Compelling and Credible Witness: The Church and Abortion

TGI Resource List

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These resources were consulted by The Gospel Initiative while exploring this issue.

Balmer, R. “The Religious Right and the Abortion Myth.” Politico. May 10, 2022. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/10/abortion-history-right-white-evangelical-1970s-00031480 

• Dr. Balmer points out that prior to the 1970s, abortion was viewed primarily as a catholic issue, not an evangelical one. He quotes James Dobson as allowing for a Christian to hold that a fetus is not fully human in 1973. He quotes Carl H.F. Henry and Harold Lindsell, previous editors of Christianity Today, as showing pro-choice sympathies and says that the Southern Baptist Convention passed resolutions calling for the legalization of abortion in 1974 and in 1976. He paints abortion as an issue that was able to galvanize the religious right at its formation, not as a longstanding moral concern for evangelicals in the U.S. 

Boot, Joe, Nathan Oblak, and Ryan Eras. “Roe v. Wade and the Image of God.” July 6, 2022. Podcast. https://www.ezrainstitute.com/resource-library/podcast/roe-v-wade-and-the-image-of-god/ (Joe Boot,

• Canadian Dr. Joe Boot explains from a reformed Christian perspective why Christians should be celebrating the recent supreme court decision. They are not shy about strong language regarding evil and God’s enemies, citing the language of Psalm 139. They go in depth into the nature of the image of God as it relates to abortion. 

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. 597 (U.S. Supreme Court, Argued December 1, 2021—Decided June 24, 2022.) https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf

• The actual text of the supreme court ruling overturning the constitutional right to an abortion in the U.S. The syllabus, the first eight pages of the over two-hundred-page document, outlines the key facts, issues, and arguments regarding abortion that preceded the court’s ruling.

Dozier, J.L., M. Hennink, E. Mosley, S. Narasimhan, J. Pringle, L. Clarke, J. Blevins, L. James-Portis, R. Keithan, K.S. Hall, and W. Rice. “Abortion attitudes, religious and moral beliefs, and pastoral care among Protestant religious leaders in Georgia.” PLOS ONE 15, no. 7 (2020): 1-18. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0235971  

• Twenty in-depth interviews of religious leaders in Georgia were conducted in a county with high abortion rates and low access to abortion services. Participants represented Mainline and Black Protestant denominations. Attitudes on abortion ranged between the socio-political categories of “pro-life” and “pro-choice” with most participants expressing a view in between these poles. Across these attitudes, themes of the sacred worth of life and redemption for those who experienced abortion emerged. Pastoral care was found to be framed by these attitudes and themes although few participants had direct experience related to abortion and many provided those in need of care with misinformation. With one in four women in America having an abortion by age 45, pastoral caregivers may be a more important part of the social support and sexual/reproductive health education of families regarding abortion than is currently recognized.

Forsythe, Clark. “States of the Union: Maintaining Momentum After Dobbs” The Gospel Coalition. July 2, 2022. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/states-union-dobbs/

• An overview of the political and legislative realities of American life resulting from the Supreme Court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization regarding abortion. He outlines the way forward for the pro-life movement through state legislation and careful discernment, noting the process will be most nuanced in the so-called “purple” states. 

Hays, Richard B. “Abortion,” in The Moral Vision of the New Testament: a Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics, 444-61. New York: Harper One 1996.

• While deliberately avoiding the political discussion and leaving hard cases of pregnancies from rape and incest unaddressed, Hays applies his unique methodology to address the New Testament to the issue of abortion, even while holding that no passage in the New Testament speaks to the issue directly. Highly recommended reading from Christian ethics.

Hoyert, D.L. “Maternal mortality rates in the United States, 2020.” NCHS Health E-Stats. 2022. DOI: 10.15620/cdc:113967

• A maternal death is defined by the World Health Organization as, “the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.” The report shows rising maternal mortality rates from 2018-2020 among non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic Black people, and Hispanics. The observation also held for all age levels.

“Majority of Public Disapproves of Supreme Court’s Decision to Overturn Roe v. Wade.” Pew Research. July 6, 2022. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/07/06/majority-of-public-disapproves-of-supreme-courts-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/#americans-views-of-abortion 

• Following the Dobbs decision, 73% of white evangelical Christians still believe abortion should be banned in all or most cases. In contrast, 61% of non-evangelical White Protestants, 71% of Black Protestants, and 60% of Catholics believe that abortion should be available in all or most cases. 

McAfee, Lauren Green. “After Roe, How Do We Stand for Life?” The Gospel Coalition. June 25, 2022. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/roe-stand-life/ 

• McAfee leans on the Imago Dei as a theology that underpins the Church’s next steps regarding abortion in America. Cautioning against celebrating victory for the sake of others in crisis pregnancies, she says our ultimate goal is more than saving physical lives; it is caring for the living so that they will meet the Living God. She recalls the high number of church attenders who have abortions and reports that most women turn to abortion because it is the only practical option they see. She downplays the impact on the Roe decision in decreasing the overall number of abortions and reminds readers of the social issues revolving around the abortion pill. There are multiple ways Christians can still be involved in supporting life via pro-life pregnancy centers, foster care, and adoption. 

Moore, Russel, and Andrew T. Walker. (Eds.) The Gospel & Abortion. B&H Publishing Group, 2017.

• Editors take the view that human life at conception is endowed with all the moral weight of any other person and argue the pro-life case accordingly. They highlight the rights of the unborn as equal with everyone else. Serious interventions are also suggested to support women in crisis pregnancies. Adoption is highlighted as an historic Christian ministry and is encouraged as a pro-life action. Multiple chapters mention that Christians cannot ultimately trust the state for moral guidance on this issue.

O’Brien, Dennis. The Church and Abortion: A Catholic dissent. Rowman & Littlefield, 2010.

• Former president of Rochester University and a strong Catholic, Dr. O’Brien’s work attempts to apply the call of past President Barack Obama for “fair-minded words” to the topic of abortion. Arguing that the Catholic voice is still the predominant Christian voice in the public square, he specifically attacks the pro-life rhetoric and political discourse of certain catholic bishops in 2010. He argues that absolutist positions on abortion by powerful Catholics is a threat to Christian faith and opposes the reduction of abortion to a legal issue that can be resolved by overturning Roe v Wade. A legal ban on abortion would not stop illegal abortions in most cases. Both the pro-life and the pro-choice movements in our politics minimize the moral dimensions of abortion. O’Brien treads the waters of the complicated differentiation between a woman’s rights and a fetus’s rights. He further appeals to Catholic natural law and the category of intrinsic evil to discuss when the human fetus becomes a person in the moral sense and what the moral obligations of women and fetuses are in multiple complex circumstances. He considers the moral obligations one has to a fetus as high and serious but draws distinctions between those moral obligations we have to newborn babies. He further distinguishes morality in law and the social spheres from the morality of Christians, where the story of Jesus and his work to redeem the world form the basis for our moral actions. He suggests that we frame our pro-life and pro-choice quarrels in terms of “choosing life” (cf. Deuteronomy 30:1) and says that in certain rare circumstances the choice to have an abortion might be a choice in favor of life. 

Rubio, Julie Hanlon. “Abortion: Toward cooperation with good.” In Hope for common ground: Mediating the personal and the political in a divided church, 159-192. Georgetown University Press, 2016.

• Dr. Hanlon Rubio presents an overview of the political climate and public opinion on abortion through 2016 and surveys Christian theology on abortion. She points out that the reasons women have abortions are varied, and that these reasons do not inform many of the strategies intended to combat abortion. She suggests we accept a “political compromise” on abortion law and that pro-life and pro-choice populations can work together to reduce the overall number of abortions. 

Self, Charlie.“How to respond to a colleague mourning Roe.” The Gospel Coalition. July 1, 2022. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/colleague-roe/

• Wisdom is offered about how to choose one’s language to express a pro-life posture among those who are mourning the supreme court’s decision. It is important to recognize when you are being invited into a serious conversation on the matter. Knowing when your words will elicit an emotional reaction, and knowing when it is the appropriate time to celebrate, requires discernment.

Steinberg, J. R., C. E. McCulloch, and N.E. Adler. “Abortion and mental health: findings from The National Comorbidity Survey-Replication.” Obstetrics and gynecology 123, no. 2 Pt. 1 (2014): 263–270. DOI: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000000092

• Findings compared lifetime mental health outcomes of post-abortion mothers with post-birth mothers. The study created comparison groups between first abortion mothers and first childbirth mothers to control for confounding factors. Authors also presented the percentages of women with preexisting mental health disorders in both groups organized by occurrences of none, one, two, and three or more disorders. While not the heart of the study, authors found that women who have abortions do have a significantly higher number of preexisting mental health disorders, suggesting that mental health may be a greater cause for women to seek an abortion. However, abortion itself was not found significantly correlated with anxiety disorder, mood disorders, impulse disorders, eating disorders, or suicidal ideation among post-abortion mothers compared with post-birth mothers. 

“Study of Women who have had an Abortion and Their Views on Church.” Lifeway Research, Sponsored by Care Net. 2015. https://research.lifeway.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Care-Net-Final-Presentation-Report-Revised.pdf

• Citing a sample of 1,038 national surveys, the study probes around eighteen questions of women who have had an abortion. It investigates significant differences in response rates due to age, ethnicity, region, household income, religious preference, denomination, and whether the respondent self-identifies as an evangelical. No authors are named in the study and certain methodologies are not mentioned. Results have not appeared in a peer-reviewed publication. 

“The Beginning of Life and Abortion: Examining the Challenges and Complexities of Upholding the Sanctity of Life from a Christian Worldview.” The Gospel Coalition. Accessed August 22, 2022. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/course/the-beginning-of-life-abortion/#what-does-it-mean-to-be-holistically-pro-life 

• Produced prior to the 2022 Supreme court decision in partnership with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Church and Focus on the Family, this course is based on a compilation of videos from “Evangelicals for Life,” a conference in Washington D.C. in 2016. The ‘course’ has seven sections and no assignments. Much of the information will still be relevant to the person or pastor who is seeking to understand the issue, and the video by Stephanie Gray in session four is a helpful guide for making a pro-life argument in a non-Christian setting. 

Warren, Rolland. “Piedmont Women’s Center Night for Life 2021 Recap.”August 2022. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEeDNYt943k&t=2366s 

• Roland Warren, president and CEO of Care Net, shares his story of an unplanned pregnancy and choosing not to abort the pregnancy with his now wife. He explains what a “pro-abundant-life” posture might look like and how the Church can get involved both by discouraging Christians from getting abortions and by supporting those who keep their babies. 

Select, potentially relevant scriptures:

Genesis 1:27; Exodus 21:22-25; Psalm 102:18, 139:13-16; Proverbs 24:11-12; Ecclesiastes 11:5-6; Isaiah 44:24; Jeremiah 1:5; James 1:27