This morning I came home from an errand to the news that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade ending the constitutional right to an abortion. This means states will now regulate the legality of abortion. Some states will continue as if nothing happened, others will essentially make abortion in different forms illegal. With this news, many good, kind, and fair people are crestfallen by the decision believing the rights of women have been curtailed, while other good, kind, and fair people are ecstatic, believing hundreds of thousands of innocent babies won’t be killed.1
It won’t be surprising to know I fall in the latter group. I believe abortion, generally speaking, is a moral evil. As a follower of Jesus, I find the Scriptures to overwhelmingly uphold a strong ethic of life as well as give special care to the vulnerable and needy, of whom I believe unborn infants qualify. I know others will vehemently disagree, want to make emotionally-charged rebuttals, etc. My aim here isn’t to convince anyone. It’s to simply say the following.
Christians who believe today is a great day for the unborn should be prepared to also trumpet how committed the church needs to be in protecting, supporting, and caring for women who find themselves in crisis pregnancies. The church should be holistically pro-life and not merely pro-birth. That means we care not only for a child coming into the world but also what kind of world that child comes into. For example, statistics show abortion in America is overwhelmingly slanted to those in poverty, so wherever the gospel can speak to economic and structural injustices that tempt distressed women into terminating their pregnancies, followers of Jesus should be just as engaged.
To that end, I am grateful that Clear Creek Community Church for years has been committed to this end with their active support of ministries like:
- Anchor Point crisis pregnancy center
- Orphan care that seeks to help with fostering, adopting
- Pregnancy and Parenting Support Center with pregnancy counseling
- The Center for Pregnancy which assists unexpected pregnancies
In light of this Supreme Court decision, there will be many Christian leaders rightfully calling for the church to roll up their sleeves by working on creating a better culture of life instead of merely arguing against abortion. This is right and true. And while CCCC is far from perfect, the truth is that we have been putting our money (and people, time, talents) where our mouth is when it comes to supporting and valuing a more holistic view of life.
However, none of those things will come into play when your pro-choice friend is upset by today’s news. As a gospel measure, I would call you to show them empathy, sensitivity, and kindness. Our history at CCCC has been to show compassion for those who struggle with abortion as well as those who’ve had abortions. We should also extend that compassion to those who believe it to be an unalienable right. Yes, we might disagree with our neighbor, but Jesus also calls us to love them. As such, I would call Creekers to heed the words Bruce Wesley preached a week or so ago when he said, “May our love be louder than our disagreements.” I pray this would be true of us today, tomorrow, and every day God has us here.
Love well for the world will know we are Christians by our love.
Footnotes
- Studies show there were 930,160 abortions in 2020.
