Reflections on Being Pro-Life

A Talk Given at the St. Matthew’s Living Well Luncheon, August 5, 2023
The Rt. Rev’d Stephen C. Scarlett

We are very happy to welcome Dr. Geeta and the Living Well Medical Clinic to St. Matthew’s Church. Our recent connection renews an old relationship. Back in the 1990’s several St. Matthew’s families volunteered there, and we donated money and items on a regular basis. Dr. Geeta and I have one significant thing in common. We’ve both stayed in one place for a long time. I think she has me beat by a year. She founded Living Well in 1985 and I came to St. Matthew’s Church in 1986.

I want to take this opportunity to offer some personal reflections on the issues surrounding ministry to people facing an unplanned pregnancy and the issue of abortion. We believe that human life is made in the image of God from conception. This conviction is stated in the Constitution and Canons of the Anglican Catholic Church, and it is the basis of all biblical morality. If we love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, then we will love those made in his image, especially in their weak and vulnerable forms. As Jesus succinctly put it, “Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it to me” (Matt. 25:40).

The political implications

Typically, this perspective is referred to as being “pro-life.” Unfortunately, the term pro-life often has a predominantly political meaning. The main activities related to it concern influencing who people vote for. The political dimension of pro-life was highlighted by the recent Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe vs. Wade. There was initial enthusiasm on the part of some politically pro-life people that this would roll back the practice of abortion. However, it has led to a series of legal battles, the gist of which is that things will return more or less to the previous status quo.

This result is similar to the last American political moment when there was the promise of a pro-life political victory. Those old enough will remember the enthusiasm of pro-life people during the Reagan presidency. I was an enthusiast. Reagan was pro-life. He wrote a book entitled, Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation. He was able to appoint justices who could have overturned Roe vs Wade back then. Instead, he appointed the two justices who insured that Roe vs. Wade would be enshrined as law for another generation. 

I realized back then that politics was a bad arena for Christians to over invest in. The victories are temporary and often pyrrhic; you end up by implication supporting a host of other things that are not the gospel; and little or no lasting change is brought about—even though you expend tremendous emotional and spiritual energy. Laws don’t change people’s hearts or minds. As Fr. David used to say, “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”

The essence of pro-life

Well then, if we are not going to focus on the fight to change laws, how are we going to be in favor of life? It is funny that this would be seen as a challenge. The early Christians had no power to change any laws, yet their care and concern for the least of Christ’s brethren puts us to shame by contrast and was in part responsible the conversion of the Roman world.

The problem with politics involves more than just the difficulty of winning the battle. Politics breeds hypocrisy and self-righteousness. It divides the world into two sides, us vs them. Each partisan side locates the evil “out there” in the other side. The combatants lose sight of the great Christian truth expressed by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who wrote:

If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them . . . But the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either—but right through every human heart . . . even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains . . . an un-uprooted small corner of evil (from, The Gulag Archipelago).

Now, the fact that the evil we see in the world also exists in us does not mean we cannot oppose evil the world. It means that our opposition to evil in the world must begin with our opposition to evil in ourselves. By recognizing our own complicity in evil, we learn to oppose evil with compassion and humility.

There has been hypocrisy in the church. According to research. Christians have abortions at the same rates as non-believers. I recently read an article that said abortion rates are actually higher among those who identify as Christians. This is not an “us vs. them” issue. It is an issue in the church. I’ve known men who were militantly pro-life at the same time they were actively struggling with pornography and even visiting prostitutes. The stridency of anger in opposition to evils “out there” is often fueled by projection—self-loathing displaced onto others. I recently heard a quote that summed up what I have found to be the practical approach of many “respectable” Christian people. A podcast host gave the opinion that “everyone is pro-life, with three exceptions: rape, incest, and my situation.”

Now, we could jump on that statement and lament the hypocrisy of all “those” people. But the “my situation” exception is always the crux of the Christian moral life. I oppose all moral compromise, but to close this big business deal all I need to do is to ignore a couple of unsavory things. I believe in being completely honest, but it will make things easier with my difficult family if I just tell a little lie. It always easy to talk about moral principles in Bible study. It is always harder to live them out in “my situation.” This is true for all of us.

Abortion is often treated as an isolated and singular issue. It is in fact a symptom of our fallen and disordered world, in which every major decision is based on economics and convenience. We think we are debating moral principles in the political arena, but money and convenience drive everything. If there is one overarching reason that abortion will not go away until our Lord comes or we are visited by some divine act of judgment, it is that too many people make too much money from it and it would require more cultural change that most people are willing to undergo.

Abortion is the natural result of our disordered sexual morality and of the modern illusion that we can play God and control nature. This is not the space to address these issues in detail. Suffice to say that if we really followed God’s will and word with regard to sexuality, there would be no need to talk about something called “pro-life.” But we haven’t. We haven’t. It’s not just them.

The call to begin with repentance

This is why the gospel begins with repentance and why growing in repentance is the foundation for spiritual growth. As St. Peter writes, “The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God” (1 Pet. 4:17). We begin with our own judgment when we confess our sins. Continuous conversion results from a growing experience of grace and forgiveness. We grow in our experience of  grace as we grow in our willingness to look honestly at ourselves and our hidden motives and make good confessions. As St. John writes, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:8-9).

Jesus spoke about the hypocrite who went about picking splinters out of his brother’s eye while dragging along a beam stuck in his own eye. But there is an interesting conclusion to the story. Jesus said, “First remove the plank from  your own eye, then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye” (Matt. 7:5). The experience of conviction, confession, and grace breeds humility in relationship with others. We approach those who face challenges and suffer not to condemn or shame, but to share our experience of grace and provide a different way forward.

There is an instructive scene in St. John’s Gospel where self-righteous men drag a woman caught in adultery to Jesus. I think there is just a little bit of parallel between this story and the way that women often bear the brunt of pro-life anger. Was she really caught in adultery all by herself? Did this woman really get pregnant all by herself? Where did  the man go? But what did Jesus say. “Neither do I condemn you. Now go and don’t do it anymore” (John 8:11).

This woman in John’s gospel represents the church. We all come to Jesus condemned by the accuser for our sin. Jesus forgives us and gives us power through the Holy Spirit to live in a new and different way. As St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” We become Christ’s spotless bride not by our own moral virtue, but because we have “washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb” (Rev. 7:14).

The micro solution

So, how are we going to solve the problem of a world  that does not value life the way God does? We are not going to solve the problem. That’s not our vocation. Jesus saved the world on the cross. He is, even now, accomplishing his work of New Creation in the world and in each of us in ways that we cannot even begin to understand. Remember, in the middle of the day on Good Friday it did not look like God was in control, and we are also being saved through the cross. We aren’t called to save the world. We are called to be faithful witnesses for Christ in the world until he comes.

I am an advocate for micro-solutions because that is what Jesus said he will hold each of us accountable for. What did we do with our talents in that small part of the world in which we have some real influence? (Matt. 25:23). If you have real influence in the halls of power, then God will call you to exercise your influence faithfully in those places. But most of us will effectively support life by helping real people who are struggling with real challenges in real life situations to turn from the evil and do the good. Thus, I commend to your support the work of Living Well Medical Clinic and Dr. Geeta, who are doing this very thing. We are very grateful for her work and for her presence with us today.