For several years, the pro-choice movement has worked hard to convince Christians that abortion is not against their biblical beliefs. And since reversed the Roe v. Wade in 2022, these efforts have accelerated and become more aggressive. In fact, the pro-choice movement’s efforts to win church-going Christians to their cause have changed from “abortion is not against your religion,” to “abortion honors your religion.”
In short, the pro-choice movement believes it can achieve total victory in the culture wars if they can get our country’s Christians, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population, to jump on the “my body, my choice” bandwagon. ” bandwagon.
For example, a group based in Seattle called Shout Out Your Abortionwhich boasts about providing abortion pills for women “regardless of legality,” recently sponsored six billboards along Interstate 55. The billboards stretch from Tennessee to Illinois along a route that purports to ‘y, many Southerners will get abortions in Illinois. The billboards, according to the founder of Shout Your Abortion Amelia Bonow, was set as a counterpoint to the pro-life billboards that often line I-55. They said things like, “Abortion is in God’s Plan,” “Abortion is Okay, You Know What’s Right for You,” and “Abortion is Normal, You are Loved.”
As Christians, we should know that these bumper sticker slogans are not biblical. In fact, even a cursory examination of biblical principles will show that the pro-choice position is completely inconsistent with the life and teachings of Jesus. Abortion is the violent ending of an innocent, unborn child’s life, made in the image and likeness of God. Despite this fact, too many Christians fail to see the biblical reasons to be pro-life and succumb to pro-choice propaganda. This is why it is so important that believers stay focused on what scripture actually says about the sanctity of life. In fact, there are four incompatible ideas that show how the pro-choice position is unscriptural.
4 Inconsistent Ideas Between Scripture and the Pro-Choice Position
#1 The Great Commission
Take the Great Commission, on that Christ himself tells us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. How is the abortion of an unborn child consistent with this commandment? When a baby is aborted, the first two loves disappear. We are left with self-love. In fact, it is idolatry to put our love for ourselves before our love for God and others. These “three loves” must coexist in order to function in God’s economy.
#2 The Great Commission
The other bookend of our Christian faith is the Great Commission: in make disciples for Jesus Christ and teach them all that Christ taught us. How does child abortion facilitate disciple making? In fact, it hinders the discipleship process. You cannot disciple one of God’s image bearers if he is no longer alive.
#3 The Weak
The Lord also commanded that we should do sacrifice ourselves for the weak. James 1:27 teaches the call that we should care for widows and orphans. Again, how is ending the life of a vulnerable unborn child, or advocating for the end of that life, consistent with this value?
#4 Life and Conception
Christians should also embrace the pro-life position because Jesus’ human life began at conception. Pro-choice Christians often argue that a child in the womb is a “potential life.” That is the same as saying that Jesus, when He was in Mary’s womb, “had potential life.” But the Scriptures teach that Jesus is both fully God and fully man. There could never be a time, in His humanity, when Jesus did not live. That would violate everything Christians know about God and His son.
Besides this, Hebrews 2:17 reminds us that Jesus must “be made like his brothers” in “all respects.” That includes his growth in His mother’s womb. If Jesus’ life began at conception, and He was like us in every way, then our lives also began at conception. We don’t become one of God’s image bearers sometime in the middle of pregnancy, or after we give birth. We always have the image of God, or never.
To expand on this point, Jesus’ coming to this world was inundated with what would now be considered “pro-life rhetoric.” When Mary, early in her pregnancy, visits her cousin Elizabeth, who after being barren for several years is late in her pregnancy, Elizabeth’s child leaps into her womb (Luke 1:39-45). John the Baptist, whom Elizabeth carries in her womb, responds to Christ, whom Mary carries in her womb. As Christians, we should see this as clear evidence that Scripture recognizes human life in the womb both in the early and late stages of pregnancy.
If Christians believe that all life is sacred and valuable, and if Scripture clearly indicates that the unborn are alive, then Christians should embrace pro-life. that position. On the other hand, the pro-choice movement puts the most vulnerable in our country at risk. Christians need to stay the course and remain pro-life for biblical reasons that will not change, no matter how cultural values change over time.
The future of the battle to protect unborn lives depends on Christians holding the line not just in rhetoric, but through their good deeds of care and love for women and men who are at risk for abortion. Care Net’s mission is to provide gospel-centered pregnancy support to help people choose life for their unborn children and abundant life for their families. Our prayer is that we will be a witness not only to the world, but to fellow Christians through this work, and the Holy Spirit will reveal how the Word of God provides all the evidence we need to protect the unborn and love their parents.
For more details on the biblical case for life, and how to present it to pro-choice Christians, download your free copy of, Is the Pro-Choice Position Consistent with the Life and Teachings of Jesus?
