Unfortunately, despite the clear teaching of Scripture that the preborn are fully human and created by God, the Bible’s message of love is often misused when it comes to abortion. This comment on my Facebook page expresses a common sentiment: “God wants union, understanding, compassion, love, no judgment. …people saying that women shouldn’t have abortions is like saying, ‘I’m judging you and criticizing you.’”
To many people, Jesus’ words “Do not judge” mean never questioning someone’s choice of abortion, and love and compassion mean never trying to deter someone from considering abortion. In fact, many consider it “judgmental” even to say abortion is wrong. But is it judgmental and unloving to say slapping or abandoning a baby is wrong? When people hear of infants found in trash cans, are they being judgmental and unloving to believe that was a terrible thing for someone to do?
True, God is love (1 John 4:16), and His followers are to love their neighbors as themselves (Mark 12:31). They are to be full of compassion and humility (1 Peter 3:8), and not be self-righteous or unfairly judge or condemn others (Luke 6:37).
But believers are also called to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15, 25). Love does not mean saying all choices are valid. (If it did, a God of love would never condemn sin, which He repeatedly does in Scripture, nor would there be such a thing as sin or any need to be forgiven.) If abortion truly does harm women and kill children, then we owe it to women to gently and lovingly point out the truth, while offering grace and help.
A young woman who said she believed that abortion takes the life of an innocent child told me that because she loved her friend, she was going to drive her to the clinic to get an abortion. She said, “That’s what you do when you love someone, even if you disagree.”
I asked, “If your friend wanted to kill her parents or brother or sister and had a shotgun in hand, and asked you to drive her to their house, would you do it?”
“Of course not!”
But other than legality, what’s the difference? It is never loving to help others kill, not only because of the harm to the victims, but also because of the harm to themselves. It’s never in a mother’s best interest to kill her child, so we should never tell her it’s fine to do so, and never assist her in taking a life and thereby heaping guilt and a lifetime of regret upon her. Real compassion is full of both grace and truth, like Jesus (John 1:14).
Download the PDF of Randy’s new book Pro-Choice or Pro-Life: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims—What Do Facts & Common Sense Tell Us?
In this thoroughly researched and easy-to-read book, author Randy Alcorn examines fifteen major claims of the pro-choice position and shares fact-based, rational responses. If you have mixed feelings about abortion, as many people do, this book can be part of your quest for truth. If you’re pro-choice or pro-life, it can help you think through your position.
If we have any hope of understanding and engaging with each other, let’s move our dialogue beyond bumper stickers, memes, and tweets. Randy encourages readers to listen carefully to arguments on both sides of the abortion debate, and to look at the evidence and weigh it on its own merit.
The print book is available from our ministry for a low cost.
Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash
