The Church’s Strong Stand for Life
By Kirt Wiggins, Caring Network President
The followers of Jesus Christ are among the most ardent advocates of life and most active co-laborers in the work to eliminate abortion. Christian churches are strongly involved in outreach to women with unexpected pregnancies and in support of groups such as Caring Network. Many local churches are first in line to support women and their babies, in every imaginable way.
Churches and denominations that are faithful to Scripture have historically supported the protection of unborn life, opposed abortion, actively advocated for pro-life policies, and supported ministries and outreach to women, babies, and families. Many ministers preach at least annually on the call to pro-life work.
Christian teaching against abortion goes back to the church’s earliest days. A collection of texts of the Apostolic Fathers known as the Didache from approximately 150 AD explicitly condemned abortion (“Do not abort a foetus or kill a child that is born”).[1]
A text known as the Apocalypse of Peter from the same period had strong condemnation for “those who slew the unborn children.”[2]
John Calvin, in his commentary on Exodus 21:22, wrote: “[T]he fœtus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being, and it is almost a monstrous crime to rob it of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fœtus in the womb before it has come to light.”[3]
The Roman Catholic Church has Always Opposed Abortion
Much of the modern Christian church continues as the backbone of the cause of protecting preborn life. Many religious groups have little or no ambivalence in their opposition to abortion. For instance, the nation’s largest church, the Roman Catholic Church – opposes abortion in all circumstances.
The Catholic Church states that its opposition to abortion follows from a belief that human life begins at conception and that “human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.”[4]
The Church holds that “the first right of the human person is his life” and that life is assumed to begin at fertilization.[5] The Church has affirmed that every procured abortion is a moral evil, a teaching that the Catechism of the Catholic Church declares “has not changed and remains unchangeable” since the first century.[6]
Evangelicals are a Steadfast Group Against Abortion
Evangelical churches in multiple denominations comprise another large Christian group in the work for life. The National Association of Evangelicals declares: “We recognize that well-intentioned Americans have debated for many years whether and in what circumstances abortion should be legal. Americans remain passionately divided on this subject. The NAE actively, ardently and unwaveringly opposes abortion on demand.”[7]
The nation’s second-largest church, the Southern Baptist Convention, also opposes abortion, allowing an exception in cases where the mother’s life is in danger. In 2021, the Southern Baptist Convention issued a resolution on abortion stating that “abortion is murder, and we reject any position that allows for any exceptions to the legal protection of our preborn neighbors, compromises God’s holy standard of justice, or promotes any God-hating partiality.”[8]
The Assemblies of God, the largest charismatic denomination in the U.S, opposes abortion with few exceptions, as do the African Methodist Episcopal church (AME), and the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod.
Local Churches Provide Daily Support
It is the local churches and their contingent of faithful volunteers that provide much of the daily assistance to groups such as Caring Network that maintain pregnancy centers and support women facing unexpected pregnancies, as well as supporting these ministries financially.
This support includes prayer for the ministry and families, maintaining Baby Banks the provide basic materials items for mothers to have for their newborns, such as diapers and wipes, and formula.
Churches also conduct Connections programs that organize baby showers for new mothers, and seek to involve them in programs in the church and to provide spiritual counsel and instruction. Other churches conduct Bridges, a free parenting program for men and women seeking support during pregnancy and in the early parenting years.
Another program, Journey, is a church-based discipleship program through which a woman can have a mentor to help her explore spiritual matters and to help her grow in her faith. Since its earliest days, the Church of Jesus Christ has been a primary protector of the unborn baby, both as an institution and in the love and care of its members, one by one, for the woman who is facing a lonely and frightening new challenge and needs a wise and loving friend for her and her baby.
References:
[1] https://heidelblog.net/2016/10/notes-from-the-didache-on-the-early-christian-view-of-abortion/
[2] https://www.christianforums.com/threads/the-apocalypse-of-peter-on-abortion.5470292/
[3] Calvin, John (1564). Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses, Vol. III. Translated by Bingham, Charles William. United Kingdom: Calvin Translation Society (published 1854). pp. 41–42
[4] Kelly, David F. (2004). Contemporary Catholic health care ethics. Internet Arch ive. Washington, D.C. : Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-1-58901-030-7.
[5] “Abortion – Excommunication”. Eternal Word Television Network. Archived from the original on April 9, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2007.
[6] “Catechism of the Catholic Church – IntraText”. www.vatican.va. Archived from the original on November 14, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2021
[7] National Association of Evangelicals on Abortion
[8] https://www.sbc.net/resource-library/resolutions/on-abolishing-abortion/
