6. Abortion - Holding the Standard in Love

The Christian Statement

The Christian position on the sanctity of human life from conception is not a recent political development. It is rooted in the consistent witness of the early church - the Didache, written in the late first or second century, explicitly prohibits abortion - and in the theological conviction that every human being is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and known by God before birth (Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5). The position is not ambiguous in the historic Christian tradition.

The question is not whether to hold the position. It is how.

The ground for this engagement runs deeper than strategy. John writes that the Word became flesh and made His dwelling (eskenosen - tabernacled) among us (John 1:14). The God who took on flesh chose the most radical form of human vulnerability as the shape in which to enter the world: the dependence and smallness of an infant. He did not engage human life from above, issuing positions from a distance. He entered it. This is the pattern the church must follow in the abortion conversation: not a position delivered from above, but a presence within human fragility, willing to be in the room before the truth is spoken. The eskenosen prevents this conversation from becoming a purely forensic or political exercise. Flesh participated in light. Light entered flesh. That is the frame.

"Certainly you made my inmost parts; you wove me together in my mother's womb. I will give you thanks, for I was made in an awesome and wonderful way; your works are marvelous - I know this very well."

-- Psalm 139:13-14 (NET)

The wrong approach - and the one that has driven people away from the church rather than toward it - is the approach that leads with condemnation, that makes the person who has had an abortion feel permanently defined by it, that stands outside abortion clinics with images designed to shame rather than with the genuine offer of support and love.

Wrong Approach: Standing outside an abortion clinic with graphic signage, shouting condemnation at women entering. Preaching about abortion without acknowledging the fear, poverty, relationship failure, and desperation that drive the decision. Treating the woman who has had an abortion as permanently beyond grace rather than as someone for whom Christ died.

✔ Salt and Light: Asking the woman considering an abortion: "What do you need? What are you afraid of? What is making this feel like the only option?" And then genuinely trying to meet those needs - the crisis pregnancy center model, done with genuine love rather than as a bait-and-switch. Being the community that is present before and after the decision, not just during the political debate. Extending the same grace to the woman who has had an abortion that Jesus extended to the woman at the well.

The church that is known in its community as the place that helps women in crisis pregnancy - that provides baby clothes, childcare support, housing assistance, adoption services, counseling, and genuine sustained community - is making the argument for life far more powerfully than any protest. The argument from love, backed by genuine practical support, changes minds. The argument from condemnation produces entrenchment.

"I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more."

-- John 8:11 (NET)

The sequence matters. Acceptance first. Truth second. And the truth delivered in the context of acceptance is receivable in a way that truth leading the conversation is not.

★ Disciple Tip: For the person who has had an abortion and is carrying guilt, the most powerful thing the disciple can say is not a theological position on when life begins. It is: "The God who formed you in the womb is the same God who meets you here. There is no sin the cross cannot cover. Including this one."