There’s an argument in favor of legalizing same-sex “marriage” that says if legalized it will unite the country and remove a cultural wedge issue. One need only to look to the issue of abortion to know how absurdly false that claim is. The fact is, legalizing same-sex “marriage” will no more unite the country than the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court did.

Speaking of Roe and abortion, the Supreme Court has, in recent years, been a far more pro-life court than many have expected. Maybe it’s due to the advancement of science that was previously unavailable to the court. Maybe the court would have ruled differently had this science been available in 1973?

Or maybe it is the growing public sentiment supporting life that is having an impact on the court. As science increasingly reveals the humanity of the unborn the American public increasingly supports defending life at its earliest stages. As the American public makes their convictions known through elections, boycotts, and support for state level legislation, there is no doubt the Supreme Court is watching.

Evidence for the high court’s pro-life leaning can be seen in five recent rulings. As Life News reported in a recent article, 71% of Americans favor some abortions restrictions, and at least 205 state level abortion laws have been passed between 2010 and 2013; more than the previous decade. The high court seems to be following the same trend with rulings in favor of life.

Life News shared a summary of the most recent five Supreme Court cases regarding abortion and the fact that the court ruled in favor of life:

5. Gonzales v. Carhart
   Decided April 18, 2007

Following the enactment of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, Dr. Leroy Carhart and other abortionists sued to continue to perform the procedure — defined in the law as “[when] the entire baby’s head is outside the body of the mother… [and a] person [knowingly] kills the partially delivered infant.” The Supreme Court held that the law was Constitutional and not an “undue burden” as some claimed. Five years following the ruling, Alliance Defending Freedom used Guttmacher Institute’s own numbers to estimate that over 10,000 pre-born babies may have been saved due to this policy shift.

4. Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas v. Abbott
   Court Order Given November 19, 2013

With support from a large bipartisan majority of Texas legislators, HB 2 (also known as Texas Senate Bill 5) was signed into law on July 18, 2013. By November, the question of the state law’s constitutionality was elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Antonin Scalia rejected the emergency appeal to halt the Texas law, finding Planned Parenthood did not “[assert] that the law is even probably unconstitutional.” Safety regulations in the Texas law — requiring abortion centers to follow surgical clinic standards, banning dangerous “telemed” abortions, and ensuring abortion providers are properly licensed — have since been enacted in other states.

3. Little Sisters of the Poor v. Sebelius
   Court Order Given January 24, 2014

This past January, Justice Sonia Sotomayor faced an emergency appeal from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Under Obamacare, would a group of Catholic nuns who perform charity work in a non-church capacity be forced to pay for contraceptives in their insurance plan? Justice Sotomayor decided in favor of Little Sisters of the Poor, granting them an injunction against the Obama Administration’s mandate.

2. McCullen v. Coakley
   Decided June 26, 2014

In this case brought against 77 year-old sidewalk counselor Eleanor McCullen, she won the right to speak up freely to women entering abortion centers in Massachusetts. Only weeks after the ruling, however, Massachusetts passed a severe new law that reinstates “buffer zone” requirements. Today, even a peaceful grandmother like McCullen who distributes literature within 25 feet of an abortion center’s entrance could face steep penalties — fines that reach up to a whopping $50,000 and up to 5 years in jail.

1. Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.
   Decided June 30, 2014

In this much-discussed court case, Hobby Lobby — a national arts-and-crafts chain which employs over 16,000 Americans — successfully defended its policy of not covering in employee insurance plans four drugs and devices that can end the life of a pre-born baby. Following months of focused prayer at the Supreme Court, Bound4LIFE team members joined the crowds outside the court who hailed the decision as a victory for life and liberty. Legislation in Congress intended to reverse the decision was voted down in an initial vote of the U.S. Senate on July 16.

What is evident in these rulings is that the court seems strongly in favor of defending life rather than allowing “abortion on demand and without apology,” as some desire. There is already speculation that the high court will take up another case (or two) regarding abortion during their upcoming term. Will the court continue to defend life? Will the court pave the way for the reversal of Roe?

I can’t answer those questions but I certainly hope the trend towards life continues. If the weakest among us are not defended and protected we can be sure none of us are safe. We cannot call ourselves a just society while killing the unborn. The court is beginning to see that and seems to be moving towards a resolution of the abortion issue. Just as it once enacted a 50-state solution legalizing abortion let us hope it will atone for that mistake with a 50-state solution outlawing abortion.