Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. Proverbs 24:11

Life in a Dobbs World

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with their ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Just like that, a half-century of court-imposed abortion ended, and we went from living in a world defined by Roe to one defined by Dobbs.

As grateful as all Christians are for the decision, we also must admit that life in a Dobbs world has been more dangerous for unborn babies than many anticipated.

In this Dobbs world, we face three emergencies that require the best of us.

The Political Emergency

Dobbs directed the fight for life back to the states with mixed results. Since Dobbs, the number of abortions has increased, numerous states have added or expanded abortion rights, and the Republican party has softened its pro-life position. Even in a state like Florida, most citizens are in favor of expanding abortion rights. An amendment to expand those rights only failed because it fell slightly short of the required supermajority.

We should all be thankful for every win—even the narrow ones. We should also thank God for an elected president who is friendlier to unborn human life than his opponent. But for those of us committed to a world with zero abortions, we have a lot of political work to do.

Our problem is that we live in a selfish world full of selfish people with selfish pursuits. The twisted logic of that world requires the elimination of any threat to our selfishness—even if that threat has a beating heart.

The biblical call to rescue those who are being taken away to death requires Christians to place the preciousness of life into the public consciousness at every point. It requires us to make clear that a society that has declared war on babies is one that has declared war on itself. It is a society that has declared war on its future. We must make clear that life is always a glorious gift and never an imposition. This work cannot wait until the next election but must begin now.

The Religious Emergency

Our work is not limited to the secular public square but must include our own religious communities. I got acquainted with this need during our family’s personal struggle with an unplanned teenage pregnancy.

In sharing our story, we have heard countless other stories of sin and sorrow: people guilty of sexual sin they did not know how to confess, people with out-of-wedlock children they have never met, people born out of wedlock with parents they have never met, women forced by Christian parents to conceal their pregnancies and give up their babies, once-loving families divided over how to respond to an unplanned pregnancy, teenage girls sneaking morning-after pills to one another and much more.

The pain happening under the surface of our communities is more significant than anything I knew. Unfortunately, Christians can have the same selfish instincts that make abortion as appealing to us as it is to anyone. But we have an added difficulty that creates unique challenges to our pro-life commitment. That difficulty is shame over sin. Moms don’t want to admit sexual immorality, and their communities don’t want to celebrate it.

This difficulty is why every religious leader who hates sexual immorality and abortion must learn how to normalize a gracious response to teenage pregnancy. Our communities must be better than safe places to confess this problem. Frightened and overwhelmed moms must know when they come to us, they will be received with tenderness, love, and a spirit of celebration.

This celebratory spirit will never include the exaltation of any sin that led to the pregnancy. We never compromise the moral message that sex outside marriage is wrong. But we also never compromise the moral message that life is precious regardless of the circumstances of conception.

The call to rescue the perishing means that the frightened girls in our churches need to know we embrace honesty, repentance, relationship, and life as much as we reject sexual sin. This is an emergency that we must face immediately.

The Personal Emergency

Before we can address the political and religious emergencies, we must address the one inside our own hearts.

Abortion is the worst epidemic in history, killing more people every year than all other causes of death combined. The human race is exterminating itself. God has caused Christians to be alive in these days and he has made us personally responsible to address this crisis. This is our emergency.

The call to rescue the perishing and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter is a personal command with many paths to obedience. Some can give to or volunteer at the crisis pregnancy center in our area. Some can nurture close relationships with their families so children know they will be received with love when they sin. Perhaps you can invest in someone considering an abortion and help them choose life. Maybe you need to adopt.

Grace, Strength, and Hope

Addressing these emergencies will require more than the best of us. It will require the grace of Jesus Christ. We need the grace of Jesus to revolutionize our murderous society, to create an attitude of forgiveness in our churches, and to equip us to advance the cause of life. That need for grace is good news. Jesus says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  This means Jesus promises to meet us in our weakness and give his own strength equal to this emergency.