Gentle Reader,
What does it mean to be pro-life?
If your answer is, “To be pro-life is to be anti-abortion,” then you’ve missed the forest for the trees.
This may offend some of you. While I don’t seek to inflame tempers, I do think that it’s long past time for those of us who claim the label “Christian” to come to understand that to be pro-life is far more than simply or only being anti-abortion.
Consider Monday’s Supreme Court ruling. The justices declined to hear arguments challenging a lower court ruling that states that “hospitals cannot be required to provide pregnancy terminations if they would break Texas law” (quote pulled from the linked article). The problem is that Texas’ laws are both highly restrictive and strangely undefined (possibly by design). Quoting from here at length:
Abortions are banned, with certain exceptions:
Chapter 170A of the Texas Health & Safety Code prohibits abortions outright, except in certain circumstances. Section 170A.002 prohibits a person from performing, inducing, or attempting an abortion. There is an exception for situations in which the life or health of the pregnant patient is at risk. In order for the exception to apply, three factors must be met:
- A licensed physician must perform the abortion.
- The patient must have a life-threatening condition and be at risk of death or “substantial impairment of a major bodily function” if the abortion is not performed. “Substantial impairment of a major bodily function” is not defined in this chapter.
- The physician must try to save the life of the fetus unless this would increase the risk of the pregnant patient’s death or impairment.
There are additional situations where the exception for the life or health of the patient does not apply. Please read the entirety of Section 170A.002 for more details.
There are three critical points here. First, there is no definition regarding the risk of death or substantial impairment. What one might see as risk or impairment worthy of intervention, another will not. Second, a physician must prioritize the life of the fetus above the life of the mother, which seems to ignore that the fetus will die if the mother dies or is significantly impaired. Third, this line in the Texas law: A physician may not take an action authorized under Subsection (b) if, at the time the abortion was performed, induced, or attempted, the person knew the risk of death or a substantial impairment of a major bodily function described by Subsection (b) (2) arose from a claim or diagnosis that the female would engage in conduct that might result in the female’s death or in substantial impairment of a major bodily function. I am not a lawyer, so I needed help understanding this. Some internet searching leads me to the idea that if a doctor is aware that an abortion might be necessary due to a health risk, but that the health risk could be exacerbated by the patient’s behavior, they cannot proceed. An abortion cannot be justified if the patient is contributing to their own health risks. Which sort of remains clear as mud for me.
What is clear is that the law has led to tragedy heaped upon tragedy, as in the life of Kate Cox. Cox and her husband were so excited to welcome another child into their family. They then received the devastating news that their child, a daughter, had Trisonomy 18, a nearly always fatal genetic condition. (There are a few cases where children survive into adolescence). More tests led to even more devastating news:
Cox’s doctor told her that there were so many malformations to her daughter’s brain, spine, and neural tube that the baby would probably die in utero. If not, she would be placed directly into hospice care after being born, where doctors did not expect her to survive more than a few days. “Every single case of Trisomy 18 I’ve seen has demised—if not in utero, then within hours to days after birth,” says Dr. Damla Karsan, Cox’s Ob-Gyn. “Even if they do survive, the standard of care is comfort care, do not resuscitate.”
The diagnosis also put Cox’s own health and future fertility at risk. Her pregnancy was becoming increasingly complicated. She went to the emergency room several times for cramping, elevated vitals, and fluid in her birth canal. If the baby died in utero, Cox could get a significant infection. And because she had delivered her first two children via C-section, a third delivery carried increased risk of uterine rupture. If she was induced or had another C-section, her doctor told her, she might never be able to have children again. “The more C-sections you have, the more risk of hysterectomy, hemorrhage, uterine rupture,” says Dr. Karsan. “She was at heightened risk.”
Cox and her husband made the heartwrenching decision to terminate. Except, they could not because they live in Texas. Eventually, she had to travel out of state, adding another layer of compilation to a series of deeply traumatic events.
Tell me, what is pro-life about this? Where is the love and grace and truth of God in this?
Now is the time to admit that simply being anti-abortion is not enough.
If we want to be pro-life, then we need to be pro-life for the whole of everyone’s life. And that means backing way, way up from the issue of abortion to look at all the other issues swirling around it – the wage vs. cost of living gap, lack of access to healthcare, ridiculously low effort in prosecuting abusers and rapists, the shaming of single mothers (because if we’re honest, we’ll just shame women no matter what choice they make), the destruction of public education and libraries, and on and on. Issues that, if not addressed, will continue to lead to injustice and suffering in our communities.
Remember, or know now if you didn’t: I am a pacifist because of my faith. This has been my conviction since I was 13 years old. I know that others will disagree, and that is okay. If that’s you, I don’t question your faith or your convictions. But me, I do not believe that violence in any form is compatible with the Gospel. I do not believe a Christian has the right to take the life of anyone, because God made everyone, and we are called to learn to see all people through the eyes of God, who declares what God has made beloved. By no stretch could I be labeled an advocate for abortion as a form of birth control. I also know that nuance is real; that so many things are not as black-and-white as many of us might want them to be. I know too that God is gracious, patient, and far more forgiving than we tend to want to recognize. Finally, as a Wesleyan feminist political theologian – yes, that is my line of research – I know that God values women. Women are more than incubators. Women’s lives are not disposable. Treating them as such is not pro-life in any way.
And in all of this, tell me, where is the condemnation for men who get women pregnant out of wedlock? For men who abandon their parental responsibilities? For men who abuse and rape women?
…the woman has had an abortion not because she was exercising her free choice but because she felt she had no choice. In each case the responsibility for caring for the child, had she had the child, would have rested squarely and solely on the woman. … As far as today’s church is concerned, we must start condemning male promiscuity. A church will not have a valid voice on abortion until it attacks male promiscuity with the ferocity it deserves. And we have got to get over being afraid of appearing prudish. Male promiscuity is nothing but the exercise of reckless power. It is injustice. And by God we have to go after it. There is no compromise on this: men must pay their dues.
– Stanley Hauerwas, Abortion, Theologically Understood (emphasis mine)
To be pro-life is to care not only about the unborn, but about the born of all ages. We must expand our vision. We must seek the flourishing of our communities. We must work toward equality and justice for all. We must love everyone – each and every person – as Jesus loves.
To be pro-life is to be steeped in the love of God that drives away all fear, hatred, and competition. My God stretch our hearts, like the Grinch of Christmas fame, that we might come to care about all whom God has made.
GRACE AND PEACE ALONG THE WAY,
MARIE
Image Courtesy of Becca Tapert