I have been associated with the pro-life movement since college. Ever since then, I have been involved in various marches for the cause. I have been to the nation’s capital, state capitals, courthouses, and capitol buildings. I have worked in a number of states doing sidewalk counseling. I have had a gun pulled on me outside an abortion clinic. I have had boyfriends scream their rationale at me while their girlfriend walks out of the clinic with a little paper bag. What did any of it do?
Now, none of those things is contrary to the pro-life cause. I am certain people have been converted outside of abortion clinics, I have just never seen it. Certainly, the marches across the country rally Christians together in solidarity, though I ponder if they have ever convinced someone not to abort. The point of this is not to disparage the work anyone has done in these realms. This is just to raise the question of what else should we consider as productive work in the pro-life arena? Marches and sidewalk counseling are very visible and very well attended. But are there other ways to be pro-life that so often get overlooked simply because they are quieter? Is it possible that marches are just a vestigial organ from civil-rights-era demonstration tactics and not necessarily helpful? There is nothing wrong with marching down roads or counseling down sidewalks, but is there more? What can Christians do to be pro-life?
Pray. This is your duty as a Christian. Pray. Take up the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times (Eph 6). This is a command in Scripture: Pray (Matt 6). This is where marches for life and sidewalk counseling shine. Because they are a time to be filled with prayer. If you find yourself at a march for life and no one is praying, start. If you find yourself at a march for life and no one is singing hymns, start. If Planned Parenthood tries to set up shop in your town, pray. This is the most pro-life thing you can do. Jesus came that we may have life and have it abundantly. So pray. Pray for women like Sarah and Hannah who are unable to conceive. Pray for widows like Anna. Pray for God’s people who offer their children to Molech (2 Kings 23:10). Pray for those like Hiel of Bethel who sacrifice their children for the sake of their success and career (1 Kings 16:34). Pray that God would raise up men like Josiah to tear down these altars. Pray that God would send you a faithful Christian spouse. When He does, then do the next most pro-life thing you can do: have a family. Ignore the lies of the unbelieving world that teach you, in a quiet transgenderism, that women have to be like men to be valuable. That having a career is more important than having a family.
If you want to be pro-life (and you’re married), have a family. Have children. Have them young and often, if God so blesses you. Believe what the bible says that children are “a heritage from the Lord” (Psalm 127). Believe that they are objectively a blessing. Regardless of how sticky, loud, and messy they are, the Lord calls them a blessing. So, believe Him. Do not believe the lies of the pro-choice cause that have taught you that its all up to you when you have children and how many you have. Trust in the Lord to provide for you. It is the Lord who opens and closes the womb (Is 66:9). Having a family is pro-life. Certainly, chastity and virginity have their place in the church. But often, our issue is not young girls who refuse to marry in order to dedicate themselves to a life of virginity to serve the church. Rather it is dedication to a ten-year college endeavor to work for someone else’s husband and putting off having a family to do it. Having a family is pro-life.
When your family is old and you have mothers and grandfathers who cannot take care of themselves, take care of them. This is pro- life. Moses says “stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God” (Lev 19:32). To respect the elderly is one of the most pro-life things you can do. Don’t just leave them in a cell, take them in and love them. True religion is that we care for the widows in their affliction. “Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old” (Prov 23:22).
What does it mean to be pro-life if another family needs help? Is it proper for the saints of God to farm out welfare and the caretaking of children to Caesar? How can we permit the unbelievers to care for the orphan and fatherless? Are these not the ones who drag you into court? Come now, let us reason together. It is a divine injunction of God to care for the orphan and fatherless. It was the Church who invented adoption, orphanages, and brephotrophia. Let us remember our first love and care for the orphans. Saint Joseph adopts Jesus, Mordecai adopts Esther, Eli adopts Samuel, Pharoah’s daughter adopts Moses, and most importantly, God has adopted you in the waters of baptism. This is pro-life.
If you spend your day praying at a march for life or outside a clinic, you have spent your time well. But you don’t have to fly to D.C. to be pro-life. Every day, you can and should conduct yourself as someone who is actively pro-life by loving the people He has given you. Have a family or support a family. This is the most pro- life thing you can do.