The primary strategy white Christians have taken over the past 45 years to reduce abortions has been to make abortion illegal. This goal can only be accomplished by getting conservative justices on the Supreme Court, which can only happen if conservative (usually Republican) presidents are elected. With Justice Kennedy stepping down this year, we have a moment like this once again.
The primary strategy white Christians have taken over the past 45 years to reduce abortions has been to make abortion illegal.
Abortion is an issue which Christians need to address. It is often argued that because thousands of lives are lost to abortion each year, it takes priority over other issues. Picking a “priority social issue,” however, does smack of privilege, especially when espoused by white Christians who have the privilege of being unaffected by the effects of racism on a daily basis.
At times it seems as if we white Christians have bowed before any political power promising us conservative Supreme Court justices, even if they trample other beliefs which we hold dear. Has overturning Roe v. Wade become the idol to which we willingly sacrifice? I fear that we have gambled away the power of the gospel for the power of the judiciary.
We need to ask why people are choosing to kill their own unborn children, a pretty drastic choice for any person to take. We also need to ask why churches comprised mainly of people of color (who also often believe that life begins in the womb) are not so enthusiastic about pursuing a conservative political strategy to save the lives of unborn children. How can we compassionately learn why people get abortions so that besides having a strategy to make abortion illegal, the Christian community can also work together to make abortion unthinkable?
Most of those abortions are sought for reasons that are linked to poverty.
According to the most recent statistics over 650,000 abortions are performed every year in the USA. Most of those abortions are sought for reasons that are linked to poverty. With roughly 43,100,000 (12.7%) American citizens living in poverty, living in poverty is reported to be a key reason that young women are considering abortions. 49% of abortion patients live below the federal poverty level and 75% of abortion patients were “poor or low-income.”
Examining the intersection of poverty and race reveals another dimension of the picture. 61.5% of abortions are still happening among people of color. This means that addressing both racism and poverty could go a long way towards making abortion unthinkable.
This has been the approach of many churches comprised of people of color: to advocate for policies which reduce poverty and discrimination as a way to diminish the number of abortions. Why would two groups of Christians come to such radically different strategies on this issue?
Why would two groups of Christians come to such radically different strategies?
It could be that we white Christians don’t tend to understand systemic issues very well. Sure, we might have some understanding of how poverty or racism still operate in America, but generally we white people as a group are insulated from the impact of racism and poverty, and as a group we might not know many people who could help to broaden our understanding. Why?
We may be blind to what a privilege it is to choose which issues to emotionally invest in, since as a group, we are generally unaffected by other justice issues which otherwise might vie for our sympathies. Since we don’t often feel their impacts, poverty and racism seem less important. Injustice becomes an abstract notion, something which we are at leisure to discuss, or not discuss, as our tolerance allows. If we think of justice issues as optional topics of conversation, and not vitally linked to righteousness in scripture, we also might not feel much need to seek the common good, especially if doing so is emotionally taxing.
We are generally unaffected by other justice issues which otherwise might vie for our sympathies.
What we as white middle-class Christians have done, at least since 1973, is to advocate for systems which keep us in positions of privilege and comfort by pursuing conservative political agendas in the long journey to overturn Roe v. Wade. Because while conservative politicians can say they are against abortion, economically speaking, the policies of these same politicians often benefit the white and wealthy and increase the gap between rich and poor. And while it may come as a surprise to some, these conservative economic policies have had an effect on abortions: they significantly contribute to the higher rate of abortions among those living in poverty and people of color. This is one result of us putting our hope in conservative princes.
Lest someone think this is a partisan rant, I’m not advocating that we put all our eggs of hope into the baskets of progressive princes. Our hope does not come from politicians of any stripe. Let us do the brave and messy work of seeking biblically-based justice, divorced from simplistic partisan or national narratives. Recent decades have not given us many models of non-partisan scripturally-based ethics for just living. And yet, we need to seek justice, especially when it means sacrificing our own personal comforts.
Our hope does not come from politicians of any stripe.
We seek to emulate Jesus, who gave up even his own life for us. We can’t do that if we are trying to find our saviors in partisan princes.
We can do better. We must do better. To truly fight the root causes of abortions that unequally affect people in poverty and people of color, we as middle-class, white, pro-life Christians need to dig deeper. This isn’t simply a legal issue; it is a systemic issue.
Just as the Prohibition advocated by the Methodist church and other religious groups didn’t stop people from getting intoxicated in the 1920’s, it is no guarantee that preventing legal abortions will stop abortions from occurring. Abortions are a symptom of a deeper and more painful issue: that we live in an unjust society which is deeply divided by poverty and race, where the powerless are verbally and systemically denigrated by those in power. The Church has not had a good track record in recent decades in addressing these deeper issues, but it is not too late to seek a more just world for all people.
We as middle class, white, pro-life Christians need to dig deeper.
Let’s take a look at God’s plan for a just society in Psalm 146. May we have the courage to abandon party loyalty to stay loyal to the values God holds out in scripture.
1 Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
2 I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
8 the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The Lord reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord.
[Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash]
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