With abortions and vasectomies for all

When Bill Clinton successfully defeated George H.W. Bush and Ross Perot in the race for the White House in 1992, abortion had been legal throughout the United States for nearly 20 years. In addition, the Supreme Court reaffirmed Roe that same year essentially on the premise that too many women had come to rely upon legal abortion. The Casey decision was a huge setback for pro-lifers. Clinton, running as a “new Democrat” rather than as a “McGovernite” liberal Democrat, tried to offer policies that would appeal to a more moderate sensibility. Part of that positioning had to do with abortion, arguing that it should be “safe, legal, and rare.” The key word in that sequence was “rare” because it acknowledged that abortion was not a positive good but was instead something like a necessary evil.

During the past several years, there has been a decided movement on the left away from the idea that an abortion is a bad thing. We saw a 2016 Democratic National Convention in which women were encouraged to “Shout your abortion!” Then, we began to see high-profile women, generally Hollywood actresses, giving what could be characterized as abortion testimonies, in which they would explain how killing their children had improved their lives and careers.

Though abortion advocates (and yes, that’s a reasonable description given the recent turn) dislike the comparison, this evolution in their point of view bears a strong resemblance to the way thinking about slavery evolved in the young American republic. The vice president of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens, complained that men such as George Washington had suffered from a bad conscience about slavery. But that was wrong, he insisted, because slavery was actually a positive good.

Lest I be accused of making a point that isn’t there, take a moment to consider the relevant parallel. Slave owners were able to dispose of the lives of slaves virtually at will. Under a laissez-faire abortion regime of the type being pushed by Democrats today, the same would be true of the lives of the unborn. When objections are raised, we hear unrepentant declarations of the glory of abortion. That last sentence is incredible, even to me, and yet it is descriptive of reality: They now argue that abortion is a positive good.

The abortion train’s momentum appears far from exhausted. Victories at the state level seem to have convinced many on the left that unapologetic abortion advocacy is a winning issue this year and for years to come. Even The New York Times predicted that this week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago would “be a head-on display of a new, unbridled abortion politics.” As a sort of an artifact of the turn, the Times pointed to a mobile Planned Parenthood unit that offered chemical abortions and vasectomies for free nearby. “Safe, legal, and rare” has fully given way to the idea of abortion as completely on demand, cheap, convenient, and offered with a side of self-congratulation.

It may well be true that the bet the American left is willing to make by going all-in on abortion rights is a winning one. We’ll get a better sense of that when November rolls around and results can be compared with exit polling interviews. But Christians need to continue to make the case they have been pressing for five decades in the post-Roe era: It is wrong to treat unborn human beings as though they have no rights and can be disposed of at will. The act of intentionally taking the life of an innocent bearer of God’s image is one of immense moral gravity and must not be treated as a laudable choice resulting in self-empowerment. To argue in such a way is to court moral and spiritual disaster.

We might almost imagine the Planned Parenthood mobile unit that was located near the site of the DNC as a kind of roving idol to freedom without responsibility and a self-deluding willingness to put oneself first without so much as even a mournful thought for the cost. The mournful thought on this view is actually a defect! It is important to note that this delusion is now being actively fostered.

To look ruefully at abortion, to regret that one felt driven to such a devastating decision, and to seek God’s forgiveness is to treat the issue with the gravity it deserves and carries within it the seeds of redemption. I have heard many women speak in such terms and have recognized the fundamental dignity and moral and spiritual realism inherent in it. The attempt to defeat and destroy such moral reasoning and come to terms with it is in itself a separate evil.

What was the message of the Planned Parenthood van orbiting the Democratic National Convention? “Choose yourself.” It is a politically promising slogan to sell. But the problem is that it will not make us more mature or more noble, no matter how much we may congratulate ourselves.