Dogma & Demons: The Day Roe V. Wade Was Overturned In Alabama

*This is a feature opinion column*

CARBON HILL, AL — From where I sat, I counted at least half a dozen pairs of weathered and wrinkled hands clutching crumpled up dollar bills as deacons passed around offering plates Friday night at a small church in Walker County.

As the folding money, loose pocket change and personal checks dropped into the little ceremonial receptacles, far-right Tennessee megachurch pastor Greg Locke sat in a pew on the front row, his chin held high and eyes fixed on the ceiling, as if he were waiting for a command from on high.

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Even after the blistering sun went down outside Friday night, more than 100 people crammed in to the tiny sanctuary to see the short man in the crisp, expensive gray suit bounce around the stage. Every so often, someone walked over to the wall to check a thermostat, while many in the pews fanned themselves with programs.

Indeed, Locke looked and spoke like a big-time pastor who boasts an estimated net worth of more than $120 million. And he sat cross-legged with a modest look on his face as a church leader insisted to those in attendance that while Locke never asks for tithes, he was going to get a love offering anyway.

This appearance could have easily been like many of the others Locke makes in small towns across the country, like his stop in the small Alabama town of Gordon earlier this year where he preached, nearly verbatim, the same talking points presented Friday night. Still, his visit to Alabama on this day coincided with an event few will ever forget as the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the legal precedent established by Roe v. Wade in the 1970s.

"This is a historical day!" Locke shouted. "This is the most historical day in the last 50 years in this nation. Make no mistake ... I want you to pay attention to who celebrates it and I want you to pay attention to your celebrity pastors who oughta sell cars that don't celebrate it. You listen to all the major networks and I love Christian music on the radio, but KLOV ain't talking about it, Air1 ain't talking about it, Moody Radio ain't talking about it. All of our favorite celebrity heroes on TV and Trinity Broadcasting, ain't nobody talking about it and I think everybody oughta be talking about that it's illegal to butcher babies in the United States of America. That's a pretty big deal ladies and gentlemen."

For those unacquainted with the controversial pastor, his trail of offensive behavior has received substantial media coverage over the last decade.

Locke first rose to infamy with a viral video in 2016 when he ranted against Target's decision to offer gender-neutral bathrooms, before going on to parlay that newfound notoriety into becoming one of the most visible megachurch pastors to refuse to close his church to in-person attendance during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While he also caught substantial flack for his past assertion that conditions such as autism are caused by demonic possession, Locke transcended his regional church platform by going all-in on his support of former President Donald Trump during his time in office, turning his pulpit into a surrogate stump for the commander-in-chief's Republican agenda.

It was apparently great for online clicks and church membership, ultimately transforming Locke into an overnight celebrity among those in the conservative evangelical fringes.

His presence amid the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 also shouldn't come as a surprise, as he spoke to crowds prior to the outbreak of violence that day, but managed to avoid becoming one of the many jailed for the attempted insurrection.

Locke is also reportedly a member of the Black Robe Regiment — a group consisting of fellow far-right pastors who preach political rhetoric from the pulpit and liken themselves to a collective of colonial preachers in the 1700s who participated in the Revolutionary War.

The well-travelled Locke, however, spent his time Friday far away from the large crowds and cameras, as he preached to a nondenominational congregation in yet another small, conservative town in Alabama.

Meanwhile, in places like Tuscaloosa — less than an hour drive from Carbon Hill — the attitude was one of immediate uncertainty, as the West Alabama Women's Center ceased all abortion procedures as soon as the news broke on Friday. As some local media outlets reported, as many as 100 women were immediately impacted.

WHEN DOGMA BECOMES POLICY

Simply put, the landmark decision handed down Friday repeals the federal mandate for states to permit abortion access, in favor of letting the states decide. In places like Alabama, the state's abortion law went into effect almost immediately on Friday, as a federal judge in Montgomery moved quickly to lift an injunction blocking Alabama’s 2019 abortion ban from becoming law.

Along with Birmingham attorney Eric Johnston, State Rep. Rich Wingo — a former Alabama football star and Republican from Tuscaloosa — co-authored the state's 2019 law that made it a Class A felony to receive or perform an illegal abortion. This puts those having or performing abortions in the same category as murderers, while attempted abortion, which is loosely defined in the 2019 law, is now a Class C felony in Alabama.

And although many national conservative pundits have argued more for the rights of states to decide on the issue as being the impetus for the push to overturn Roe v. Wade, Wingo said in an interview on Friday that the 2019 law was a reflection of his deeply-held Christian values ... values he believes are shared by the majority of Alabamians.

"My belief is that, bottom line, by the word of God, it says that he knew us when we were being woven in our mother's womb," he said. "I believe, just as our bill states, that life begins at conception."

Many on the conservative right point to statistics alleging that more than 90% of abortions are elective procedures, while stopping short of providing substantive justification for omitting the small percentage of victims of rape and incest.

Instead, Wingo explained that Alabama's 2019 abortion law — dubbed the Alabama Human Life Protection Act — provides for two exceptions for abortion access, before flatly acknowledging that the law does not include any mention of options for victims of rape or incest.

Click here to read the full text of the law.

Rather, abortion access in Alabama will now only be granted in cases where the mother's life is in danger, such as an ectopic pregnancy, or if the mother is formally diagnosed as being suicidal.

"We have strict laws, guidelines where she has to be admitted to a hospital, seen by a psychiatrist who has nothing to do with abortion, pro or against," Wingo said. "Someone can't just go get a doctor to say they are suicidal and get an abortion ... We're protecting that life from that moment on, so Alabama will have one of the strictest laws in the country, if not the strictest, because pregnancy means life."

It's worth noting that Wingo is on his last year in the Alabama House of Representatives, after opting not to run for re-election in 2022, and he declined to provide much in the way of speculation regarding the potential for adding additional exceptions.

"I'm sure somebody will probably bring a bill to include it, but when we brought the bill through the House and Senate, it did not have rape or incest in it," he said, doubling down on the law as it is written.

Conversely, State Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa who chairs the Alabama Democratic Party, was one of many lawmakers — albeit a minority in Alabama — who blasted the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday.

"Abortions are now illegal in Alabama," he said on Twitter Friday. "It doesn’t stop there though. Not only can anyone, even the woman seeking the abortion, be prosecuted, but also anyone can be prosecuted for conspiracy if they help someone either get or even plan to get an abortion in another state."

Pastor Greg Locke, whose Global Vision Bible Church is based out of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, likely isn't interested so much in how Alabama or other states will govern such a complicated matter. Rather, his mood was one of elation at the overturning of the law after "65 million babies" had been aborted since Roe V. Wade became the law of the land in 1973.

While this number remains the subject of ongoing debate, it was cited multiple times throughout the sermon, as Locke likened abortions to butchery on more than one occasion. His range of views also stand out as ironic, coming from a man who regularly preaches against divorce and the decay of traditional family values, only to be confronted with claims of infidelity, followed by his divorce from his wife and subsequent marriage to his administrative assistant in 2018.

His sermon on Friday, while peppering in passing mentions of Roe v. Wade and the 65 million dead babies, to the hooting delight of those in the crowd, belittled or attempted to refute science at multiple points, as he focused primarily on his most controversial talking point — demonic possession and spirits.

This is where he truly makes his money.

The financial success of Locke's church is impossible to deny, especially when standing before the sleek red tour bus that likely cost more than the small church building it was parked beside on Friday.

Locke also fancies himself a faith healer, not unlike the Peter Popoffs of old, and crafts his entire worldview around the financially lucrative practice. Indeed, thousands flock to his megachurch faith-healing services, which in turn generate millions of tax-free dollars for the church to continue to expand its ministry and build upon its political advocacy work.

But as countless women across the country and the state of Alabama were floored with the news that safe access to abortions would no longer be an option in most states, the red-faced Locke railed at the top of his lungs against malevolent spirits and curses being the root cause of everything from rheumatoid arthritis to Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

"I'm tired of people being able to explain everything away that happens in church," Locke yelled from the pulpit. "God Almighty is in control and he can resurrect anything he wants to. He can cast out anything he wants to, he can part the waters of the Red Sea, he can still get water from the rock and he can still feed your family when Joe Biden's America has $10 a-gallon gas."

While it may be easy for some at home to write this rhetoric off as nothing more than the rantings of a delusional, politically-compromised madman, it's definitely worth pointing out that Locke has 2.2 million Facebook followers and claims that his church has the largest online live stream platform of any church in the country.

Among the new class of megachurch pastors, Locke's microphone is far and away one of the loudest.

But when put under objective scrutiny — separate from this reporter's personal opinions —the consistent position that Locke takes is almost always an antagonistic one. And despite staying on the offensive with pointed political rhetoric aimed at specific groups or beliefs, the pastor is always quick to throw his hands up and claim he is victim of persecution by the forces of evil ... particularly everyone's favorite straw man, the news media.

"Our church has been in the media for years, I mean for unbelievable stuff," Locke laughed. "CNN has been to our church with cameras seven times in the last 20 months. We oughta get married we've been dating so long. MSNBC, I would say they love us but they love to hate us, right? CBS, PBS and all the other BS - that's Biblical Stupidity - all of them show up. We've had everybody but Sesame Street and they'll probably show up next week."

Apart from jumping up and down on the stage Friday night celebrating the Roe v. Wade decision, Locke also took aim at just about every other Christian denomination that didn't conform to his worldview, as he decried "Catholic idolatry," before going on to rant against Native American dreamcatchers, dragon statues from Hobby Lobby and the Harry Potter book series.

"Enough with these limp-wristed, skinny jean-wearing preachers that just want to stand up these cotton candy, Skittle Joel Osteen messages," Locke declared. "I'm done with it. I'm over it. They're not having me at their church and I'm sure not having them at mine."

It was also difficult not to take note of the strained faces on some in attendance as Locked moved too fast over his own words for many to keep consistent pace following his message. As a way to generate laughs, Locke also would don either an English accent or effeminate disposition to deride those on the other side of the idealogical or theological fences.

As this reporter noted, mockery is the primary tactic Locke incorporates into his sermon when not directly reading from the scripture. It was unlike any church sermon I had ever heard.

Locke's anger with other megachurch pastors and Christian radio centered particularly on their lack of what he viewed as an appropriate response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It was very much an "Us and Them" approach, as he denounced anyone who wasn't publicly overcome with joy at the news.

"You better pay attention over the course of the next few days who says something and who remains strangely silent," he said in a TikTok video to half a million followers on Friday concerning those in Christian radio. "These bunch of compromisers have sold out to the system."

But perhaps most telling, especially given the context of the abortion debate, were words that Locke said in front of his Tennessee church earlier this year. It's a position he has since tempered in his outside speaking engagements, possibly due to overwhelming backlash, but one that provides startling insight into how far-right evangelicals like Locke view reproductive rights.

"A lot of times, what we call stuff [such as mental illnesses, diseases or medical conditions], it makes us feel better because it's the medical term and not the Bible term," Locke said.

As a professional journalist with more than a decade of experience that includes reporting on hate groups and extremists across three southeastern states, those words stand out as perhaps the most concise description I've ever heard relating to the cognitive dissonance displayed by many conservatives opposed to abortion access.

It should be worrisome to many not just in Alabama, but across the country, that proven science and safe access to women's health resources have now been supplanted by religious dogma in our state laws —supported in small part by a fringe group of people who have been led to believe that evil spirits cause medical infirmities.

And while our country had precedent established for half a century and a system in place to provide modern, safe alternatives to women, states like Alabama — which has left billions of federal dollars on the table by refusing to expand Medicaid — will now put its faith in a higher power instead of science.

Let's hope it works out, right?

What this approach wholesale ignores is the fact that an increase in unplanned births, if left unaddressed, will likely put a strain on Alabama's already beleaguered menagerie of entitlement programs unlike anything many of us have seen in our lifetimes. All this while Alabama conservatives have spent decades decrying the spending for such entitlement programs in their war against "the Welfare State."

However, since the longterm implications have yet to be realized and I'm often right about as much as I am wrong, let's leave that story for another day.

Even still, though, the same question lingers for many ... where does this attack on the rights of American citizens end?

FIGHTS AHEAD

State Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, was quick to point out a component of a concurring opinion from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday that openly telegraphed the court's intention to reconsider other previously established precedents.

Specifically, Thomas wrote about the series of landmark cases referred to as "Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell" and his view that the high court has an obligation to apply the same updated legal scrutiny to those cases as was done for Roe v. Wade.

If overturned in the same fashion as Roe v. Wade, state law would then govern access to birth control and contraception, in addition to the legality of consensual same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.

"Justice Thomas mentioning Griswald [sic], Lawrence, and Obergefell in his concurring opinion was not done just for the hell of it," England said Friday on Twitter. "It was essentially an invitation for states to pass laws to challenge those opinions. Make no mistake, substantive due process rights are now on the menu."

Judy Taylor, the chair of the Tuscaloosa County Democratic Executive Committee, echoed many of England's sentiments in an interview with Patch on Friday, as she lamented the undoing of half a century of legal precedent.

"How many babies have they adopted?" she asked. "How many orphanages have they funded? How many free diapers or formula have they given away. Let's also not forget the man's responsibility. It takes two to make a baby and I haven't heard one thing about the man's responsibility in any of this."

To combat the lack of accountability for the men who get women pregnant, Taylor suggested child support payment requirements beginning with a positive pregnancy test, in addition to being able to deduct pregnancy-related medical expenses from one's income taxes.

Like England, Taylor also expressed her fear that the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court will now be emboldened to overturn other precedent-setting cases granting protected access to contraception and those providing equal rights for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

"Why would they want to ban contraceptive devices and why is [Republican Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell arguing to get his hands into that?" she asked. "There's got to be a reason and I think it's tied to another problem you hear about, where certain segments of our society are feeling like they are losing ground, losing power, because there's not so many white babies anymore, particularly white male babies. So how does that play into all this?"

Taylor then spoke to the state's failure to expand Medicaid to cover the ever-growing needs of those living near or below the poverty line in Alabama. Like most on the progressive side of the debate, she insisted that pro-life leanings for Republicans are nowhere to be found after the baby is born.

At that point, Taylor implied, the child has outlived its political usefulness.

"There's a lot of little odds and ends that people don't think about," she said. "The thing that's appalling to me, that in the poorest states, we have states like the ones who have the highest need for social health and receive more federal dollars than they pay in, like Alabama. Then, here we are celebrating this?"

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