March for Life

The 44 years since Roe versus Wade prove at least one thing: What we’re doing is not working.

What I write here is not for people on the extremes. Those who are militant and staunch in their stance against, or for, abortion. It is a waste of anything worthwhile to try to do anything with these people.

Funny. As much as they hate each other, they’re essentially the same.

No, I write this for the majority of people in this country who are reasonable and well-meaning.

I believe most pro-choice people are reasonable and well-meaning.

I believe most pro-life people are reasonable and well-meaning.

I truly believe that we want the same thing: We want to save lives. We want a day to come when abortion isn’t even necessary in our country (so its legality is not of much consequence).

And I think we want to get along with each other.

So why can’t we just…get along? Why can’t we just…work together toward the future we all want?

First, I believe a very shrewd political “industry” manipulates the issue (and us) toward its own ends. Abortion as an issue raises billions and billions of dollars in political contributions. It keeps a lot of people in power. The abortion issue is worth a lot to those who build their career on opposing or protecting it. They gain nothing–in fact, they lose a great deal–the more most of us learn to get along and work together.

We have been used.

Second, as a product of the politicization of abortion, we dumb down and oversimplify what’s really going on. Progress depends on knowledge, but knowledge costs us effort and time. The biggest cost of knowledge? Pride. When we learn new things, we might have to change. People hate to change. And that plays right into the hands of those who politicize abortion for their own gain. Fear is cheaper than knowledge. Fear doesn’t demand that we change. In fact, fear tells us to fight.

No wonder fear is the most effective tool in the politician’s toolbox.

In order to keep us afraid (and angry), politicians have to dumb down and oversimplify. The more we actually know about what is going on, the harder we are to control.

I’m not trying to convince any pro-choice people to become pro-life. Nor am I trying to convince any pro-life people to become pro-choice.

What I am trying to do is get everyone to consider that this issue isn’t so “pure.” This issue is a multi-billion dollar industry that takes people to the heights of power. Do not suppose that they are not actively plotting to manipulate you. And the best form of manipulation is the one that seems “pure” and “righteous.”

I believe our best shot at reducing and eventually eliminating abortion in this country is not a ban. Let’s get real. Imagine a “conservative” Supreme Court struck down Roe versus Wade tomorrow. Would pro-choice advocates pack up and go home?

No. The same fight we’ve been fighting for 44 years would continue with even more heat and passion than before. It could get violent.

I am convinced that a change in the law that would make abortion illegal in the United States is highly unlikely to ever happen. Waiting for it happen wastes the present.

All-or-nothing has not worked, will not work, and will only increase the likelihood of civil society breaking down into violence.

Which is another way to say: This conflict adds to, and compounds, loss of life.

The time has come to say that fighting each other doesn’t work and it is, in fact, only worsening life for the born and unborn.

Here’s are some facts that I didn’t know until I did some research this week: The vast majority of women who choose to get abortions in the United States are low-income women of color who already have at least one child. Their decision to get an abortion is almost always economic. In other words, they’re afraid they can’t afford to raise another child. These women struggle greatly with access to quality child care, healthcare, jobs, and public education where they live. Another fact: Most women who choose abortion are members of a church. Imagine their inner life before, during, and after their pregnancy! Imagine their struggle!

I think we can agree that we need to do more for these women and their families. Their lives are worth it!

You see, it’s not just an abortion issue; it’s a gender issue, a poverty issue, a race issue, and a religious issue (though different from the one we’re used to associating with the abortion debate).

The reason why I, a pro-life voter, began choosing pro-choice candidates is because records show abortions actually decline more under pro-choice policies. Why? Because pro-choice officials tend to have a more holistic view that hardline pro-life officials miss in their “all-or-nothing” approach.

If I really care about babies (and their mothers), I’m going support approaches that do the most for them now.

Since abortion is, in fact, part of a much bigger issue or set of issues in our country, surely we can find several points on which we agree we need to act. If we can agree we need to act on those points, we can start working together to address them. This may be a far more effective way to reduce abortions. It would increase the power of the people versus the political machine that manipulates our conflict to increase its own power.

One more thing for my fellow evangelical Christians: We cannot impose our evangelical Christian morality on others. In the United States of America, people are free to have sex outside marriage. Most of them do. Some statistics have shown that among Christians, premarital sex is more prevalent than among non-Christians. I think one of the big hang-ups for evangelicals like us is that we insist that: 1) women not get abortions, AND, 2) women not have premarital sex.

I think this point applies because evangelicals have opposed both abortion AND birth control. When pro-choice advocates show that birth control works to reduce abortions (which it does greatly), evangelicals complain about it.

If evangelicals were effective at keeping their own people from having premarital sex, I would say that perhaps they have a method worth sharing with the general public. Since evangelicals can’t keep their own pants on, I hardly think they are qualified to judge or teach sexual morality.

Besides, no matter what God thinks about people having sex, he still made it a personal choice and a private matter.

So I think humble, kind-hearted, reasonable evangelicals need to make a choice: Are we willing to give up our insistence on abstinence (one that we don’t even follow ourselves) in order to reduce abortions? Or will we continue to fight birth control initiatives and heap blame on poor women of color–both for getting abortions and for being so immoral and reckless in the first place?

In only one of these scenarios do we stand a chance of doing much good.

And only one of these scenarios is gracious and loving.

So, in conclusion, let’s distance ourselves from abortion as a billion-dollar industry for shrewd political professionals.

Let’s stop creating impossible binaries.

Let’s start talking to each other. Let’s find some things we can work on together to improve the lives of women and their children.

Let’s march for life together.

Onward and upward.