“Consider: there is climate justice, environmental justice, gender justice, education justice, social justice, criminal justice, housing justice, racial justice, and the everworrisome reproductive justice, to name a few. But does this really matter, and if so, why?” Chandra White-Cummings This past summer of 2022, the United States Supreme Court corrected a 49-year injustice when it overruled Roe v Wade and related case Planned Parenthood v Casey. It is ironic that abortion advocates view the ‘right’ to abortion as a matter of justice, but pro-life supporters often don’t see or articulate the inalienable right to life as a matter of justice. We need to change that. This curious oversight in pro-life circles stands in stark contrast to the reflexive way in which the word ‘justice’ is appended to everything else in the policy and advocacy arenas. Consider: there is climate justice, environmental justice, gender justice, education justice, social justice, criminal justice, housing justice, racial justice, and the ever-worrisome reproductive justice, to name a few. But does this really matter, and if so, why? A vigorous and robust expression of prolife advocacy requires its identification as the preeminent justice issue for at least two reasons. First, it is imperative for the unification of our Christian witness. Christians of every racial group, from both genders, any socioeconomic status or background, and all denominations or sects should stop the habit we’ve gotten into of classifying racial issues as pertaining to ‘justice’ and prolife issues as related to ‘morality’ or righteousness. This type of cultural grouping is very handy for political purposes because it allows us, and others, to label people in convenient and manageable ways. Certain groups identify with and stress race and justice issues, and other groups associate with and claim moral issues. The problem is not that we can’t or shouldn’t represent both. continued on page 84...
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