What it Means to be Pro-life, and 5 Things to Tell Your Children
Friday’s Supreme Court decision was followed by a barrage of posts, tweets, and TikTok and YouTube clips. Expected for such an historic decision. I was both surprised and not surprised by the vitriol and over-the-top intensity by what I read and viewed. Many of the clips and pictures featured hysterical, angry women using over-the-top profanity about how their abortion rights were now limited or stripped away completely. I guess, depending on where you live, that could be true. But, I thought to myself, the way they’re yelling and carrying on, they’ll find a way to get one if they want one.
There were posts by self-identifying Christians who have appointed themselves to be the ones to remind the rest of us that we shouldn’t be too happy about the ruling. After all, being “pro-life” means more than stopping the killing of unborn children. There are mothers involved, some in dire circumstances that cannot be ignored or swept under the rug. Point taken. But please, dial back the lecturing tone.
In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling last Friday, here are five things I’d suggest you discuss with your children in an age-appropriate way.
- Screaming and/or destroying public and private property, does not win people to your point of view. We live a short distance from Portland where city life continues to deteriorate. Because homeless residents may freely and legally defecate along sidewalks, parks, anywhere they choose, the security officer at the oncology clinic I go to is now also responsible for “clean-up” in and around the building. When the announcement that Roe v. Wade was overturned, violent protests over the decision broke out immediately. Is this the way freedom of speech was intended to be exercised? Was this Martin Luther King’s way?
- Politically, “majority voice” or “group think” doesn’t establish the truthfulness or falsehood of a proposition, law or policy. I like the way Anatole France, a French poet, journalist, and novelist, put it. “If 50,000,000 people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.” If something is wrong, everyone saying it’s right doesn’t make it right.
- Roe v. Wade is not about reproductive rights. It’s about human rights, the rights of the unborn. The rhetoric of entertainment icons like Stevie Nicks of the Fleetwood Mac band and Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, should be ignored. Their claim that getting an abortion allowed them the freedom to follow their dreams does not justify the ending of someone’s life. Can’t paper over this.
- As the Church, collectively and personally, we need to act courageously and compassionately toward both the unborn and their mothers. The Didache, a church training manual in circulation sometime between 60 and 100 AD, described church order, practices, and ethics. It said,
You will not murder offspring by means of abortion and you will not kill him/her having been born (infanticide). ~ Chapter 2:2
Those who identify themselves as Christians but say they are pro-choice, or say they are personally pro-life but as a matter of public policy, pro-choice, would not find themselves at home in the early church.
- Being Pro-life means loving your neighbor. Loving your neighbor is going to cost you something. It will require sacrifice. Being pro-life means at the very least means not killing an unborn child. But it doesn’t end there.
My sister is one the most courageous and finest examples of what it means to be pro-life that I know. Years ago my niece was not married and was unable to care for her soon-to-be-born son. Prior to birth, the expectation was that he would be born with severe physical and cognitive limitations. Once born, he would need full-time, specialized care, care that would likely be needed for the rest of his life. My sister, knowing all this, stepped in to serve as guardian. She, along with my equally courageous and committed brother-in-law, took on the roles of both parents and grandparents.
From the day he was born, their grandson required a feeding tube to receive nourishment. He was later diagnosed as autistic. He is, and continues to be, affected by Noonan’s Syndrome. As parents, giving their grandson the quality of life he enjoys as a valued and loved member of their family has cost them everything. They quietly go about their heroic life day after day. In August he will celebrate his 9th birthday!
Ironically, the Roe v. Wade decision was reached on the day the church celebrates the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist. As you recall the story of Mary coming to visit Elizabeth when both were pregnant with their sons, one verse stands out:
And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ~ Luke 1:41
John the Baptist: human in the womb, and human out of the womb. A person. Tell your children they must look to the Scriptures as their source of light and guidance in the increasingly dark days to come.
In Christ,
Curt
Basic Skills Assessment & Educational Services
New Covenant Christian Academy
Ph: (503) 650-5282
Fax: (503) 650-8578
Thank you. Giving up everything was a sacrifice, but a selfish kind of sacrifice. I did not have to do this, I get to do this! A child with disabilities can bring a love and joy in a persons life on a whole different level.