Pastoral Letter Regarding Roe And Dobbs
Grace family,
I’m looking forward to rejoining you for worship this coming Sunday. After being gone on a family vacation for the last two weeks, I’m eager to gather with you in praising God.
As I’m sure you’ve heard, last week the US Supreme Court issued its much-anticipated decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson. The Court reversed the precedent of Roe v. Wade and stated that individual states are able to legislate limitations on abortion.
Now, I’m not usually in the habit of writing a pastoral letter in response to Supreme Court decisions, even ones that touch on topics of religion or ethics. But since the sanctity of life is a teaching position of our church, I wanted to take a few minutes to share my thinking on this with you.
Pastorally, I would like to think with you on how we might respond to this news as Christians.
1. REFLECT
Part of what makes abortion topics so explosive is how it brings together overlapping, complex topics (theology, politics, sex, gender, rights, etc). To consider abortion carefully requires more than just a bumper sticker slogan - it requires reflection steeped in a biblical worldview.
Sometimes pro-choice advocates will point out that there is no verse in the New Testament that forbids abortions. But the Bible does consistently describe the beginning of life in the womb (see Psalm 139, Galatians 1:15, and Luke 1:41) as well as placing tremendous value on the lives of those less valued by society as a whole (see Proverbs 31:8 and James 1:27).
Since the early days of the Christian movement, we have seen the destruction of unborn persons made in God’s image as impossible to stomach. One of the first letters written after the New Testament that became widely accepted by churches as a guide for faith was The Didache which directly addressed abortion: “You shall not murder a child by abortion nor shall you kill a newborn.” A few decades later the great theologian Tertullian (A.D. 197) wrote in response to slander that Christians were murderous cannibals (for eating “the body and blood” of Christ), that the very opposite was true: “In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the fetus in the womb.”
I know that in this short letter we cannot work through all the complicated issues of theology and Scripture tied to abortion. If you’re wrestling with how your faith and abortion intersect, I’d recommend a recently published book from two friends and seminary classmates of mine, or this not as recently published (but still great) one from our pastor emeritus. Both are available in the church library to borrow.
For the early Christians, this was a matter of faith and action. Not only did they stand against the callous practice of exposure (leaving unwanted newborn children on hills to die), but they went out and rescued these children, adopting them into their communities. In the same way today, Christians lead the way in adoption. May that only increase with the decreasing availability of abortions.
With regard to the legal reasoning, since I’m not a lawyer I’d be happy to point you to this helpful reasoning on the constitutional law aspects of the case. I see the Dobbs decision as a just and good interpretation of the constitution and laws of our land, but I’m also sure that the ruling is imperfect since it was written by imperfect, fallen people (like us!).
2. LAMENT
As Christians in California, we will have a different experience of the end of Roe than our friends elsewhere in the country. If I were writing this letter to a congregation in Oklahoma or South Dakota, I would want to encourage us to consider prayerfully some of the complications that come with limiting abortion access, rather than rushing to legislate quickly because we now can.
In California, however, we face the opposite end of the spectrum. Put simply, the end of Roe will not change abortion access in California at all.
(If you’re unclear on how the Dobbs case impacts everyday life, here is a helpful FAQ from The Gospel Coalition).
Abortion will continue to be widely available and publicly funded in our community. In fact, some of our local politicians (including the governor and mayor of Long Beach) have called for California to become a destination for those seeking abortions who live in other states. And there is ongoing discussion and debate in Sacramento about expanding and entrenching abortion access in California through legislation or a state constitutional amendment.
Because of this, I’m lamenting what will continue to be the law in our state.
3. LISTEN
I’ll be honest with you: this isn’t the first draft of this letter. Before sending it to you, I sent a draft of it to a couple dozen leaders in our church. I wish you could have read all of their feedback, steeped as it was in wisdom, care, and biblical thoughtfulness.
One of the common threads that came through in the feedback, especially from female leaders in our church, is that the end of Roe raises a number of significant questions and, in some cases, anxieties about the future.
“Losing Roe V. Wade (as someone who would not get an abortion) still presents fear because it is a precedent that makes me question if my circumstance may be next for losing legal protection. I’m sure I can’t be the only one.”
“If you have a D & C due to a miscarriage it goes on your medical record as an abortion. I do stand for the life of an unborn. I am the product of an unwanted pregnancy. As a woman, who has had a miscarriage, I also understand the stigma of having that word on my medical record.”
“I absolutely stand by the life of the unborn as all others in this email thread do, but I find that this particular decision is a bit more nuanced and would even venture to say that we cannot assume the history or personal relationship many have with this major decision.”
“What will be taken away from women next? How am I as a woman now viewed as a person in this world? What happens if the child is dying and killing me along with it....is that child more important than I am? I think there are so many different feelings and untalked-about circumstances that women can find themselves in or think about in regards to pregnancy and abortion that lead us to not want to "celebrate" this without more understanding and clarity. As a church that wants to be open to ALL stages of life, we should lead with compassion, understanding, and a willingness to listen and talk through these situations and not just jump on the bandwagon. (I feel like we actually do a good job of this.) I have a lot of mixed feelings right now.”
For my brothers in the church, this is a time when we need to listen carefully to the voices of our sisters in the faith about how this ruling impacts them.
4. HELP
Roe has been the law of the land for my entire life. With it gone, there’s a very real question of how pro-life Christians are going to move forward. What can we do to help with the underlying reasons why some women sought abortions in the first place?
One of the startling surveys I read this week was that about 40% of women who had an abortion attended church once a month or more at the time they chose to have an abortion.
This statistic raises a lot of questions for me: How many women in our church have been wounded by abortion? How are they doing with this? What could we do to help these women? For the next generation of women considering abortion in our church, how could we help them anticipate more support and encouragement so they don’t feel like they have no choice? What would need to change for that to happen?
I’m proud of the way that you all rallied to support three of our pro-life Compassion partners in recent months with their practical needs. Going forward, we as Christians have an opportunity to prove that “pro-life” is not a sidelines position, but a real offer to love our neighbor as ourselves.
What could you do to help?
Volunteer with one of our compassion ministry partners that focuses on issues related to abortion. Horizon Pregnancy Clinics, especially the new one in Long Beach, have had to address security issues due to potential and real threats. Precious Life Shelter offers support to women in crisis, helping them in preparation for delivery and providing them with training on child rearing and opportunities to transition into a healthy lifestyle, as well as providing the love and care for the little ones while their moms go through supportive programs.
Consider the role you could play in adoption.
This could include adopting yourself, helping fund adoptions for others, or being part of a care network for families fostering or adopting.Start something new at Grace to help us creatively move into a more holistically pro-life congregation. Here’s a helpful article on some creative ways we could do that with your leadership.
5. RESPOND TO ANGER WITH LOVE
The debate over abortion does not seem to bring out the best in people. Too often we become narrow, guarded, and reactive. As often happens with sacred issues (and the abortion debate brings together the sacred issues of life, personal autonomy, and sexuality all together), people excuse hateful speech by depersonalizing the other. May this never be for those who follow Jesus.
I imagine some of you have been wounded by conversations in recent weeks, where people have assumed your motives or reasoning behind a pro-life conviction. This is a time when our distinctiveness as Christ-followers must come forward - we don’t respond to evil with evil, but rather to evil with good.
And if you have been the one who has responded to others with anger, disdain, rudeness, or judgmentalism, I’d encourage you to seek forgiveness and reconciliation.
6. HOPE IN CHRIST
It is a good thing to reach justice in this life, even while we hold out anticipation of final justice in Christ. The Old Testament prophets consistently called Israel to be a just society now while also speaking of the coming Day of the Lord in the future.
Maybe especially when there is a political “win,” Christians need to remember that our hope is not in courts, legislators, or presidents. As Jon Tyson pointed out, it’s not too long ago that many conservatives gritted their teeth over the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision around same-sex marriage.
I am grateful for those who have spent decades working, praying, and calling for the reversal of Roe. In many ways it is worth celebrating, but it is not the end of the sins of our land that made abortion so attractive and seemingly necessary to so many. As a people, we need to throw ourselves on the mercy of God and seek Him for revival.
Do I expect that everyone reading this letter will agree with everything I’ve said? Of course not. This is a complex, emotional, and entrenched topic. But what I do hope we will agree on is that Jesus is our example and it is His model of love, justice, and kindness that we seek to follow together.
In Christ,
Pastor Bob