By Kenny Digby
Correspondent
December 1, 2021, will be a critical day in the life of our nation and our state. On that Wednesday, the lawyers of our Mississippi attorney general, Lynn Fitch, will begin oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, defending Mississippi’s 15-week anti-abortion law — Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
If this Mississippi law is upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court, there will be fewer babies dying at the abortion facility on North State Street in Jackson — the sole abortion facility left in Mississippi.
We at the Christian Action Commission of our Mississippi Baptist Convention are pro-life. Abortion is the murder of an unborn child. We want all abortions to stop but until then we want less abortions, not more.
I am no lawyer nor the son of a lawyer, but I have understood that Roe v. Wade is one of the most faulty legal decisions ever by the Supreme Court. The amount of medical research and information on prenatal care and the true health and welfare of the mother is so much more advanced today than at the time of Roe v. Wade in 1973.
The discussion on December 1 concerning Mississippi’s 15-week law could open the door to a reconsideration of the legal, forensic accuracy of how Roe v. Wade was decided. Mississippi’s law could lead to Roe v. Wade being overturned after nearly 50 years and millions of abortions in our nation and thousands in our state.
The possible overturning of Roe v. Wade does not mean the end of abortion in the U.S.; it would strike down the nationwide legalization the Supreme Court somehow found in the U.S. Constitution and return the issue to be decided by each state. That would mean fewer abortions nationwide and hopefully no abortions in many states — especially in Mississippi.
This momentous occasion deserves the attention, prayers, and concern of God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians everywhere, but especially here in Mississippi. Therefore, Shawn Parker, executive director-treasurer of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board (MBCB); the Board itself; Rick Blythe, leader of MBCB’s Prayer Ministry; and I, Kenny Digby, executive director of the Christian Action Commission, are calling on you as Mississippi Baptists; on each of our 2,088 churches; and on our associations to declare Sunday, November 28, a Day of Fasting and Prayer for our attorneys who will be defending the law before the Supreme Court; for the nine men and women sitting on the Supreme Court (of whom six of nine are said to be conservative – far different from 1973 when Roe v. Wade was handed down); and for a correct decision.
Biblical fasting is not subtraction; it is substitution. While fasting, our physical appetites encourage us to engage in spiritual activities such as prayer and Bible study. Fasting helps us achieve a Spirit-controlled, mind-controlled, body.
The issue of abortion is a life and death matter for millions of children yet to be born. The December 1 hearing deserves our fasting and prayer. JOIN US on Sunday, November 28, for this much-needed Day of Fasting and Prayer.
Editor’s note: Resources for the Nov. 28 Day of Fasting and Prayer can be downloaded here.
Opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, The Baptist Record, nor the publication’s Advisory Committee. The author may be contacted at kdigby@christianaction.com.
