Kaitlyn Thornton Abbott

As many of you are quite aware, as made evident by my thesis, I am extremely pro-life: in every scenario.  I think life deserves to be valued at every cost, seeing as it is a direct gift from God.  My conviction goes beyond emotional belief, and to the point I will have Micah 6:8 tattooed on my body.  As a Christian, my beliefs are obviously founded in God’s word and proven true by science.  But as a Christian, one has to wonder what the Christ-like response is to abortion, those who perform and have them, and those who advocate the idea.

There are many viewpoints one could take up, and frankly, the viewpoint each one chooses is going to be a direct reflection of what is in his or her heart.  For example, if one chooses to see all those who have committed abortions or who have had abortions are murderers, then his viewpoint is one founded in hate, not in love.  On the other hand, a viewpoint founded in love will react with grace and understanding and forgiveness; just as Christ has already forgiven all of our debts.

The Church has one main job, with many other jobs and missions branching out from that.  Our main job, as the body of Christ, is to “Go and make disciples of all nations.”  But one of the main jobs the church has to do is look after the orphans and widows (James 1:27).  But another job we have is seen in Micah 6:8: “What does the Lord require of you?  To seek justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”  As we can see, we are expected to seek justice.  We are to seek justice for everyone — whether they are slave, free, black, white, young, old, rich, or poor.  As the Church, it is our duty to find true justice — Biblical justice for every man, woman, and child.

Proverbs 31:8-9 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.”  As the Church, it is our job to speak up for the unborn, seeing as they cannot speak up for themselves.  They are young, just as much as they are poor and needy.  They have become victims — ostracized for being too little, too helpless, not the “perfect” child.  The Church’s mission in our world of hate and glorification of perfection is, and needs to continue to be, to speak up for them but in love.

In love.  Isn’t that the key?  When you hear of a pro-life protest, many conceive the notion of people outside, marching along, with pictures of aborted fetuses on them.  And that is a very accurate picture.  Many radical pro-life believers will go to that extreme (funnily enough, studies have been done that show this method is less effective in reaching the target people group instead of building a meaningful relationship with whom you’re trying to minister).  The Church, as a whole, and the individuals of the church, have the duty to protest, but respectfully, and still hold our Savior high.  People in today’s society tend to respond with hate and act repulsed by a woman who has had an abortion.  This is not the way to act!  Yes, we as the Church hold the belief life is a sacred, good blessing from God.  But we also believe we have been cleansed from our sins.  What does it say of the church if we, as the body, refuse to act as the church ought to?

A woman who has had the trauma of having an abortion goes through a turmoil of emotions.  She is alone, she feels violated, she feels as if she has no support, she feels disgusted with herself; she feels guilty, she believes, if even for a time, that she has killed her baby.  As the Church, why do we continue to make women feel this way?  Now, I am in no way advocating the acts they have done — I see them as morally wrong; I do believe a life was being taken.  But we are called to forgive!  Jesus said in his parable:

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”  Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.  Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him.  Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.  At this the servant fell on his knees before him.  ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’  The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.  But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.  He grabbed him and began to choke him.  ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.  His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’  But he refused.  Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.  When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.  Then the master called the servant in.  ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.  Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’  In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.  This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

(Matthew 18:21-35)

Here we stand — we are liars, we are thieves, we have hate in our hearts (so essentially, we are murderers), we have looked at the opposite gender with lust; we are sinners.  What is just for our sins?  If justice were to be served, I know I’d be burning in Hell.  Our sins are NO better than the woman who has suffered from an abortion, and it is time the Church stands up and welcomes those women into the body with open arms and open hearts.  Our job is to cherish and forgive — just as we have been cherished and forgiven.

People tend to forget about the doctors performing the abortions; instead, our fixations tends to be on those who want the crime being done, not necessarily on the one committing the actual crime (because, technically, the woman is drugged and has no control of what happens).  However, we are not to deem them unworthy, either.  Even the most holy man, the most Godly pastor, is unworthy to stand before God — the Church needs to stop condemning people to Hell because of their sins.  Yes, they have sinned; but so has everyone else on this planet.  Until the church steps up, and opens its arms, and its doors, we can have no hope for the ending of abortion.  Our job is to pray, without ceasing, for God’s justice to be done on this topic.  Our response needs to be in love.  We are a Grace-centered community — not because of us, but because of what’s be done for us.  It’s time the church emulated that response.