In his recent essay for First Things, conservative scholar Ryan Anderson takes stock of the pro-life movement in the wake of the Supreme Court’s historic Dobbs decision over two years ago.
Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and the author several books, including Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing, celebrates how overturning Roe v. Wade has saved children by offering legal protection in some states, but also laments how public opinion has shifted drastically in favor of abortion in the past decade.
“Though Dobbs did important work to repair part of the damage to our constitutional order, it doesn’t—couldn’t—erase half a century of political and social corruption,” he writes. “…It took fifty years to overturn Roe, and, for all we know, it may take even longer for us to protect every unborn child in this nation. We need to be committed for the long haul.”
In the essay, Anderson lays the groundwork for success in the long haul by offering a comprehensive, strategic plan that includes political, cultural, and spiritual components.
“We must help our neighbors see that abortion isn’t good for anyone; it not only kills the unborn, but it harms women, families, medicine, politics, the economy, and our culture as a whole.”
Going forward, political engagement and political courage are essential.
“We can’t give up on politics,” Anderson writes, “but neither can we allow the pro-life cause to be a mere appendage of the Republican Party.”
“Every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. Every human being deserves the law’s protection…Pro-lifers need to insist that our political leaders show courage in advocating the truth…”
Anderson writes about how the pro-life cause must broaden its vision to impact culture beyond the political arena. One way to accomplish this lofty goal is by understanding how the sexual revolution and the rise of nonmarital sex have fueled abortion rates.
“Nonmarital sex is the main cause of abortion,” he writes. “Marriage is the best protector of unborn human life. It wasn’t just the pedagogical impact of Roe in teaching about abortion that corrupted our nation; Roe exacerbated multiple generations of a sexual culture that incentivizes abortion.”
To turn the tide on the damage inflicted by the sexual revolution and Roe, Anderson calls for nothing short of a pro-marriage, pro-chastity movement.
“New institutions and new initiatives must turn their attention to this battlefield…”
Care Net, through its Pro Abundant Life Movement and network of 1,200 pregnancy centers, has been engaging culture on this battlefield for decades. In his new book, The Alternative to Abortion: Why We Must Be Pro-Abundant Life, Care Net CEO and President Roland Warren notes the connection between the institution of marriage and a decrease in abortion.
“The sanctity of marriage and family as God designed is very much linked to the sanctity of life,” he writes. “Consequently, it’s not surprising that the data says that 87 percent of women who have abortions are unmarried.”
At the conclusion of his essay, Anderson ponders the question, “How can we help people get married and stay married?”
“We can start with the Church,” he writes, noting that 70 percent of women who have abortions identify as Christian and more than one-third report attending church at least monthly (LifeWay Research study).
“Of these monthly attendees, just over half said their local churches had no influence over their decisions to abort. Apart from Respect Life Sunday, when do we hear about life from the pulpit—or, for that matter, about chastity?”
Church mobilization is a crucial element in Care Net’s Pro Abundant Life movement (based on John 10:10), which calls Christians to be obedient to the Great Commandment (“Love your neighbor”) and The Great Commission (“Go and make disciples of all nations…”).
In his message at Love Church in Nokesville, Virginia on September 15, 2024, Roland Warren spoke about the importance of church engagement and discipleship in the pro-life movement.
“When you see that woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, your first thought shouldn’t be, ‘Who do I need to vote for?’ Your first thought should be, ‘She needs to be a disciple of Jesus Christ,’” he said. “This will never happen if the church doesn’t see abortion as a discipleship issue.”
In his essay, Anderson calls on the Church to devise ministries that will transform lives, “because short of religious revival, none of the changes we need (in the pro-life movement) will be possible.”
In his message at Love Church, Roland Warren reinforced that sentiment, challenging the congregation to consider the discipleship mandate and put into action the words of James 1:27, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
“In that window from conception to birth—that is where a pregnancy center should be able to call First Baptist Church or second Pentecostal Church and say, ‘I got Sally here…She’s facing a pregnancy decision. She needs someone to come alongside her. And we’re going to try to get Bill (the father of the child) to come too, so we can help them build a family—so that we don’t see Sally here again and Planned Parenthood doesn’t see Sally there either.’ ”
If just one percent of the nation’s 300,000 churches did this, we would have more points of compassion in communities—nearly one church for each of the 3,500 pregnancy centers.
“The entire network of pregnancy centers have a role, but they are not the answer,” Roland Warren said. “Ultimately, we trying to get women and men facing unplanned pregnancies to church to become disciples (of Christ), so that they don’t become disciples of the culture.”