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Years ago a famine relief organization printed a poster with an emaciated woman and child that asked the question, “How do you feed a billion hungry people?” The overwhelming nature of a question like that could leave many people in despair, unable to respond in the face of a need so massive. But the bottom of the poster gave a hopeful answer, “One at a time.”[1]

The same can be said about the injustice of abortion. Over 62 million human lives have been surgically aborted since Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Abortion is unquerstionably the greatest horizontal injustice in our world today. How can we respond in the face of a need so massive? By responding one at a time. Fighting for one child at a time. Helping one mom at a time. 

This is not a call for everyone to be involved in every way. But for every Christian to do something to fight against the evils of abortion. Consider these five ways you can be involved, that together form an acrostic: VALUE.  

Vote

Proverbs 31:8-9 is written to a king. This challenge to “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” is directly and immediately applicable to government officials. Ultimately no one has more ability and responsibility to be a voice for the voiceless than government leaders.  

In America, we have the unique responsibility to appoint our leaders with our vote. But let’s be careful not to allow this responsibility to drive us into partisan politics. In his book How the Nations Rage, Jonathan Leeman writes about straight-line and jagged-line issues.[2] Abortion, for example, is a straight-line issue. There is a direct path from the biblical principles about the sanctity of human life to a clear application. Abortion is unjust. Abortion is murder. The right way to fight abortion, however, is a jagged-line issue. Some may choose to stand outside abortion clinics and plead with women to choose life. Others may choose to involve themselves in pregnancy resource centers like Care Net. Others may choose serious political engagement, and even run for office. The applications are endless.  

So what does this have to do with how we vote? One way to fight the injustice of abortion is exclusively to vote for those who uphold the sanctity of unborn life. Christians who see things differently should not accuse their brothers and sisters of being single-issue voters who don’t care about other injustices. That’s not kind or fair. On the other hand, those who choose exclusively to vote Republican because of their stance on the abortion issue should not uncharitably judge Christians who (for different reasons) may choose to vote Democrat.  

But there’s one more step I’d encourage Christians on the political left to take. Be a loud and proud voice against the evils of abortion that are rife throughout the Democratic party’s official platform. Sadly, there are few left on the left who speak out for the unborn. Don’t let that be true of you, Christian.  

Act

A second way to respond to the injustice of abortion is to act. If you approached a river and noticed a baby drowning, surely you would dive in and save the child. If after a few minutes you noticed another baby and then another in the river, you may choose at some point to travel upstream to figure out who’s throwing these babies in the river.   

Similarly, Christians can act against the evils of abortion either downstream or upstream. We act downstream by striving to rescue babies at risk of abortion. This could include sidewalk counseling ministries that encourage women to choose life outside an abortion clinic, or involvement in ministries like Care Net that help women who are considering abortion but haven’t made up their minds. Alternatively, we act upstream by striving to make abortion unthinkable. This could include getting involved in adoption or foster care ministry, or hundreds of other ministries that care for struggling women and orphaned or unwanted children.  

Love

A third way to respond to the injustice of abortion is to love. Love the pro-choice advocate, love the father pressuring his girlfriend to abort, love the mother who feels hopeless and alone, and love the unborn without a voice. But consider also the power of a church that truly loves one another, even when we’re talking about sensitive and controversial issues like abortion.

Three years ago one, Brannan was one of our newest members. She was a new Christian, and was learning God’s Word. Not long after she became a Christian she was struggling with what the Bible teaches about the sanctity of human life. She shared some of her struggles with another lady in the church. Here’s what her church family didn’t do: we weren’t shocked. We didn’t push her away. We didn’t tell her to shape up or ship out. We listened to her. We answered her questions. We helped her understand what God's Word teaches. We loved her. And now, three years later, Brannan is having the same conversations with friends and co-workers, except now she is the one who's helping people understand the dignity and sanctity of unborn human life. In a world that talks a lot about justice (except for the most vulnerable), she’s learned to be a voice for the voiceless. In a world that considers abortion essential and gathering with God’s people optional, she’s learned to be a voice for truth. This is what can happen when God’s people learn to care about each other more than they care about the “issues.”

Understand

A fourth way to respond to the injustice of abortion is to understand. Understand the issues orbiting the abortion debate by reading helpful books like Pro-Choice Or Pro-Life: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims by Randy Alcorn. Understand what might lead a woman to choose an abortion. Understand the Gospel and how it offers redemption, even to those who have taken the life of an unborn child.  

Evangelize

finally, and most importantly, we respond to the injustice of abortion when we evangelize. To evangelize simply meant to speak the Gospel, to tell other people the Good News about what God has done for us in the person and work of Christ. John Stott rightly says, "Evangelism is the major instrument of social change. For the gospel changes people, and changed people can change society."  

Remember, the most ardent proponents of the pro-choice movement are not our enemies. They are not combatants they are captives. And we know the Good News that can set them free.

 

[1] As told by Alcorn, 66. [2] Jonathan Leeman, How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2018), 89–93.