Comment from a reader:

Until we choose life—ALL LIFE and not just the unborn, we are hypocrites. People who favor gun rights over the lives of innocent people are an example of this.

Response from Stephanie Anderson, EPM staff:

It is simply a true statement that abortion always kills children, and it stands on its own. Believers (and prolife unbelievers too) can unite on this issue. (And we can and should still care about victims of gun violence and other injustices, while we may legitimately disagree on and debate the exact causes of those injustices or what the appropriate government responses are.)

One commenter on Randy’s Facebook page put it this way: “It is illegal to commit murder with a gun. Abortions are done with various types of instruments. No one is calling for the banning of those instruments, just what is done with those instruments. It should be illegal to commit murder with abortion instruments.”

Randy writes this in his book ProChoice or ProLife:

First, let me say emphatically: pro-life people should be concerned not only for the unborn, but for the weak and needy, for the orphans and widows, for the hungry, for the abandoned and abused of all ages. We should fight against sex trafficking and racial injustice and the mistreatment of the elderly. We should obey God when He says, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9).

Being pro-life does not end with advocating for the protection of unborn children. However, because they are the smallest and weakest and most vulnerable human beings, and because they are killed at the highest rates and in the greatest numbers, and because countless people and even the law of the land argue for the right to destroy them, being pro-life certainly begins with defending the unborn.

He also writes, “The idea that the pro-life cause is hypocritical for not aligning with a specific list of political ideas and government programs is flawed. It can be either an ad hominem argument that unfairly attacks their character, or a straw man argument that falsely claims their lack of confidence in certain government programs proves they don’t care about people.”

Also see Randy’s article Shouldn’t We Care About Other Social Injustices Besides Abortion?

Photo by Gigin Krishnan on Unsplash