On Monday of this week, President Trump signed an executive order reinstating what’s known as the Mexico City Policy. This prevents federal dollars from being spent on abortions overseas through the U.N. or U.S. State Department. The policy has been a political football since it was first enacted by President Reagan, with Democrat presidents Clinton and Obama revoking it and Republican presidents reinstating it. It is a major victory for life and, hopefully, a sign that the new administration will make good on their promise to protect the lives of the unborn.
It also has personal significance for me. In high school, I wrote a report in civics class on the Mexico City Policy and how it was backwards and wrong. At one point, I even donned a giant sombrero and made fun of Pope John Paul II for his pro-life stand against abortion funding at the U.N. You see, I used to be pro-abortion. Growing up, I don’t remember abortion ever being talked about much. I don’t think it was ever mentioned at church. So when my high school teacher introduced my class to the horrors of Malthusian overpopulation, I believed abortion was an acceptable solution to save our planet from this demographic crisis. (We were also taught, at the same time, that our planet’s other looming existential threat was the coming ice age due to “Global Cooling.”) It wasn’t until I was in college that I happened to read an article by Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson about the need for Christians to battle abortion. I remember finishing the article and realizing that I’d never really thought about abortion in the context of my faith. But it was like a switch had been flipped. It became clear to me that if I really believed the Bible, I could not embrace, even passively, the evil of abortion.
Twenty years later, I find myself talking about abortion at public gatherings, on radio, TV and online. I encourage other Christians, especially priests and pastors, to do the same. And it’s not just to keep obtuse high school students like I was from embracing pro-abortion lies peddled in the local schools. We need to call out abortion for the evil it is because lives are at stake. Over the weekend I gave a pro-life talk that was pretty explicit about this. As Ravi Zacharias had at our banquet in October, I compared abortion to the ancient practice of sacrificing children to Molech by “passing them through the fire.” As people came up to talk with me afterwards, one woman told me, “I’m pregnant and my boyfriend is really pressuring me to have an abortion. I won’t do it. I won’t do it.” For all the talk about “reproductive rights” for women, this is what “choice” actually looks like all too often: irresponsible men forcing women to commit an act of murder. I will be praying for that woman who spoke to me, and I’m happy to tell you she has a church supporting her now. But we all need to be prepared to speak the truth about abortion and help those women who might consider it, to choose life instead.
As you can imagine, the abortion industry is preparing to fight harder than ever. They are terrified by the pro-life legislation that is sweeping the country and the prospect of one or more pro-life Supreme Court appointments. We must prepare ourselves as well, to stand up to them at every opportunity and unapologetically defend the lives of the unborn. No more whispered equivocations or silence from the pulpits on this issue. We have a chance to actually witness Roe v. Wade overturned in the foreseeable future. Now is the time to press harder then ever. I’m sure it will be a much encouraged March for Life in D.C. on Friday, when hundreds of thousands of Americans will make their annual plea to end this national holocaust. My prayers will be with them. May they march soon in celebration of victory.
For our families,