Denison Forum

Sanctity of Human Life Day and the Power of the Presidency

Roe v. Wade was decided on January 22, 1973. In response, this day each year is proclaimed “National Sanctity of Human Life Day” by pro-life supporters. When Donald Trump was last in office, he issued a proclamation marking this day in which he stated:

Restoring a culture of respect for the sacredness of life is fundamental to solving our country’s most pressing problems. When each person is treated as a beloved child of God, individuals can reach their full potential, communities will flourish, and America will be a place of even greater hope and freedom.

By contrast, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation in 2023 affirming elective abortion, denouncing the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, and calling on Americans to “work together to restore the right to choose.”

Now that Mr. Trump has returned to the White House, advocates for life are hopeful. Since they are the most defenseless of all humans, any support for the preborn is welcome.

At the same time, this cultural moment is a call to each of us personally, an opportunity that extends to every moral decision we face today.

Reasons Women Choose Abortion

Let’s begin with the reasons women say they chose abortion:

Not financially prepared: 40 percent
Not a good time: 36 percent
Issues with partner: 31 percent
Need to focus on other children: 29 percent
Interferes with future plans: 20 percent
Not emotionally or mentally prepared: 19 percent

Only 12 percent say they chose abortion because of a “health issue.” (Only 1.14 percent of abortions are actually performed for the mother’s life or physical health.)

When a woman aborts her child, she can typically do so privately: 63 percent of all abortions last year were the result of “medication abortions” rather than visits to an abortion clinic. As a result, presidential proclamations, state laws restricting abortion access, sermons, and articles like this one are unlikely to be persuasive when the actual abortion decision is made.

What is true of abortion is true of most of our moral decisions, from pornography viewed digitally on personal devices, to affairs arranged online, to “pods” enabling people to die by suicide at home: they can be made privately, away from the influence of government officials or institutions.

“Jews Have No Dealings with Samaritans”

You and I have a personal role to play in protecting preborn children, a calling that pertains to every moral choice our society faces today.

The good news is that it is a call every believer can answer in ways that save lives and change souls.

In John 4, we find Jesus in a conversation most people in his day would have found shocking. He was a Jew talking with a Samaritan at a time when “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans” (v. 9), a man talking to a woman in public, and a rabbi talking to a woman who has had five husbands and is now living with a man who is not her husband (v. 18).

Nonetheless, by the end of their conversation, she sought and received the “living water” of Christ (vv. 13–15) and was so transformed that she led her entire village to meet him (vv. 28–30), with the result that “many Samaritans from that town believed in him” (v. 39) as “the Savior of the world” (v. 42).

This story is in God’s word so we can make Jesus’ strategy our own. With regard to abortion:

One: Choose to care for women in crisis.

Jesus chose to go to Samaria (v. 4) out of his desire “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). He loves each of us as if there were only one of us (St. Augustine), including women considering abortion.

No woman wants to be in this situation. The physical pain alone is significant, not to mention the emotional toll she is experiencing. At such a time, she needs the compassion of those who seek to help her choose life for her preborn child.

Two: Meet their practical needs.

Jesus went to this woman at Jacob’s well, knowing that she would never come to him. Given her personal circumstances, she would not have joined the crowds listening to him teach, much less sought to join his band of disciples. She came to the well for water, so he started their conversation with water (John 4:7).

In the same way, we can ask God to lead us to help women considering abortion and then engage in practical ways to meet their practical needs. If we do not know such women personally, we can still serve them through those who do. Pro-life ministries help women facing at-risk pregnancies with financial, relational, and counseling resources. We can support these ministries with our intercession, finances, and time, knowing that every life they save is an extension of our faithfulness to God’s call.

Three: Lead to the “living water” of Christ.

Jesus began with water and led the Samaritan woman to the “living water” found only in him. We can do the same as we pray for those considering abortion (1 Timothy 2:1), share our faith story (cf. Acts 22:1–21), explain the gospel (John 3:16), and answer their questions (cf. Isaiah 1:18). (For help, see my new website article, “Why would ministers ‘bless’ abortion clinics? How to counter popular abortion arguments.”)

Ultimately, we help them most when we help them meet Jesus for themselves. He alone can change their hearts and transform their lives.

What is true of abortion is true of other moral issues: When we care with the compassion of Christ, meet practical needs in his power, and lead people to a personal encounter with our living Lord, we become change agents on a scale that transforms souls and society.

In Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, Andy Crouch writes,