Wise as serpents, innocent as doves

In Matthew 10, Jesus sends the twelve disciples to heal and preach. In His instructions, Christ says, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (v. 16).

A year after the U. S. Supreme Court handed down its Dobbs decision, reversing Roe v. Wade, Christians in the pro-life movement should take this wisdom to heart. The Supreme Court’s decision brought out the wolves. We must recognize them as such. For with the ferocity of a wounded predator, they have bitten and clawed at every pro-life attempt to build on last year’s victory.

In response to these wolves, we must continue to seek the innocence of doves. I say continue to do so, not because every pro-lifer thinks and acts without sin on this matter. But those supporting unborn life have overwhelmingly acted to persuade and aid those considering abortion by peaceful means.

Moreover, we must emphasize that our cause is just. We recognize the unborn for what they are: precious beings made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) whom God formed in the womb (Psalm 139:13-14) and knew from the moment of conception (Jeremiah 1:5). In opposing abortion, we seek to “Rescue those who are being taken away to death,” to “hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11).

But pro-lifers would do well to consider anew what it means to exercise a serpent’s wisdom. The triumph of June 24, 2022, has been followed by mixed results at best. Some states have enacted broad restrictions, contributing to a significant drop in abortions performed. But others have entrenched legal abortion through ballot initiatives, including in deep red states like Kansas and Kentucky. Moreover, state supreme courts have intervened in several places to declare their state constitutions enshrine a right to abort.

While celebrating victories, we should assess these losses. In this assessment, the pro-life movement must look for the wisest means and methods to fight the wolves and to pursue our pro-life aims. We must see that we are fighting a three-front conflict: in state courts, in the legislative sphere, and on the cultural front. And we must realize that wisdom teaches us that these fronts require distinct strategies.

On the judicial front, we must continue the legal arguments honed in the critique of Roe and related decisions at the federal level, bringing them to the states. Most state constitutions mimic language from our national constitution and seek to fulfill similar purposes. Thus, we must show that state constitutions, as much as federal, do not support a right to abortion. If anything, the history of state abortion regulation recounted in Dobbs shows the opposite.

We find ourselves in a new field of action on the legislative front. Yes, legislators tried pro-life laws in the past and passed more than a few. But these were severely limited in scope by the U.S. Supreme Court and Roe. That kept much from being tried. It also limited the pro-life movement’s need to make its case to voters as opposed only to judges. How can we expose the extremism of the pro-abortion movement and the justice of our own to our neighbors? How can we support mothers in complicated circumstances and encourage them to carry their child to term? And, on that note, we have not yet had the hard conversations regarding what is politically possible. It will take wisdom to see how far we can push, in what places, and at what times. If purity and perfection are the only litmus test to be thoroughly pro-life, we will never make meaningful progress advanced through incremental strategies.

Finally, we must redouble and refine our efforts on the cultural side. Pro-lifers have done outstanding work establishing thousands of pregnancy centers nationwide. These vital institutions help women in crises pregnancies and on the often hard road that follows in raising children. In 2021, there were more than three such centers for every abortion clinic. We must seek to expand this network in the number of centers and in the resources, financial and personnel, available to existing ones.

Dobbs was a great victory. But our task is far from done. Final victory is far from won. Let us have the courage to confront the wolves of abortion advocacy, even as we love and pray for them. Let us never swerve in our commitment to be innocent as doves in our methods, even as we are so in our cause. Let us, too, seek wisdom to do this work, on all fronts, to the best of our ability. Finally, “let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).