Evangelicals Applaud US Supreme Court Decision on Abortion

First modification: 06/27/2022 – 12:15

At Woodlands Bible Church, a temple north of Houston, Texas, evangelical worshipers, all white and mostly older, applaud when the pastor discusses the Supreme Court’s decisions. In the first place, the one that will allow carrying weapons in public. But, above all, the one related to the repeal of the Roe v. Wade, which has recognized the right to abortion in the United States for almost half a century.

Mark Keough is a pastor on Sundays and a Republican elected to lead Montgomery County the rest of the week. A county that prides itself on being the most conservative in Texas. “I’m very happy with this decision, and I pray that God will bring people to their senses so they don’t see this as an attack on a lifestyle,” he says.

“I agree, it’s like God showed up to show us the way,” agrees Gracie. Like this young woman, a Vietnam War veteran agrees with her pastor. “It is a serious matter what happened in Nazi Germany. Six million Jews were ‘sacrificed’. Here we have almost 70 million babies who were killed,” says 76-year-old John David Morvan.

A mass under protection

In this temple they fear violent reactions from “devil worshipers”, which is what they call the pro-abortion. A uniformed policeman and plainclothes men stand in the crowd to reassure worshipers and keep an eye on strangers. The policeman comes on stage after the first preaching to warn that there are some unknown faces in the audience and that they are being watched. “The case Roe v. Wade is going to spawn something we’ve never seen in our lives,” he asserts. “So I got to know each and every one of you. But if I don’t know you…” The policeman then points to a stranger in the community: he is the journalist from Radio France International writing this article.

The fight of the evangelicals is not over. Their political leaders, like former Vice President Mike Pence, are now calling for abortion to be banned across the United States. Half of the states in the US have already implemented or will implement restrictions or outright bans on abortion.