Let me start by saying that I would never personally have an abortion, but that is mostly due to my lack of a uterus. There is little pro-life in being anti-abortion. We must ask ourselves if it is enough to see a child born and not a child loved; a child born and not a child nurtured; a child born and not a child raised. Few of the pro-lifers that I know — especially the most vocal — are equally as adamant about increasing educational opportunities, nutrition programs or health care. I don’t hear the demand for clean water, warm clothes or safe streets. I hear only righteous indignation, calling for the swift judgment of the Lord to descend from on high and save us. So when I hear the condemnation of abortion, all I hear is the demonization of women faced with an impossible choice. I find nothing Christian in it. You are my kin, and so, as Scripture implores, I am here to ask you to do better, to dig deeper, to root out all injustice instead of handing down platitudes. To make a better world, grace cannot be an abstract: we must find it in every facet of our lives. You wish to protect the unborn, but will you continue to protect the queer, brown, disabled, poor child outside the womb? Will you ensure they are safe in our streets and in our homes? Will you feed them, teach them, clothe them? Will you throw out the men hiding in our churches who wish them harm? The radical message of Christ is that justice must be tempered by mercy, for life is deepened through its grace. True justice is love embodied in community, and love demands that we fight for a world not where abortions are illegal, but where they are unnecessary — where the material, spiritual and emotional needs of all God’s children are fulfilled, for as Victor Hugo wrote, “If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness.” We must be the keeper of our kin, providing the light needed so they might find dignity and hope in themselves. So I ask you, my pro-life friends, to earn the title. Fight for a child fed, schooled, nurtured, loved. Fight for a woman helped, clothed, protected, insured. Create a world where children are blessings, where single mothers aren’t stigmatized, where demography isn’t destiny. That is the better world we must build if we wish to truly be pro-life, and we can only build it together.
R. Tyrel London
senior
April 5
