Alabama has done a wonderful thing in outlawing abortion. I want to commend her legislature and her governor for doing the right thing, and every thoughtful Christian should be humming under their breath: “in Birmingham they love the governor, we all did what we could do.”

There will be many occasions in the months to come to write more about this issue and the pending showdown it represents, but I wanted to say just one thing about all of it at the outset.

In 1973, the Roe decision was a federal power move, calculated to pressure the states. Unfortunately, all the states went along with this ghoulish decision, including those states which would have continued to outlaw abortion if it had been left up to them. They were willing to outlaw abortion, but were not willing to fight with the federal government over their right to outlaw abortion.

But thanks to a generation of pro-life activism, the issue has been kept alive (unlike millions of children), and it appears that a number of states are now showing a willing to have that fight.

What the Georgia heartbeat bill does, and what Alabama has just now done, is calculated to reverse the pressure. Instead of the feds pressuring the states, we are seeing the states pressuring the feds. The Supreme Court needs to be dealing with a host of incoming lawsuits, and these lawsuits need to be emanating from numerous states that are showing themselves to be intransigent on this issue. The more states the better.

Stop deferring to Roe. It is no more settled law than the Dred Scott case is.