Celebration, Hatred, and Confusion—How to Reach People with Christ Post-Roe

On Friday, June 24, 2022, the internet erupted with the news that, after forty-nine blood-stained years, the constitutional “right” to an abortion had been overturned by the Supreme Court. (By the way, this doesn’t mean abortion is banned in the US, just that each state now has the right to decide the issue.) Many people openly rejoiced and celebrated, others spewed vitriolic hate and called for violence. But there’s a large group in the middle—those who are confused by lies from the media and social media influencers about what all this really means and how they should think and feel about it. Many of those people are the people you know—so how can you reach them with the pro-life message?

Abortion is currently a large part of the national conversation, whether that’s online or in person. But many Christians don’t know how to respond to common pro-abortion (really pro-death arguments)—and I’ll give you some resources to help with that in a minute. But first, I wanted to provide a few tips for engaging with others on this topic:

Stay on topic. Because the case for abortion is so weak, those who argue for it very often just change the topic whenever you present something they can’t answer. Instead of answering the objection that abortion ends a human life, the pro-abortion person will often distract with “red herrings,” such as abuse in the foster care system or poverty. While these might be important things to discuss, they often aren’t really relevant to the question at hand. When things quickly get off track in a conversation, try bringing it back to the real issue at hand: God, the Creator of life, has made each person in his image and makes it clear that life begins at fertilization and we do not have a right to take another’s life (murder). Don’t let yourself get caught in an endless cycle of unrelated arguments!
Know your stuff. Take some time, if you haven’t already, to read up on what the SCOTUS justices actually said and what this case entails. So many people have huge misconceptions about the case (for example, one of our staff members heard from a teenager who thinks this decision means women who have a miscarriage will now go to jail!), and knowing the actual details is helpful to clear up the confusion and bring it back to the main issue—the life of the unborn child.

Love your enemies. If you are engaging with someone who is very hostile, remember Christ’s command to love our enemies. Know that the person you are discussing this with is lost, with a mind blinded by sin and Satan. This doesn’t mean we don’t ache and even feel righteous indignation over their evil views and the consequences of those views. But it does help us to love them, as Christ loved us when we were once his enemy.
Move it to the gospel. Not only is now a great time to share the truth that life begins at the moment of fertilization and that every person deserves the right to life, but, as Christians, we can (and should!) go far beyond that. Every person is made in God’s image, fearfully and wonderfully, with an eternal soul that is of such value that Jesus came and gave his life for us. It’s the perfect segue to the gospel message! Don’t just argue for life (but, please, do that!), present the gospel message because, ultimately, it’s God’s Word, that changes hearts and minds for now and eternity.
Pray. If you’re engaging online, take a minute before you respond to pray. Ask the Lord for wisdom in how you should respond (or if you should respond—there comes a time when we are just casting pearls before swine and should just move on) and for his truth to impact those who will read your comments or posts. If you’re having an in-person conversation, you may not have time to stop and pray, but be sure to pray after the conversation has ended that the Lord will use the truth you shared to plant, water, or even harvest gospel seeds.

Now if you would like to be equipped with answers to the common pro-abortion arguments, below are some free resources available on our website that will help you think clearly on this issue, understand what the Scriptures say, and combat the lies that those who are pro-abortion have accepted:

“When Does Life Begin?”
“Abortion: The Culmination of Secular Thought”
“Post-Abortion Guilt”
“Does the Bible Condone Abortion?”
“Prenatal Development: Life of an Unborn Baby” (woven throughout this series celebrating the beauty and wonder of the unborn child and pregnancy are answers to common “pro-choice” arguments).

I encourage you to use these resources to be equipped to have conversations with others. Use this time of national uproar, confusion, and strong emotion to point people to truth from God’s Word and the life-saving gospel message.

Ephesians 5:15-16 KJV – “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”