On May 3, 2022, a court employee leaked a draft opinion in the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson to the media. This draft opinion, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, stated that the majority of the Supreme Court voted not only to uphold Mississippi’s 15-week ban on abortion but to completely overturn Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood. Leaking this draft opinion of Dobbs was an absolutely unprecedented attack on the Supreme Court as an institution. The confidentiality of draft opinions is of the utmost necessity, and breaking that confidentiality is (at best) an undermining of our federal institutions. Even though this leak was abhorrent, pro-abortion activists cheered because they knew that it would lead to the intimidation of our Supreme Court justices.

Indeed, the leak of the draft Dobbs v. Jackson decision endangered the lives of every Justice on the Supreme Court. This week, a 26-year-old California man went to the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh with the intent to kill him over his pro-life views. This California man believed the best way to protect Roe v. Wade was to resort to the violent assassination of one of our highest federal officials.

Although this particular event is a terrible, extreme example of how radical pro-abortion activists act, this rhetoric of violence toward pro-life officials is not new. We should not fear when we are attacked by these extremists. Instead, we should strengthen our resolve to protect the unborn from murder and be proudly pro-life. But what does it mean to be pro-life?

Being pro-life means valuing the sanctity of life and understanding that abortion unjustly ends an innocent life. Since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, we have lost 64 million Americans and 200,000 Nebraska lives to abortion. Babies in the womb are babies and have no less value due to their location and stage of development. Standard embryology textbooks state that most of the baby’s organs form within six weeks’ gestation. By this time, also, a baby’s heart is developed and beating. At ten weeks, an embryo can feel pain. At eleven weeks, the baby begins to suck its thumb. Shortly after twelve weeks, the baby begins to move around the womb and make facial expressions. Abortion stops that baby’s heart, ending a human life that should be cherished.

Being pro-life means advocating for protecting the preborn. In the Nebraska Legislature, we have passed many laws that do just that in our state. In 2019, we passed LB 209 which expanded the information required to be provided during a medication abortion. In 2020, we passed LB 814 which banned the barbaric act of dismemberment abortions in our state. We, as a Legislature, will continue to push for bills to increase protections for our most vulnerable- not only for our preborn babies, but also for our children in need of streamlined adoption processes, equal opportunities for education, and safe homes and families in which they can grow and thrive. 

As always, I welcome your input on issues important to you. Follow along on my Facebook and Twitter pages, both entitled “Senator Julie Slama” for more updates, or contact me directly at Senator Julie Slama, District 1 State Capitol, PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604; telephone: 402-471-2733; email: jslama@leg.ne.gov.