Political change is giving the abortion lobby an upper hand. What’s the best action for pro-life Christians to take next? Melinda Delahoyde, president of Care Net, Clenard H. Childress Jr., founder of BlackGenocide.org., and Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, suggest the next steps for the pro-life movement.
For the pro-life movement, last November looked like the beginning of a walk through the valley of the shadow of death. The American people elected the most pro-abortion candidate in our nation’s history. Moving at warp speed, the Obama administration began to implement its agenda. It bears repeating: The most dangerous place for an African American to be is in the womb of his or her African American mother.
What at first looked like our worst nightmare, however, has proved to be our finest hour. In early spring, social prognosticators were dumbfounded by polls showing an unprecedented shift in the minds of Americans on abortion. The 9 percent shift was a stark change from last year, when a Gallup poll showed a 6 percent majority in favor of abortion rights.
The election of Barack Obama, along with his pro-abortion ideology, raised the level of awareness on the abortion issue as never before. Heroic Illinois nurse Jill Stanek, whom one liberal branded “the worst person in the world,” testified before Congress about the atrocities caused by botched abortions at Christ Hospital in Chicago. We need to protect children who have survived abortions as well as the unborn.
Shortly before his death, Martin Luther King Jr. posed this question: “Where do we go from here?” King relied on the church to be the catalyst and voice for those who had been disenfranchised and denied the American dream. Most of the pro-life movement comes from the same institutions that birthed and swaddled the anti-slavery abolitionist movement of the 19th century.
The pro-life movement has been given a window of opportunity—now we must seize the moment. What we thought was meant for evil is meant for our good. We cannot determine the conditions or the presidential administrations we are called to work under, but we can determine our dedication.
The prophet Elijah went into the public square under the worst of rulers. Ahab and Jezebel clearly detested his message. God’s decision to bring change initiated Elijah’s confrontational demonstration in the public square. God needed those who would take his message to Mount Carmel. It was time to heal the heart of the nation.
“How long will you waver between two opinions?” Elijah’s question implied a period of confusion, but he also announced that God had turned the Israelites’ hearts back to himself (1 Kings 18:37). Because God had prepared the hearts of the people, the season had come for Elijah. All that was needed was someone willing to speak out in the public square.
Pro-lifer, God has turned the hearts of the people to hear your message. The masses will respond, and the sacrifices to the god Moloch will come to an end.
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Clenard H. Childress Jr. is a pastor in Montclair, New Jersey and founder of BlackGenocide.org. Melinda Delahoyde and Charmaine Yoest also suggested the pro-life movement’s next moves.
Christianity Today‘s previous articles on abortion include:
Reducing Abortion for Real The current proposals to lower the abortion rate will only make things worse. A Christianity Today editorial (March 16, 2009)
We’re Not Finished | Abortion is not simply one item on our social agenda. (March 20, 2008)
Saving Black Babies | Abortion has cost 13 million African American lives. (February 1, 2003)
You Say Choice, I Say Murder | Before prolife arguments can reach the undecided American, we have got to look at the language we use. (June 24, 1991)
CT Classic: The Abortion Wars | What most Christians don’t know about the history of prolife struggles. (October 6, 1989)
Reversing Roe v. Wade | It may take more than a single court decision to counter abortion on demand. (September 20, 1985)
Abortion and the Court | The Roe v. Wade decision runs counter to the moral sense of the American people. (February 16, 1973)
