10/20/2020
Something's really been on my mind lately, and I've been doing a lot of reading. Pro-life and antiabortion are NOT the same thing. The US antiabortion movement adopted that term in 1973 to represent their cause, but in theory they are not the same. People who are truly "pro-life" believe in furthering all human life; that "all human beings have inherent, irreducible value" (Camosy Faith and Reason July 2019). Therefore, if you claim to be "pro-life," you should also be fighting for living people such as racial minorities, families living in poverty, the elderly and disabled, immigrants and refugees, children and families involved in the child-protective system, enemy combatants, and the incarcerated. Pro-lifers are anti-abortion, anti-guns, anti-war, anti-genocide, anti-terrorism, and anti-death penalty--any practice that reduces a human being to "a mere product in a marketplace--one that can be used and then thrown away.... Persons are ends in themselves, with inherent and irreducible value, and must never be put into the category of things that can be merely discarded as so much trash" (Camosy). Someone who is pro-life, like Jesus, loves all people and makes sacrifices to improve life for all people. Pro-life cannot be attributed to one American political party because it is much bigger than that narrow definition. It transcends one belief, one party, one nation. For a follower of Jesus Christ, there's a verse in Revelation that must lead our thinking on being pro-life: "After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands" (Rev. 7:9 NIV). Pro-life, for the believer, must be so much more than antiabortion. It is global and includes a lot of people who are shunned by the political beliefs of those who call themselves "pro-life." We need to seek the Holy Spirit's guidance in this area. Love God; love people. WWJD? Love y'all!