Building a stronger pro-life cause

January is Sanctity of Human Life month and there is particular optimism on this 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade that the Supreme Court will rescind the so-called right to abortion. Observers say the Dobbs v. Jackson case out of Mississippi, which the court will decide this summer, is the best opportunity in years to redress the rights of the unborn.

This anniversary affords us evangelicals the occasion to marry two biblical ideals that too often are divorced: the sanctity of life and the sanctified life that the Gospel enjoins. We influence our pro-life stance to the extent we contend that life not only is sacred but also holy.

This means, of course, that we must believe there is a quality of life better than we typically live, goodness that we put off countless times each day. For example,

• Each click on a link to pornography denies purity and faithfulness to marriage.
• Lying snuffs truth.
• Corrosive words burn our adversaries and scorch grace.
• Neglect of neighbors we see — the homeless and hungry and hurting — keeps the God we don’t see in the dark.

When we live less than the ideal, we incite critics such as this progressive Christian writer who blogged about the response of evangelicals to COVID-19.

“They [white evangelicals] didn’t think about this as an opportunity to love and serve neighbors. “WWJD?” played no part in their response. And most did not ponder what the appropriate “pro-life” response would be because that’s not really an ethic, just a slogan and a bit of branding…”¹

Pro-lifers can use Sanctity of Life month to prove we are not about slogans and brands, but about life both sacred and holy. For too long pro-choice advocates have had success describing the misery ahead for unwanted children and the hardships of mothers, often abandoned by the father and alone, to raise them. In their gospel, abortion is an act of salvation that spares child and mother — and all of us, by extension — an unwanted life.  Quality of life trumps sanctity of life.

Believing that life is sacred and holy, we proclaim an alternative. We acknowledge life can become bankrupt but it can also be redeemed because it is sacred. Pro-choice pretends to spare the consequences of our choices; pro-life advocates that the sacredness of life makes room for God who gives life also to redeem it. In the oft-quoted words of the Apostle Paul to the Roman church, God is able to work everything for good (Romans 8:28).

Beyond its gospel of redemption, pro-life offers the hope that we can stop contributing to the wreckage that requires redemption in the first place. The Psalmist calls us to worship in the beauty of holiness. Holiness is beautiful not only in the worship hour but especially in the moments of integrity and grace in everyday life.

Sanctity of life demands that we live better than we do. The recent Advent season reminds us this is one purpose of Christ’s coming.

For this reason, the start of the new year and January as Sanctity of Life month are a season to re-embrace the ideal of life sanctified, even as we press to end the scandal of abortion. N.T. Wright, in his book Broken Signposts, encourages that “…those who follow Jesus are commissioned and equipped to be new-creation people, justice people, hope-giving people for a world where injustice still reigns.”

Commissioned and equipped. The commission inspires our purpose; being equipped instills strength and assurance to achieve it. Sanctity of Life month allows us to reflect on this commission:  Uphold the sacredness of life for all, the unborn and the living, but pursue also the sanctified life which makes life better for all. The ideal is high, but not far-fetched. Jesus has prepared us, saying “I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified,” (John 17:19).

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, the late president of Yeshiva University, recognized the influence of sanctified life. In a sermon, A Credo for the Pulpit, Rabbi Lamm said, “If I preach about honesty, I must be willing to publish my tax returns in the public press. If I urge generosity, I must have already uprooted every last vestige of hatred and grudge from my heart.”

We may add, in the context of pro-life, “If I proclaim the sanctity of life in the unborn, I must embody sanctified life in myself.”

When we couple these two ideals, the sanctity of life and life sanctified, we will have greater power to scour the scandal of abortion and to convince our critics that we are genuinely pro-life, regardless of its state or circumstance.

1. Fred Clark, “Culture warriors don’t know how to respond to a pandemic,” Patheos, accessed December 30, 2020, https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2020/12/20/culture-warriors-dont-know-how-to-respond-to-a-pandemic/.