The Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade was worth any losses suffered by pro-life candidates in the 2022 election, says seminary president Albert Mohler.
Abortion was a leading issue for voters in this year's election, which saw Democrats surprise the experts by retaining the Senate and fighting to a near 50/50 draw in the House of Representatives. (The final result in that latter chamber is not yet known.)
The national Democratic Party made abortion one of its top issues in campaign ads. An Election Day CNN exit poll showed it was the No. 1 issue for Democratic voters but only No. 5 for Republican voters.
Mohler cited a New York Times column by pro-lifer Ross Douthat, who wrote that "Republicans in 2022 traded a larger margin in the House and maybe a Senate seat or two for a generational goal, the end of Roe v. Wade."
Mohler made the comments on his podcast, The Briefing, acknowledging Election Day was a "disaster" for pro-lifers. Mohler is the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
"A very key insight in Douthat's argument is this, 'If you were to go back to say January or February of 2022, and you could say to pro-life voters: Look, here's the deal. You could have a disappointing election in November, but you can see the end of Roe v. Wade, or you can see a more successful election in November, but you have to give up hope of ever reversing Roe v. Wade.' I'll be honest, I would take the reversal of Roe v. Wade over the electoral win," Mohler said.
"Now again, our job is to try to achieve both, but the fact is that the election was a disappointment for the pro-life cause," Mohler added. "But nonetheless, we are still going into the end of 2022 with the most significant headline news story being the reversal of Roe v. Wade after almost 50 years of deadly precedent."
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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.
