Bad bargain

It happens, it seems, in every election cycle. “Do you really think,” some of our political opponents complain, “that abortion is the only issue we have to worry about? Don’t you think we’d be a whole lot more effective if we engaged other issues as well—like racism, poverty, and the environment?”

The objection makes some sense. Why go into any contest with no more than a single weapon?

And especially if the rising generation of evangelical 20-somethings and teenagers is a bit embarrassed by what it thinks is an out-of-balance focus by its elders—then might we be wise to back off a bit? Can’t we be satisfied with candidates who favor “life values”? Do we really need office-seekers who will go out of their way to define themselves as “pro-life” or even “anti-abortion”?

Well, yes, we do. We Christians should never be hesitant to say boldly and clearly that abortion is a uniquely devastating behavior. It rattles the foundations of a civilized society. It pushes a culture in a dark and dreadful direction.

We Christians should never be hesitant to say boldly and clearly that abortion is a uniquely devastating behavior.

In making those assertions, I refer not so much to the young woman caught in the anguish of an unexpected pregnancy. I speak instead to a society that goes out of its way to tell such a woman that what she seeks in desperation is just fine. There’s forgiveness for individual sinners. There’s judgment for societies that lead their young ones astray.

It’s true that we evangelicals have often been too silent and too slow on issues of racism, economic justice, and environmental waste. But what evangelical leader do you know who is openly promoting racist bias? Who is calling for increased insensitivity to the poor? Who is calling for more reckless plundering of the environment? On all those fronts and more, the evangelical community may be slow—but it is at least typically facing the right direction.

But if it’s OK to do some midcourse correction on issues like those, let’s not back off a simultaneously renewed emphasis on the protection of little babies—even if the younger generation disdains our “one-issue” emphasis. With Hillary Clinton stressing on the campaign trail that “the unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights,” it will clearly take a focused effort to bring about significant change.

So here is something to throw at those who accuse us of being overly narrow when we focus on the abortion tragedy. To be robustly and consistently anti-abortion is at the very same time to cast your vote against racism, against economic injustice, and against environmental insensitivity. None of these is an independent, isolated package.

Abortion, for example, is one of the most racist of social causes in history. Both the history and the current practice of Planned Parenthood are demonstrably racist to the core. The National Vital Statistics System indicates that while a typical African-American woman has 1.6 times as many pregnancies as a white woman, she is likely to have 5 times as many abortions. More than 15 million African-American babies have been aborted since 1973.

And no economist can reflect on the loss of more than 50 million babies over the last 50 years and not wince at the impact of such a drain on the economic vitality of our society. Experts shake their heads in wonderment at the poky recovery to the crash of 2008. But without abortion, America would today be enjoying the fruitful economic demand of more than two Californias.

Finally, to make the preservation of polar bears, Florida manatees, and delta smelt a priority while encouraging the destruction of human babies makes no sense at all.

So don’t let anyone shame you on this matter. It’s the promoters of abortion who are the real “single issue” fanatics—falsely teaching that you can mess with one or two aspects of life without upsetting the balance God so wondrously built into His creation order. We need to expose that lie for the tragic falsehood that it is. And we need to teach the next generation what a very bad bargain they have been asked to accept.

Email jbelz@wng.org