How to Pray After the Overturning of Roe v. Wade

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) upheld Mississippi’s protections for the unborn in Dobbs v. Jackson, and they also reversed the previous decisions Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). In sum, SCOTUS concluded, “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.”

Although there is much more that needs to be considered, today we pause to give thanks to the Lord. And we remember the many who have labored perseveringly in the pro-life cause to do away with the unjust law of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion, the taking of human life in the womb. This law, which has resulted in the death of millions and left a stain in our land, is now overruled.

In response to this decision, and in thanks to God, we, the people of God, respond, “The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy” (Ps 126:3). When we, the body of Christ, gather in our local churches on Sunday let’s join together in prayer, giving thanks the sanctity of life has been affirmed and for wisdom to live out with convictional kindness next steps in our affirmation of life.

• We give thanks the ruling affirms God’s truth that all of life is sacred, particularly those most vulnerable human beings in the womb.
• We pray for all those who have experienced the brokenness of sin in the taking of life through abortion (approximately 63 million babies since 1973), and we pray the healing hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be received such that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
• We pray we will continue to uphold the sanctity of life with conviction (the faith once for all entrusted to the saints regarding life) and we will engage with others with kindness (family, fellow church members, friends, neighbors, community): convictional kindness.
• We pray against the enemy and the spiritual forces of evil in this world, who seek to steal, kill and destroy life and who blind the minds of unbelievers, using the spiritual means of “God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name.”
• We pray God’s name will be hallowed, His kingdom will come, His will will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, and that we, His adopted sons and daughters in Christ in the church, will reflect the heart of Christ for all those who bear the image of God and serve as ambassadors of His compassion and restoration in our hurting and broken world.