To Be Pro-Life is To Love Those Who Have Chosen Abortion

I write this on the morning of the 47th Annual March for Life. Three of my own kids are in attendance and they’ll join likely half a million other people for the largest human rights demonstration in the world.

In this increasingly divisive, politically-charged, climate that we find ourselves in, I think that it’s important that we all remember that being pro-life is not about politics — it’s about people — and it always has been.

In fact, if you go to the March for Life — you will not find condemnation for those who have had abortions. You will find love — and lots of it!

But a regular gut-check is helpful for anybody actively involved in the pro-life movement and for all those who consider themselves pro-life.

Ultimately, we must remember that this movement was founded on love: love for mothers and fathers and babies.

If you are finding it difficult to find love in your heart for all the victims involved in abortion — including the mothers or fathers who willingly had an abortion — then you need to do some work in your heart.

I’ve been especially convicted of this in recent years. I see it as a subtle trap that actually blocks the channel of grace that we can be in the anti-life culture we find ourselves in.

I used to think about the babies being murdered in the womb and, in the process, found it more difficult to love the woman who chose the abortion.

This is so wrong. You have to love them both, or you’re not really pro-life!

We are called to love the woman or man who has chosen an abortion and their baby — and if you have ever had this struggle to love them both, it’s time to begin again in your love and defense of all life.

Besides, somewhere along the way, we failed these men and women. Somehow we failed to support them and to love them and to let them know there was a better way.

We can not fail them again by not loving them or not helping them to find life again.

I can only imagine the absolute Hell a woman goes through after an abortion — literal Hell at knowing you took the life of your own precious child.

If you have never contemplated the anguish and regret that a woman might feel after an abortion, then maybe it’s time — it just might be the first step in growing in love and compassion for a woman who has made this choice.

We can not forget that in so many ways, those men and women are victims, too.

Many of the men and women in the early years of legal abortion had been told that their baby was just a blob of tissue — not human at all.

They were lied to.

Now that we have ultrasounds, we can see the 10 fingers and toes and a baby sucking it’s thumb in the womb.

This “blob of tissue” lie is harder to pass off, as any real science refutes that quite easily — but other lies have taken it’s place.

Lies like, “This baby will ruin your life” or “You can’t possibly have a baby and pursue your dreams” or even “A baby with disabilities could not possibly have any real value or meaning”.

The lies have grown even more disturbing and superficial — lies like “You don’t really want a girl, do you? Abort this one and wait for a boy”. (In case you are not aware, perfectly healthy girls are being disproportionately aborted around the globe — because they’re not boys.)

So many lies — lies upon lies — and they have resulted in millions of babies being aborted in our country alone.

But there are no winners with abortion. Both mother, father and baby lose.

The statistics back up what I am saying here. The increase in self-loathing and self-destructive behavior in the life of a woman who has had an abortion is well-documented.

Why would we want to add to the hurt of somebody who is already hurting so greatly?

No, we have a duty to love those women and try to help them find God’s love and healing.

We have a duty to pray for them and reach out to them. I dare say we have a duty to help them seek God’s forgiveness and to find a way to forgive themselves.

We have a duty to help them to go on to live beautiful lives.

I guess one could argue the only winners in abortion are the abusers who want to get rid of the evidence and the multi-billion dollar abortion industry, headed by the likes of Planned Parenthood.

But they really aren’t winning either, because one day there will be a reckoning for them — and we should pray that they repent, too — before it’s too late.

So on this somber day, I guess I’m sharing these thoughts I’ve struggled through and prayed through myself, because I know that hatred or violence can never be the answer to the problems we face.

I know that, if we are ever to end abortion in our land, we must love those who have had abortions and even those who are involved in abortion — the doctors and clinic workers — which can be difficult, I know.

To love, by the way, is not to condone what they do. You can love somebody and still condemn their actions as wrong and hurtful to themselves and others.

Our job is to do both. Not always an easy task.

God bless you and God bless all those who are Marching for Life in DC today and all those who March for Life around the world.

May we all continue to love and to march and to pray for an end to the lies and the killing and misery that is a result of it all.

May we never stop, until every life is cherished and loved and protected — from conception until natural death.

Amen.

If you have had an abortion, I am so sorry for your loss! There is healing and forgiveness. Start here.