Today I ran by a homemade sign that read “Vote for Life: The preborn and just born”. It hit me; this is exactly what so many “pro-life” people mean, no more and no less, it was all there on that tiny sign.
As a former conservative Christian, anti-abortion family, friends and churchgoers surrounded me. I was told that we needed to be against abortion because we cared about life and people. This sounded plausible to an immature young child or teen, and even a young adult. This was back when I thought that churchgoers actually cared about love for all instead of just talking about it.
One of the most often referenced stories in the bible is the story of throwing the first stone, this story is popular for non-Christians as well as Christians. Famously, Jesus steps in to save a woman accused of adultery; some say she was a prostitute (how the story/incident is posed and the language used) despite no actual proof of either. Jesus saves her and then tells her to stop sinning and go on living her life. So many times in the retelling of this story, the focus is on the part about the stone throwing, or in this case, the lack of it. We use this story as a way to tell kids to stop judging others or to tell adults to be careful about forgetting their own shortcomings.
However, there is another lesson Christians should learn from this story. Jesus does not demand that prostitution be made illegal, or go out and start protesting the profession (maybe because a prostitute plays the hero role in the bible at times). (Adultery may have been illegal at the time of this story, but if true Jesus did not turn her in or demand her be punished. Many sexual laws in ancient Rome changed often and punishments are hard to track down)
Jesus is more concerned with ending injustices. He understood what millions of Christians either don’t or refuse to acknowledge. The best way to alter a behavior is not to make it illegal but yet to liberate people. This is the crux of the pro-life argument. You can’t be pro-life and fight against liberation and flourishing. So if you stand opposed or vote for people who oppose a living wage, paid leave, birth control, common sense sex education, welfare, access to quality and affordable; housing, mental health, physical health, health assistance programs, child care, and so much more, you are not pro-life. You are pro control of others.
This leads me to this point. Anti-abortion individuals don’t actually care about abortion or even stopping abortion, I know this sounds harsh but hang with me. It is like when Christians say they care about saving souls from hell. It sounds good but the reality is if you honestly thought hell existed and fires were burning people for eternity you couldn’t enjoy anything in life. The people that will tout hell as a way to cast fear don’t tell you about a family member or close friend that they know is in hell burning for eternity. Often, if you ask them about, say, their racist grandpa, for example, they will excuse this “sin” and talk about being saved by grace. This is why they don’t actually believe in a literal hell.
These same people don’t think they will ever have or need to have an abortion. It is easy to say you are against abortion because it requires nothing in return but this is coming from a place of privilege. It is easy to say I would never have an abortion but that could quickly change if circumstances around me change. This is what pro-lifers often disregard, sometimes out of ignorance but also sometimes out of judgment. Additionally, when was the last time you heard an anti-abortion conservative Christian call for higher taxes or more social strategies that actually reduce abortion in the here and now? My guess is almost never. If pro-lifers actually wanted to reduce abortions, they would support policies that actually reduce abortions. This goes back to the control narrative but also the idea that anti-abortion activists never seem willing to put anything of their own on the line to reduce abortions. It is disingenuous at best. At its worst is taking joy from causing others pain.
Way too many Christians are the stone throwers and the sad part is; most of them love doing it.
*Yes, I understand that we are not a theocracy or that religion should not influence our laws but unfortunately, we are not to that point yet, or maybe better said, we are at a new crossroads with that. I am also not trying to shame prostitution or sex workers. I am also not judging abortion but clearly tell
Comments