After Roe V. Wade Is Overturned, Archbishop Lori Says It's A 'Historic Day'
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, paving the way for some states to ban abortions, the leader of the Catholic Church in Baltimore said he is thankful for the decision and it is "good news for the cause of life."
Speaking while on a pilgrimage to Germany, Archbishop William Lori called on Baltimore area Catholics to offer "love and care and services" to women in difficult pregnancies, according to a video posted by The Catholic Review, a weekly newspaper based in Maryland.
"So it is both a victory but also a daily challenge," Lori said.
Lori serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee on "pro-life activities." He released a joint statement with Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles saying the ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization is the "fruit of the prayers, sacrifices, and advocacy of countless ordinary Americans from every walk of life."
They offered their vision for the country post-Roe v. Wade.
"It is a time for healing wounds and repairing social divisions; it is a time for reasoned reflection and civil dialogue, and for coming together to build a society and economy that supports marriages and families, and where every woman has the support and resources she needs to bring her child into this world in love," Lori and Gomez said.
In Maryland, Catholics will have to work harder to "convince everyone about the sanctity of life, and to love both the mother and the child," he said.
As Lori noted, abortion rights are still protected in Maryland and have been for more than three decades after the Maryland General Assembly passed a law placing limited restrictions on the procedure.
After the measure was petitioned to a referendum, voters approved the law, Question 6, 62% to 38%, during the 1992 presidential election.
"I think our work is to win over minds and hearts," Lori said.
Under state law, abortions are permitted at any point up until a fetus is viable outside the womb, generally 24 weeks. An abortion may be performed in the state after that point if the patient's life is in danger or there is a "fetal abnormality," according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Several Maryland groups opposed to abortion rights also praised the ruling.
The leader of Maryland March for Life, a coalition holding an annual anti-abortion march in Annapolis, said the group will step up its efforts.
"Today we honor the mothers and fathers who have chosen life during the era of Roe and grieve with parents who felt pressured into abortion by a society which so easily casts aside the most vulnerable among us," said Therese Hessler, president of the Board of Maryland March for Life. "But we cannot forget that tomorrow in Maryland, abortions can and will be committed through the ninth month of pregnancy. The pursuit of a pro-life Maryland is just beginning."
Maryland Right to Life, a group lobbying for changes in the legislature, shared a meme with a picture of the court and the message "Today We Celebrate!"
The group asked for residents to join their cause.
"Life can win in Maryland too!" the group said.
