Are You Pro Life? Part 2

Friday, the Supreme Court announced its overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973.  So much ink has been spilled on this topic in the past 72 hours that I almost feel redundant writing this.  This blog, however, is often used for me to work out my own thoughts, which I very much need to do on this issue; so if you get something out of it, that's just icing on the cake.  In the week after George Floyd's death, I wrote about how my view of what it meant to be pro-life was expanding (which is why I have titled this Part 2), and you can read that here if you are interested.  As always, when I am working out my own thoughts, it may appear rambling, disconnected, and even somewhat contradictory as I try to embrace and/or resolve cognitive dissonance.

I have been against abortion for as long as I have known what it was.  I think I was 12 when I first started writing legislators about it, and I was 13 when I became the database keeper for the Raleigh chapter of the NC Right to Life.  I think how you view abortion hinges entirely on whether you believe life begins at conception.  If you do, you believe that the woman is carrying a human baby, and it is impossible to find your way to accepting the destruction of the unborn child.  If you don't believe life begins at conception (and if you don't, I would have to ask, "If not then, when?"), then it makes perfect sense to you for the woman to decide what she wants.  I also learned about how our state/federal system is meant to work in some of my college classes and am one of the rare people who have been required to read the US Constitution in its entirety (which is not even required in all law schools) thanks to Dr. Stephen M King.  So, for more than one reason, I am in favor of the decision to return this issue to the states.  

I am not, however, doing the victory dance you - or I a few years ago - might expect.  I've been reflecting on why that might be since the draft was leaked a couple of months ago.  I think it is because, while I believe this to be right, I don't think the church is prepared to handle the resulting fallout well.  We've put so much effort into overturning Roe that we haven't put a lot of thought into what the implications would be if and when it happened.  I think part of that might be because we didn't expect that it would.  After four decades of being told to vote Pro-Life, it seemed that those candidates cared more about keeping it as an issue than they did about following through.  Now, we are facing women who are frightened or feeling desperate.  Whether or not you or I believe they should feel scared doesn't change the reality that they do, and it seems especially cold to celebrate around them as though our team just won a sporting event against their team.  While I believe it to be good, I do so soberly and with compassion.

Many compassionate Christians have posted something equivalent to this one from Jen Wilkin.  It's a call to take care of the women who would seek abortions out of desperation (as opposed to the women who use it for birth control).  Jen and others like her have gotten flack from people on both sides.  While Jen is quite conservative, those that are farther to the right have accused her of "wokeness" and trying to play both sides for simply saying that she wants to love women in crisis.  Those on the other side have told her that if she cared about women, she would have already been doing this and that she only cares about controlling women and their bodies.  These people have obviously not looked into Jen or the Village Church, where she works because they have a history, as many churches do, of supporting women in crisis with finances, medical care, job search assistance, and adoption services.  When she calls for redoubling and expanding, she means building on what they have been doing, not starting something new.  

As with all political issues, there are extremes and inconsistencies on both sides of the spectrum.  I have friends who have posted statements that would make you believe any and all pregnancies are terminal and that every woman carrying an unwanted child will die.  I have also seen posts that bristle at the argument that this is about women in danger because a woman ought to be able to terminate her pregnancy for any reason or no reason at all.  I also have friends that are heartless in their statements about poor and desperate women (Being right doesn't make you less obnoxious when you attack a grieving woman).  While I am far from liberal, I think it is worth noting that any analysis of abortion rates have shown them to be lower in the times and places where liberals were in government.  In spite of lower restrictions, the increased amount of social services allowed women to feel it wasn't their only choice.  I also think it is worth noting that the rate of both unwanted pregnancy and abortion had been steadily dropping for the last ten years as contraception became better and more available.  My fear is that the backlash from this may reverse that trend.

I think one of the reasons for this level of emotion is that we are 

a) encouraged by our culture to be in a state of perpetual outrage (and it is exhausting).

b) led to believe that if we put enough words on social media, we have done our part (slacktivism).

c) led to believe that if something doesn't solve the whole problem, it is not worth doing (all or nothing).

Here's the part that's going to seem disconnected, but hang with me because all of this was swimming around in my head yesterday when I went to see the Elvis movie (highly recommend, by the way, but expect it to be more stressful than fun).  I have always loved the Elvis song, "If I Can Dream," but I never knew the story of its writing before this movie.  Elvis was in the middle of recording the 1968 Comeback Special when Robert Kennedy was assassinated.  For those who may not know, 1968 was the 2020 of the last century.  Between violent Vietnam war protests, racial conflict,  the assassinations of both MLK and RFK, the Zodiac Killer, and the highjacking of commercial flights, it seemed the world was falling apart.  Perhaps the only two bright points were that Mr. Rogers started airing and Apollo 8 orbited the moon.  Anyway, back to Elvis.  They were in the middle of filming when the news of RFK's shooting broke, and taping stopped for the night (over the objections of Colonel Parker who wanted him to record "Here Comes Santa Claus," like anyone would be able to do that at that moment).  As Elvis watched the television coverage, he began thinking of some of the words of Dr. King and did the only thing he could do to process his feelings.  He wrote a song with lyrics like, "There must be peace and understanding sometime. Strong winds of promise that will blow away the doubt and fear" and  "We're trapped in a world

that's troubled with pain, but as long as a man has the strength to dream, he can redeem his soul and fly." The next day, he recorded it, awing the studio audience, and the song has inspired millions since.

While I was watching this is the theater, I thought about how Elvis responded to this horrible event by doing what he could with the gifts he had.  Did recording this song solve the issues that led someone to shoot Robert Kennedy?  Of course not.  I don't think that ever entered his mind.  He didn't have the political power to affect that kind of change.  Few normal individuals do.  He couldn't fix the system; he couldn't perform surgery.  What he could do was write and sing a song.  Those are the gifts God gave him, and he used them.  In a few minutes, I'll be leaving for RFK camp training.  This camp serves children in the foster care system, and the point is always made at training that we won't be solving systemic problems.  We aren't capable of solving child abuse.  We are doing what we can with the gifts and resources we have to help the kids who are right in front of us.  

I think this is what we have to do with any issue, including abortion.  Whether you are happy or sad about the overturning of Roe, your response should be to use whatever gifts and resources you have to help women experiencing crisis pregnancies.  The church or charity near you may already have ways in which you can volunteer to give a woman rides to her doctors' appointments.  You might have the financial resources to donate to a crisis pregnancy center or adoption service.  Perhaps you own a business in which you can employ a mother and be flexible with her schedule.  Perhaps you can organize a fundraiser.  I don't know what your gifts and resources are, but when Moses stood before the burning bush, God asked him what was in his hand.  He then used that staff in ways Moses could not have previously imagined.  He can do the same with us and our feeble efforts, and if you call yourself Pro-Life, it is your responsibility to do whatever you can, especially now.