As I go about my daily life, babies are being killed down the street. Having moved onto campus at Moody Bible Insitute in Chicago this past week, I was aspiring to find ways to get involved with pro-life work in Chicago, only to have heard about the pro-life group on campus. This week, I had the privilege of walking with some amazing Moody students to Planned Parenthood, an abortion clinic down the street, and praying outside the clinic and side-walk counseling the women, encouraging them to choose life for their babies.
Standing outside this abortion clinic was heartbreaking, to say the least. Tears filled my eyes at the sight of the dumpsters with a biohazard sign on them, on the side of the building. I was standing in front of a building dedicated to ending the lives of babies. How can a place as disgusting and evil as Planned Parenthood continue to exist? Evil will continue to be normalized if morality is labeled subjective. Returning to class and my daily routine the next day, my mind was flooded with thoughts of, “how can I sit in class, go about my day, and do nothing while babies are being killed down the street right now?” I can’t, and I won’t.
Pro-life work isn’t just an option, it’s a command.
Although we all know that abortion is evil, we sometimes believe that some Christians are called to pro-life work, and others can remain passive or silent on the issue. However, scripture commands everyone to speak up for those who do not have a voice.
“Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this, does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?” -Proverbs 24:11-12
Planning to write my first pro-life post, I pondered beginning this post with a defense for pro-life work, explaining why abortion is the ending of life. However, I quickly changed course and will not be explaining why abortion is wrong. For I know that everyone inherently knows that abortion is murder, and the denial of this truth is a mere intentional suppression of one’s God-given conscience, rooted in a desire to justify sin. So I will spend the entirety of this article focusing on how we can strive to contribute to the end of the evil of abortion.
Be burdened and sickened by the word “abortion.”
Our pursuits are rooted in the passions of our hearts. A culture that rejects God and embraces relativism inevitably normalizes all sorts of evil. However, there should be no room for passivity on the issue of abortion. As Christians, all of our pursuits should be shaped by a desire to live Soli Deo Gloria, all for the glory of God alone. We glorify God when we stand up for the voiceless.
We all agree that abortion is wrong, but it is so easy to even unintentionally cultivate a passive attitude toward the sin of abortion. How would you feel if, as you were sitting on your porch, your neighbor’s child was going to be murdered? You wouldn’t just sit there with a passive attitude, failing to do something. Whichever city you live in, there is a building, maybe not too far from your house where several lives are being lost to abortion at this very moment. As Christians, we must grow our passion for standing up against abortion. We cannot let our hearts, even subconsciously, be passive on this issue. The mention of the word abortion should illicit a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, prayerful response. That response should then translate into action.
Let your voice be a light among the darkness. The sanctity of human life is not to be merely a truth that we cling to in our hearts but a truth that shapes the way in which we speak and live. Scripture continually reminds us of the significance of our words and how they can either build up or tear down. In conversations and interactions with others, we must speak up about the evil of abortion. We know that as Christians, we must speak the truth in love.
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ”
-Ephesians 4:15
Get Involved
We are all called to different types of ministry and can still be involved in pro-life work in several different, meaningful ways. Support your local pregnancy center, either through prayers, your time (volunteering), or financial or material support. Find the pro-life organizations in your city, and seek ways to support them in any way you feel called to do. If God is calling you to the political aspect of pro-life work, then get involved with that.
Specific ways to pray for the end of abortion:
Pray for your city, for your country, and for our world to recognize the evil of abortion and turn from it. I know that an aspect of my daily prayer life while I am in Chicago will be for the Planned Parenthood on North La Salle St, Chicago, to shut down.
Pray for women who have had abortions and will have to carry the guilt of ending their child’s life for the rest of their lives.
Pray for women who, even right now as I write this, are facing an unplanned pregnancy and are ambivalent, suppressing their conscience to choose abortion. Pray that they would choose life for their baby. Pray that they would know that there is hope in Christ and that they would know Him.
Pray for everyone who works in pro-life organizations, for their protection and for strength, as they may face many challenges.
Pray for those who work in the abortion industry to be convicted by the truth of abortion and leave.
Pray for healing for all who have left the abortion industry or are living with the guilt of having had an abortion, that they would find hope in the forgiveness and grace in Christ.
Pray that your heart never grows passive on the evil of abortion but rather that we all passionately stand up for the unborn.
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
-Psalm 139: 13-16
