Pro-Life Not Anti-Abortion

As a Catholic you may assumed that I am Pro-life and you would be right.  But what may shock you is that I do not consider myself Anti-Abortion.  Do not get me wrong, I do adhere to the teaching of my church that abortion is a sin, but to me being pro-life is much more than being Anti-abortion.  To me being Pro-life calls me to a greater reality than just demonstrating against abortion.  Abortion is the symptom of the much larger problem and eliminating the symptom will not necessarily cure the problem.  Being pro-life must mean valuing life in all of its stages and every life.  Life from cradle to grave must be considered sacred.  Life of all peoples - regardless of race, gender, gender identity, nationality, legal status or sexuality must be considered sacred.  To me this is the fullest understanding of what it means to be Pro-life.  Evangelicals have declared war on Abortion with the purpose of saving unborn children from being “murdered” in the womb and have decided that this is the summit of their Pro-Life identity.  They credit their Christianity for this position but are they truly echoing the message of Jesus?

Jesus tells us a parable which gives us the true vision of what it means to be Pro-Life in Matthew’s gospel 25:35-40

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Pro-life for me means that I must answer the call to care for the “Least of these” - to fight for the right of fair wages, medical care for the poor and uninsured, to feed the hungry and fight for programs that will improve the conditions of minorities so that they can share in the prosperity of America.  I find it thoroughly hypocritical for many evangelicals who identify as republicans and conservatives and call themselves pro-life to also advocate and speak for cuts to programs that in fact fulfill the call of Christ towards the “least of these.”  Where will Jesus place them when he judges the nations?  Will they be placed with the sheep or will they be placed with the goats?  

Now that I have explained the foundation of my Pro-Life belief and the interpretation of the Gospel which informs it and gives it life; let me explain my vision of what I believe the Pro-Life movement should become.  

We must start with how we raise our children,  We must give them a strong foundation of self respect and self esteem.  We must also teach our children to respect each other.  By giving our children a foundation of self respect and the understanding of right and wrong, hopefully that will help them make better decisions.  We must demand that there are programs that support children and their development.  Child Care, early education, after school programs, boys and girls clubs, programs that provide children the skills to make good decisions that reflect how they value themselves.   This is where we start.  But it is not the end, we must do more.  We must provide solutions and support for women who find themselves agonizing over an unwanted pregnancy for whatever the reason.   If we are going to demand that women no longer have abortions then we need to provide them viable alternatives and support to deal with the consequences of that decision.  Many times the Pro-life movement is very vocal about the value and rights of the unborn but is strangely quiet when it comes to solutions and support for the women who must live with impact of an unwanted pregnancy.  To sum it up simply - if we are going to ask women to have children that they may not want or have determined that they can not afford to take care of, children that they feel will “ruin” their life; we must stand up and support them by helping with the financial, emotional and physical demands of that decision.

But this is only the beginning of a true Pro-life advocacy because it does not end with the rights of the unborn as many of our Evangelical Conservatives would have us believe.  To get a true picture of what Pro-life truly is for the authentic Christian we must look at the Gospels where the Pro-life message is laid out so much like a trail of breadcrumbs.  

The parable of the good Samaritan, the lesson of the  Widow’s mite, the parable of the workers in the vineyard,the 2 Great commandments.  Each of these is an example of a part of Jesus’ vision of what it means to be Pro-life and what he calls us to embrace in full measure.  

The Parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us to have compassion for our neighbors even when they are different from us.  Jesus uses a Samaritan who was mistrusted and treated with suspicion as his main character.  Showing how this “other” actually showed more virtue than those who were native to the area.  The Samaritan is an exhortation to us about the value of those who might be different.  

The Lesson of the Widow’s mite which shows us that we must be generous to the needs of the community and care for the less fortunate.  

The Parable of the workers in the vineyard which although the lesson is much more spiritual on the face it is a lesson of the fair treatment of workers and the generosity of the employer.  

And finally the 2 great commandments which Jesus sums up the entirety of the 10 commandments and provides the penultimate guiding principle for being Pro-life.  The love of neighbor as our self, a command that finds its strength is the commandment to Love God with all that we are.  

To me this is what it means to be Pro-life.  We must have compassion for the stranger - those who are “other”  because they too have value and virtue.  We must be charitable, share our substance and be compassionate to those less fortunate.  We must advocate for fairness in worker’s rights and wages and challenge corporations to treat their workers with dignity.  And finally we must treat all people, the undocumented, the poor,  the homeless, the mentally ill, the sick and the elderly fairly and with justice as we would wish to be treated because this is what we are challenged as Christians to do.  

So the next time you find yourself being asked where you fit in the Pro-life - Pro-choice debate, if you answer that you are Pro-Life, I hope that you will think back to my words and embrace the totality of what Pro-Life should mean.