When we talk about abortion as pro-life people, we usually talk about two aspects of how to make abortion happen less often: making it illegal or legally regulating various aspects of the process and making it unwanted and unthinkable.
Many pro-life organizations focus on one or the other above aspects — and that’s ok! No one person or organization can do everything or focus on everything.
We need organizations, activists, and volunteers who will:
● lobby for changes to state laws and constitutions.
● encourage people to vote.
● educate people about the current laws in their state and upcoming bills.
● go speak at bill hearings.
● defend pro-life values in court.
● go to rallies, hold signs, and participate in marches and protests.
And we need the people and organizations who focus on:
● helping mothers with unplanned and unexpected pregnancies.
● helping families break cycles of abuse and poverty.
● helping pregnant women get the medical care, social support, and financial assistance they need to provide for their children and better their lives.
● providing safe, supportive transitional housing to pregnant homeless women.
● providing job opportunities for pregnant women and women with young children.
● providing free or affordable childcare for women and parents who have to work outside the home to provide for their children.
We need people who will:
● speak out about the horrors of abortion, including what it does to the tiny prenatal humans and how it can affect women’s bodies and minds.
● explain why women deserve better than abortion.
● speak and write about how society, culture, law, communities, schools, universities, and churches can better support pregnant women and parents.
And more! There is room for so many different types of work within the pro-life movement.
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But at Heartbeat International, one aspect of pro-life work is especially near and dear to our heart: making abortion unwanted today and unthinkable for future generations. Our 3,000 affiliate centers are the boots on the ground providing free and low-cost pregnancy-related support services to women. And this type of help is exactly what Dr. Calum Miller, pro-life medical doctor and ethicist, believes is key to getting rid of abortion.
In an interview on TRIGGERnometry, Dr. Miller explained why he thinks that pregnancy help is the biggest factor in getting rid of abortion:
“Both lives matter in this situation. I think it’s inhumane to take away that option [abortion] from women, putting the burden of pregnancy on her, while at the same time walking away from her and expecting her to shoulder that burden herself. So I would say we have to have responsibility from society, that they gather around women and support women who feel like they need an abortion, to give them the practical materials, the relationships, the support that she needs to go through that pregnancy… in an ideal society part of what the government should be doing, is not only making sure society that provides a safety net for these women, also making sure that men step up and take their responsibility for the situation…provide that legal protection for unborn children, so that once you have all of this packaged together, you say that both lives matter. The government is protecting unborn children and supporting and encouraging others to support the woman and the child — all of that together will get to a place, I think, where maybe there will be some women who feel they want and need an abortion, but that number will be much, much smaller than it is at the moment.”
What Dr. Miller is describing is (to me) common sense — societal changes and legal changes go hand-in-hand. Banning abortion does not take away the perceived need for abortion, nor does it give any additional help to women, children, or families. On the other hand, helping pregnant women, families, and children with societal changes, such as more charities, more government help, better medical care infrastructure, and more affordable healthcare, does not help society understand that abortion is wrong. Instead, both changes must occur. It is like society and law are in lockstep. You can’t throw one too far ahead of the other and expect change to stick, and when one does get too far ahead of the other, then either society or the government is left scrambling to catch up and patch up all the holes left behind.
Yes, changing the law matters. The law is like the conscience of people it governs. It is also a moral trainer. Make something legal, and eventually most of society comes to think of it as morally good or at least neutral. Make something illegal, and again, most of society will eventually view that thing as morally bad or at best, neutral. Making abortion illegal or putting regulations around abortion helps inform society at large that abortion is dangerous, and it is wrong.
Tweet This: Changing society and culture is just as important as changing the law. This and pregnancy help are the best way to fight abortion.
But changing society, culture — changing hearts and minds — is just as important. If a law says abortion is wrong because prenatal humans are recognized as persons, then how can society reflect that belief? How can society help pregnant women and help mothers and babies and families after birth? As Dr. Miller pointed out:
“In America, there are 4,000 crisis pregnancy centers…And when you add all the pro-life work in the US up, it’s the pro-life help which just practically helps women on the ground that vastly outnumbers and outweighs any other prolife activity that Americans do.”
In the pregnancy help movement, we are putting our money, time, efforts, skills, and material goods where our mouths are. We are doing what we can practically to reflect our belief that prenatal humans are people and that all people have inherent dignity and value.
Tweet This: In the pregnancy help movement, we are putting our money, time, efforts, skills, and material goods where our mouths are.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
