Today’s historic ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – in which the Justices overruled the high Court’s prior decision, Roe vs. Wade — culminates nearly fifty years of erudite scholarly legal critiques of Roe’s spurious and contrived rationale. As Justice Alito’s majority opinion put it so bluntly, and squarely on target, the Roe ruling, handed down on January 22, 1973, was not only wrong but “egregiously wrong.”

Wholly apart from Roe’s fatal flaws as a matter of legal (and historical) scholarship and its bloody legacy of so many millions of innocent lost lives, today’s Dobbs ruling is also the fruit of more than a half century of ardent, sustained, and indomitable pro-life protest across the entire United States. Time and again, we have heard the pro-abortion forces’ refrain that Roe was absolutely “entrenched” and “settled law,” and that those of us who recoiled against its abortion- on-demand regime were futile in our opposition and hopelessly stymied by Roe’s pseudo- constitutional mandate. Yet pro-life outcry and protest never faded, let alone ceased. Today, Roe’s vaunted constitutional underpinnings and impenetrable bastions were proven to be nothing more than a house of cards built on sand.

So, let us celebrate and honor all those heroes – “sung” and “unsung” alike – who both prayed and labored in this holy vineyard – whose drumbeat so steadily proclaimed over these decades the message that every human being’s life is sacred, from beginning to end – no matter whether humble or exalted, rich or poor, “wanted” or supposedly “unwanted” by anybody. Trying as hard as they might, the abortionists and their cash-enriched political allies could never suppress this drumbeat of protest. Pro-lifers were never deterred, muted or silenced!

We’ve been blessed to have crossed paths with so many of the heroes who labored in this vineyard, defending the late great activist leader, Joseph Scheidler, who authored a protest manual and forged a national network of pro-life protesters and activists, inspiring so many others including the young preacher from Binghamton, NY, Randall Terry, who founded and led mass protests bannered as “Operation Rescue.” Over 28 years, with God’s grace, in three tripsbefore the U.S. Supreme Court, we defeated charges that Scheidler’s network (allegedly made up of as many as a million activists) violated the federal antitrust and racketeering (“RICO”) laws.

But we salute so many other activist leaders, many deceased while others have lived to see this day, including the very protagonists who figured in both Roe vs. Wade, namely, the late Ms. Norma McCorvey, who lamented her young role as “Jane Roe” and became an advocate for life, and the late Ms. Sandra Cano, who likewise lamented her role as “Mary Doe” in Roe’s companion case, Doe vs. Bolton, to speak out in support of the sanctity of life. Both ladies had never appeared in court before testifying in NOW vs. Scheidler to defend pro-life activism.

We salute, among so many others, John Cavanaugh O’Keefe, “Father of the Rescue Movement,” Joan Andrews Bell, sued along with Scheidler and jailed for years in solitary cells as a “non-coop” pro-life activist, John Ryan of St. Louis, another co-defendant, the late Dr. Jack Willke, the outspoken longtime leader of the National Right to Life Committee, and the late Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, author of the Hyde Amendment, who testified for Scheidler that abortion centers were equivalent to Auschwitz and Dachau.

Likewise, we salute contemporary pro-life heroes including – among others too numerous to name here – David Bereit, who founded 40 Days for Life, the international crusade for prayerful witness at the sites of abortion providers; Lila Rose and her group “Live Action,” who pioneered in video-taping abortionists and their helpers revealing repulsive, inhumane, and often illicit practices.

Today’s pro-life victory is still only one more step in our ongoing crusade for the sacred cause we serve. Dobbs will not end abortion. Instead, it will shift our battles to each of the fifty (50) states – both red and blue states. Yes, we have cause to celebrate Dobbs as a landmark event. But we must persevere and even intensify our efforts toward ending this scourge of abortion, once and for all, as it still bloodies our nation and corrupts our culture. Let us renew our pro-life efforts with unstinting determination and the utmost vigor!