Post-Abortion & the Church: Speaking to the Silent on Sanctity of Life Sunday
Written by the Passages of Hope team
Thirty-eight years ago, a presidential proclamation designated the third Sunday of January as a day to remember all the lives lost from abortion (1). Pastors and ministry leaders across the nation unite in voice on Sanctity of Life Sunday to encourage their communities to stand firm for life.
But what about the church members who did not choose life?
What are we as the church doing to care for those sitting in the pew with a secret shame? How can we, as the body of Christ, stand on the truth of “abortion is sin” without losing our compassion for those hurting from an abortion experience?
The Role of the Church to the Post-Abortive
Amid worldwide confusion and chaos, a Christ-compassionate church is a place of steadfastness in truth and love. When the love of Christ is fully and consistently expressed within its walls, the church becomes a safe sanctuary.
For a believer gripped by fear and shame from an abortion, safety and compassion are essential.
Sadly, many Christians fear the greatest judgment from their church, especially when abortion recovery care is not addressed at all or seen as an unbiblical way to heal. Our culture compounds the struggle when it speaks loudly about the liberating and empowering benefits of abortion yet remains silent about its harmful effects.
What Obstructs a Christ-Compassionate Church?
Silence and denial are dangerous. Research has shown our silence in the church on abortion speaks loudly to the 7 out of 10 reported Christian women who have had abortions (2). In this study, only 7% of the 1,038 surveyed felt safe enough to tell someone in the church about their abortion.
A Christian woman or man grieving from an abortion loss can be discouraged from joining an abortion recovery group because the messaging they hear is “not to dwell on your past”.
Why the urgency for the church to speak up?
We are at a pivotal point in our culture. In the last year, the FDA issued less-strict safety regulations for the abortion pill (3), the Texas Heartbeat Bill was passed (4), and currently the Supreme Court is deliberating the ruling of Roe v Wade (5). The church stands at a crossroads. The response has the potential to do great harm or great good.
How Can You Build a Christ-Compassionate Church?
A Christ-compassionate church begins with a transparent, united, and informed leader/member attitude. Divisions over providing compassionate care to the post-abortive will distance those desperately in need of His mercy, healing and hope. Here are three ways to care for the post-abortive in the congregation:
1. Recognize the emotional impact of an abortion
An internal review of our abortion recovery groups shows a wide array of experiences after an abortion, including depression, anxiety, numbness, relief, sleep issues, relationship issues, and more. Some experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) where the circumstances and causes for the abortion leave them feeling hopeless or unable to choose life. Others experience moral injury due to their response of a life-threatening event in a way that goes against their moral beliefs. This event causing such emotional destress that, on average, our abortion recovery group members delayed seeing help for at least 25 years. And for some, as many as 45 years.
Grieving takes time. It is a process to heal. Understanding the circumstances leading to abortion is critical as many made the choice gripped by fear with little to no hope offered.
2. Offer recovery Bible studies and support groups
Abortion recovery groups provide a safe place to mourn in the company of leaders who understand abortion grief and trauma. Hope and healing are found in the scripturally rich homework and the shared experiences with others. Group members feel validation from both their peers who experienced similar grief and trauma symptoms, and most importantly, from God’s Word mending their broken hearts (Isaiah 61). The foundational understanding of God’s character opens the door for group members to wholeheartedly trust in God and in others.
3. Share the message of hope from the pulpit
For some pastors and church leaders, the fight for truth and the fight against cultural beliefs is the biggest battleground we face. Sometimes attempts to be compassionate are seen as “loving the sinner and disregarding the sin”.
While it is a necessary battleground, what happens is the creation of a false dichotomy between compassion and truth; either you have compassion and compromise the truth, or you hold fast to the truth with little room for compassion. Creating a culture of confession and repentance where the sinner feels safe from condemnation is NOT a compromise on truth.
The time has come for pastoral leaders to share a compassionate pro-life message that speaks gently to saving babies in the womb as well as restoring post-abortive lives outside of the womb.
A Christ-compassionate church not only talks about protecting the unborn, but it also ministers to those involved with a past abortion decision. As the church, we recognize abortion is sin, but we correct in love, and regularly offer help and healing through abortion recovery groups. Healed lives comfort and equip people to grow in their giftings, resulting in a flourishing church that loves those beyond their own walls.
For more information on abortion recovery groups and ways to reach the abortion-wounded, email us at info@passagesofhope.org.
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References:
Life Matters Worldwide, (2022). “Sanctity of Human Life Sunday”, https://www.lifemattersww.org/CHURCHES/Sanctity-of-Human-Life-Sunday
Lifeway Research, (2021). “7 in 10 women who have had an abortion identify as a Christian”, https://lifewayresearch.com/2021/12/03/7-in-10-women-who-have-had-an-abortion-identify-as-a-christian/
LiveAction, (2021). “Breaking: FDA permanently loosens abortion pill safety measures to allow pills by mail”, https://www.liveaction.org/news/fda-permanently-loosens-abortion-pill-safety-measure/
Texas Values, (2021). “Texas house passes Texas Heartbeat Bill”, https://txvalues.org/texas-house-passes-texas-heartbeat-bill/
CNBC, (2021). “Supreme Court hears arguments in major abortion case challenging Roe v Wade, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/01/supreme-court-arguments-in-abortion-case-roe-v-wade.html
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