About Abortion
In case you didn't know. Now, you know. (Hamilton)
Historically, the Church was not against abortions. Other religions (some predating Christianity) have always allowed abortions under certain conditions. The Catholic Church has venerated saints who were abortionists. St. Brigid Kildare, St. Ciarán of Saigir, St. Aed Mac Bricc, and St. Cainnech of Aghoboe are credited with abortion-miracles. St. Hildegard von Bingen prescribed medicinal abortions. The Catholic Church has flip-flopped (depending on the Pope), ranging from: you had to go to Rome to get forgiveness (which was not enforced/ local bishop could do it), to a penance of bread and water for a time, to oral sex was a bigger sin. The Church’s problem largely wasn’t abortion; it was premarital sex.
In the US, until the mid-19th century, abortion was not a controversial issue. Abortions were legal until the quickening (18-21 weeks) —holding to the traditional Protestant Christian belief.
Abortion did not become illegal in the US until 1821, as a response from men in power to the burgeoning women’s rights movement. When Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion in 1973, the Evangelical Church was largely supportive or indifferent, citing a lack of Biblical condemnation on the matter.
However, White Evangelicals were mobilized against desegregation.
Paul Weyrich, a conservative activist and architect of the Religious Right—a movement that began as a response to the IRS rescinding tax-exempt status for segregated schools. (Many of which were Church sponsored)— realized in a post-Civil Rights era, racism would not be a popular cause for the White Evangelical Church to get behind, openly. They changed the dialogue from Religious Rights to an assault on Religious Freedoms. But, that didn’t motivate White Evangelicals enough.
Five years after Roe (five freaking years), anti-abortion activists (Roman Catholic) left leaflets in church parking lots during a mid-term election. In that area, two anti-abortion Republicans defeated the Democrats in a low-voter turnout Senate Race.
Now, Weyrich, Jerry Falwell, and other leaders had a “respectable” issue to unite and motivate Evangelicals while diverting attention from their real purpose: racial segregation in Evangelical Institutions. (This is the real reason for book banning/ rewriting Black History/ Getting rid of the Dept. of Education/ School vouchers/ etc…)
The abortion issue is how they get people elected to make racist laws. Let me repeat that. The abortion issue is how they get people elected to make racist laws.
The Pro-life movement- which is not rooted in Christianity, history, or morality—has done far more harm than the good it imagines.
Congenital anomalies, the leading cause of infant death, are rising. Maternity-related deaths are increasing. IVF pregnancies are at risk. Women are having fewer children now (because they are scared they won’t get proper care). Religious freedom is at risk. The Conservative Church has compromised itself and skewed the Church’s true teachings.
Do Conservative Christians know this?
They should. It is their well-documented and provable history.