Former Vice President Mike Pence says he believes the country is becoming more pro-life and that it's "well possible" that the U.S. Supreme Court will give the pro-life movement the victory they've long desired.
Pence made the remarks Wednesday at a gathering of the Young America's Foundation (YAF) in response to a question about the future of the pro-life movement. YAF is a conservative organization of students and young Americans.
Life, Pence said, is a "gift from God."
"I've been in the pro-life movement since I was about your age," he said. "And I've never been more optimistic that we are close to the day that we will restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law."
The new U.S. Supreme Court includes three justices nominated by President Trump when Pence served as vice president: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. With six members forming the so-called conservative bloc, some experts call it the most conservative court since the 1930s.
This fall, the high court will hear a major case involving a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Upholding the law will require the court to undermine Roe v. Wade.
"I think if we come with conviction about the essential critical nature of life at the center of our laws, and we come with the compassion that has characterized this movement, I think it is well possible that that new majority on the Supreme Court of the United States will give us a fresh start. So let's be heard. Let's speak out, and let's pray for the day that we send Roe v Wade to the ash heap of history," Pence said to applause.
Pence also gave advice to young pro-lifers, telling them to "love them both."
"We need to remember that abortion impacts two lives," he said.
The progress in the pro-life movement, Pence said, is due to victories in the political realm but also due to "the compassion that's shown in crisis pregnancy centers around the country."
Americans, he said, are discovering the "truth" about abortion.
"I honestly believe that the progress that we've been making that shows that your generation, almost every day, is embracing the right to life, is that since that decision in 1973 – I have to believe in my heart that in the quiet counsels between mothers and daughters, between grandmothers and granddaughters, the truth about abortion is being told."
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Scott Eisen/Stringer
Video courtesy: ©Young America's Foundation
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
