What does it mean to be pro-life? Ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, more Americans, especially Christians, have been asking themselves what it means to be pro-life. With the most significant legal victory we could imagine in our rearview mirror, many Christians began to wonder what was next for the pro-life movement. Had we already won? Was there anything else we needed to do?
Moreover, these questions arose as confusing details began to emerge in our post-Roe nation. Abortion numbers were actually going up. Some prominent church leaders and Christians were proclaiming that they were pro-choice. The abortion pill was becoming easier, not harder, to obtain. As I wrestled through this confusion and thought about what we can do to save unborn babies from abortion, God blessed Care Net with what I’m calling the central question. It’s a question we can ask that brings much-needed clarity, and it is this:
If you were approached by a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy and considering abortion, but you could change everything about her situation except the fact that she was pregnant, what would you want for her? Even more, what do you think that God would want you to want for her?
Watch: How the Central Question Changes Everything
When we answer the central question from a biblical point of view, it provides a roadmap for the future of pro-life ministry for Christians.
So, as Christians, what would we want for this woman facing an unplanned pregnancy? Again, we can change anything and everything except the fact that she’s pregnant.
First, of course, we want her to choose life.
We want to save her unborn baby from abortion. This is and always will be a core aspect we must pursue. But if we could change everything, is that all we’d want for her?
From a Christian perspective, if possible, wouldn’t we also want the father of the baby to be involved, responsible, and committed as a dad?
Reams of social science data show that the breakdown of the family, especially the absence of fathers from children’s lives, is one of the most significant social problems of our generation.
So another thing we would certainly want for a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy is for her child to grow up in a home with a mother and a father—which leads to the next idea.
From a biblical perspective, what is the God-ordained way to maximize the chances that a child will grow up with their mother and father in a loving relationship? You guessed it—marriage.
So our biblical beliefs compel us to want the mother and father to get married and to raise their child together in a loving home.
To recap, if we could change everything about the situation a woman faces when she is considering abortion, we would want her to choose life for her unborn child, for the father to be involved, and for the mother and father to be married and raise the child together.
But wait, there’s more.
As Christians, we don’t just want people to have life here on earth—we want them to have eternal life through a relationship with Jesus Christ. So we want the unborn child to eventually become a disciple of Jesus Christ, and for the mother and father to become disciples as well, raising their child to be a steadfast follower of Christ.
And because we want to make disciples, we also want people connected to the local church, where discipleship takes place.
The holistic Christian vision we would want for a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy is consistent with what God did for Mary, who faced an unplanned pregnancy from a human perspective. Isaiah 7:14 says that a virgin would conceive and bear a child.
In Mary’s case, God could change everything except the fact that she was pregnant. And what did He do?
He formed a married, disciple-making family to protect her and the baby growing inside her.
At Care Net, we call this being Pro Abundant Life.
In John 10:10, Jesus says that He came not just to give life, but to give abundant life. This perspective is not focused only on bios, or biological life, but on a comprehensive Pro Abundant Life vision—one that saves lives from abortion, builds marriages and strong families, and makes disciples for Jesus Christ.
This answers the central question the way God did with Mary.
Why? Because it also brings forth the other type of life Christ offers—zoe. Zoe is a rich, spiritual life that comes only through a relationship with Jesus.
Accordingly, it’s clear that as Christians, we are called to be Pro Abundant Life. So we must commit ourselves to finding the best way to accomplish this renewed vision.
At Care Net, we believe that a Pro Abundant Life vision for the women, men, and unborn children we serve cannot be fully realized without the leadership of Christ’s church. It is the only God-ordained institution that is both ideologically aligned and physically capable of fulfilling a Pro Abundant Life promise—saving women, men, and unborn babies now and for eternity.
So now we must ask ourselves a tough question:
Are we spending the majority of our time, talent, and treasure focused on what we really want—and what God wants us to want—for women at risk for abortion?
Indeed, vulnerable lives in the womb depend on our response and action.
To learn more about what it means to be Pro Abundant Life, visit care-net.org/abundant.