The divide between pro-choice and pro-life has grown significantly this past year. In 2019, more states enacted abortion laws than in any other year since the Supreme Court decision of Roe v Wade. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2019/07/30/new-laws-deepen-state-differences-over-abortion Many states moved to pass laws that better protect the unborn. However, some have swung horrifyingly in the opposite direction, even going as far as saying a child could theoretically be aborted after they were born as suggested by Virginia’s Governor Northam. https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/31/politics/ralph-northam-third-trimester-abortion/index.html
Adding strain to that divide is the increasing pressure from pro-choice groups to aggressively normalize abortion and minimize its perceived impact through things like the #shoutyourabortion campaign or Michelle Williams’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes. To some degree, their attempts to normalize abortion may be having an impact. According to a research project funded by the pro-choice Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, part of UC San Francisco, they claim that most women who have abortions do not regret their choice. The study followed 667 women over a 5-year period, checking with them every six months to see how they were “feeling” about their decision to abort their child. This study has received a great deal of attention in pro-choice publications, claiming that it validates the choice that these women made, and that they have not sustained long-term emotional trauma as a result of their abortion.
I live in a pro-choice state, in a region with pro-choice cities. Seattle, WA and Portland, OR are among the most liberal, pro-choice cities in the nation. Those of us serving Christ in pro-choice cities have learned that appeals to culture and courts and legislatures are not “winning the day” in terms of protecting the unborn where we live. Now the pro-choice community is using this study to argue that those who have abortions experience “relief” and “happiness” as a result of having an abortion. To argue against abortion prevents many women from being happy, so the argument goes. Abortion has been a good thing for these women, we are told, and few experience negative “emotions” long-term.
So where does this leave the church, and the preacher, and all of those believe that abortion takes an innocent human life? It leaves us in the same position that that we have always held, relying upon God’s Word, and the truth about Him and the human beings He created. Although there is an ongoing political and legal battle concerning the protection of the unborn, the preacher and the church have what we’ve always had, the Scriptures, which enable us to speak God’s Word and implant it into human hearts, the hearts of individuals, especially the hearts of young people who are most apt to face abortive decisions. For the Christian, the goal is not simply to “feel happy,” but to do the right thing, the thing that pleases God, and the thing that demonstrates love to those most vulnerable in our world.
When you speak to the heart, with a desire to see God transform the heart, you must speak truth and live truth. The Bible teaches that every person is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), and that God’s relationship with a person begins in the womb (Ps. 139:13). The Psalmist said that God “knit me together in my mother’s womb.” God placed His hands on me, formed me, created me as I would create a garment stitch-by-stitch. And He created me, and every human being, in His image. Every color and hue, all peoples in all places, created by God, valued by God. And, moreover, every individual created by God is loved by God, so much so that Jesus came to provide the means by which every person ever born can be adopted into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning work. This is a truth we can preach and live!
Another of God’s truths that must be spoken into hearts is that behaving justly begins with how we treat those who are most vulnerable. The Bible is clear that justice requires we care for widows, orphans, the poor, and other vulnerable persons. No one is more vulnerable than the unborn. The unborn child is totally dependent on what others do or don’t do. This fact is implicit. It is obvious. Life is precious, and those we must protect most are those who cannot protect themselves. God entrusts every child to a mother and father. From conception to adulthood children need parents who nurture and protect, who teach and train, who love and cherish them. This a truth that must be spoken into the hearts of our children. We are sending our children into a pro-choice world, and we must not send them without speaking truth into their hearts so that they will live justly. Studies reveal that 25 percent of women have had an abortion, and many men have encouraged abortion. We must preach the hope of redemption and forgiveness in Christ for this and all sin, but we must seek to prevent sin by putting God’s Word into the hearts of our children.
Preaching life must include the Great Commandment to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. The Christian lives for others. We live for God, and we put others before ourselves. This includes putting those who are weakest and most vulnerable before ourselves. Jesus said that our love for others must even include our enemies. If we are to love our neighbors, including our enemies, as we love ourselves, surely we must love the unborn as we love our own lives. The greatest choice is that which puts others before self, especially those others who are most vulnerable.
Some might think it is difficult to preach for life in a pro-choice city and to advocate for life in a city that advocates for the death of certain unborn persons. I have discovered that the madness inherent in the human heart (Eccl. 9:3) can be transformed and turned by God’s Word spoken into their heart. Just as light is most beautiful when reflected by a diamond, God’s Word reveals its beauty and power when spoken into a human heart, healing the madness, softening the hardness, and transforming the thoughts and behaviors that emanate from a person’s heart.
Should we preach for life in a pro-choice city? Yes! Yes today and yes forever! Some souls will turn their hearts toward God and find forgiveness and cleansing from sin. God’s Word, planted in the hearts of our children and others, will strengthen them to resist the enemy and live a holy life. And even when we are rejected and rebuffed by some in the pro-choice crowd, we will fulfill our calling to speak the truth in love, as watchmen who warn the city when the enemy attacks.
Randy Adams Executive Director-Treasurer Northwest Baptist Convention