We are the generation that will help determine how history remembers the protection of unborn children. Will it be remembered as a failed moral experiment, like Prohibition, or as a human rights injustice that was eventually corrected, like racial segregation during the Civil Rights Movement?
Today, abortion is illegal in Louisiana, but that does not mean the work is finished. In many ways, we stand at a pivotal moment.
It is easy to become complacent and think, “Abortion is illegal here. We’ve done our part. What more can I do?” It is equally easy to become discouraged. The abortion industry has adapted, finding new ways to facilitate abortions in Louisiana despite our laws. We can begin to wonder whether our efforts to protect children and support mothers are making any difference at all.
History offers two powerful examples of movements that reached a similar crossroads.
After the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, racial tensions and violence intensified in many parts of the country. Progress was met with fierce resistance. Many advocates could have concluded that the backlash was too great and the cause was hopeless. Instead, they persevered. Because they continued the fight, legal victories eventually became cultural victories, and future generations came to recognize segregation as a profound violation of human equality.
The story of Prohibition was very different. After the 18th Amendment banned alcohol, alcohol consumption did not disappear. Illegal markets flourished, corruption increased, enforcement proved difficult, and public support steadily eroded. Within a few years, the amendment was repealed and is now largely viewed as a failed public policy experiment.
The movement to protect unborn children is morally much closer to the Civil Rights Movement than to Prohibition. Both are rooted in the belief that every human being possesses equal dignity and worth, regardless of characteristics that others may use to justify discrimination or exclusion.
Yet whether future generations ultimately view abortion as a grave human rights violation or as a failed political project depends largely on what we do now.
Laws matter, but laws alone are not enough. We must continue to protect children, serve mothers, change hearts, and build a culture that recognizes the value of every human life. If we grow complacent or lose hope, we risk allowing today’s legal victories to become tomorrow’s forgotten failures.
If, however, we persevere through setbacks, opposition, and discouragement, we may one day see what those who fought for civil rights saw: that justice often advances slowly, but advances nonetheless. The question is not whether history will render a verdict. The question is whether our generation will give history a reason to remember this moment as a triumph for human rights rather than a temporary and abandoned experiment.
The answer depends on whether we continue the work.
