have a problem."

Dr. Drutchas is an attending Physician at The Massachusetts General Hospital in the palliative care division and a Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project. She has previously worked at Fenway Health, a nationally recognized LGBTQ+ health center in Boston and co-founded the Rhode Island Trans Health Conference. Her work has appeared in the Boston Globe, Boston Globe Magazine and Media. Click Here for Article