Alexandra DeSanctis Marr came to us at National Review fresh out of Notre Dame. I had heard about her from some friends — that she was something special. And that she is. A dynamo on fire for life — telling the truth, and fearlessly taking on lies that lead to death.
When she worked at NR, she made herself so indispensable on life issues that none of the rest of us thought we would ever have to read a Planned Parenthood report again. She’s probably got a saner work-life balance at the Ethics and Public Policy Center now, more conducive to life as a young mother. Do check out the book she co-authored with Ryan T. Anderson, Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing.
I do feel better about the state of the world knowing we have grounded, convicted young people, full of faith in God and gratitude for life like Xan.
Her thoughts on this week’s anniversary:
After Roe v. Wade was overturned three years ago, dozens of states began to pass laws protecting unborn children. Even so, the national abortion rate has gone up, and the pro-life movement continues to lose at the ballot box across the country.
Pro-lifers need to think about abortion as, first and foremost, a cultural problem. Law and policy matter a great deal, of course. But abortion is, more than anything, a symptom of deep cultural sickness. If our aim is to build a country where our fellow citizens no longer view abortion as a solution, we have to understand this deep sickness and work to heal it. Most of our fellow Americans think abortion is an inevitable part of living in the modern world. Many Americans say they’re pro-life or generally against abortion but nevertheless believe it should remain legal, at least in some circumstances. We need look no further than the unfolding debate over assisted suicide to see that many Americans believe killing can be a solution.
Abortion is wrapped up in Americans’ beliefs about personal liberty, self-determination, and equality between men and women. Whether or not they’d put it this way, most people believe that, on the whole, it’s unjust to require anything of men and women when it comes to sexual relationships. Our society has the general attitude that sex is just a form of recreation, that it should be available with no accompanying responsibilities, that this access is a human right—and children are the ones left paying the price.
This helps us understand why, time after time since Dobbs, Americans—including in red and purple states—have voted to reject pro-life measures and enshrine pro-abortion policies, including some truly radical ones. It’s not because most Americans love abortion. It’s because they see it as a necessary evil. They feel they can’t tell others what’s right for them in the realm of sex and parenthood. They think in the back of their mind that they or the people they love might someday need abortion, even if they don’t want to make that choice.
Ending abortion will require not just arguing against abortion but also offering a positive argument. We can’t merely oppose abortion; we have to be able to explain that it is wrong because life is good. We’re surrounded by people who have no idea that every human being—from the very first moment he or she comes into existence—is made in the image and likeness of God. To heal this cultural sickness, we have to start there.