Death on a billboard

A few months ago, California Governor Gavin Newsom purchased billboard space in seven GOP-led states, trolling their voters on the issue of abortion. The signs read, in bold print, “Need an Abortion, California Is Ready To Help” while listing a website where abortion procedures take place in the Golden State. A few of the signs dared also to print the text of the Great Commandment from Mark 12:31: “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment.”

Now is a good time to remember those billboards. Newsom announced this campaign on Twitter, “NEW: Just launched billboards in 7 of the most restrictive anti-abortion states that explain how women can access care—no matter where they live. To any woman seeking an abortion in these anti-freedom states: CA will defend your right to make decisions about your own health.”

Most political observers see this as way of attracting attention by a Democratic primary electorate in 2024, which may yearn for an aggressive, far-left progressive. Now that President Biden has announced his run for re-election, Newsom’s bid is presumably on hold. Here is one of the lasting lessons from Newsom’s abortion ad strategy: In an era of expressive individualism, governing by stunt has become the new campaign strategy by politicians across the spectrum.

It is hard to imagine a more perverse act by a public official than using the heinous and immoral practice of abortion—which takes an innocent life—as a magnet for tourism. It appeals to the basest human instincts, ratifying the sexual revolution’s exploitation of women. But what takes this stunt to another level is Newsom’s flippant quoting of Scripture to justify the act.

Of course, this isn’t the first time a politician has used the Bible as a mascot for public policy. This practice has become a ritual around election time, with candidates on both sides massaging holy writ to adorn their policies. But Newsom’s use of Jesus’ words seems even more egregious than proof-texting verses in service of tax policy or health are proposals. This is a willful act of defiance against God’s law, violating the Third Commandment (Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain) in service of violating the Sixth (Do not kill). “Woe,” says the prophet Isaiah, “to those who call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20).

Jesus would tell us that “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).” Abortion is not life-giving, but life-destroying. It is the handiwork of the father of lies.

The Scriptures clearly give personhood to babies from the moment of conception (Psalm 139). Science is increasingly affirming this ancient truth, showing fetal development in the womb. So Jesus’ command to love our neighbors, quoted by Gov. Newsom in service of the abortion industrial complex, first applies to our unborn neighbors. Jesus’ words on that very billboard are a righteous rebuke to the California pol.

It is also instructive to consider how this kind of public stunt by Newsom would be received if the roles were reversed. Actually, we don’t have to imagine, because we know. When conservative politicians have similarly cut and pasted verses and appropriated Christian imagery in blasphemous ways, it yielded endless condemnations from journalists, theologians, and pundits. The slightest conservative mixing of politics and religion yields breathless warnings about the dawn of a dangerous new theocracy. Some of these warnings are instructive, yet when a progressive politician like Newsom quotes Scripture to justify a culture of death, many struggle to find their voices.

Christians should be wary of violating the Third Commandment, regardless of which side of the aisle commits Google eisegesis. We should be wary of making the Bible speak in ways that it never intended. We should be concerned about an unhealthy mixing of Christianity and politics. Yet, we should also not hesitate to declare what the Bible has declared. When it comes the preciousness of human life, created in the image of God, Scripture is not silent. And you don’t need a billboard to understand this.