Can Someone Be Christian and Pro Choice?

Can someone be pro-choice and still consider themselves Christian? What does the Bible say in regard to being pro-life?

The Author of Life

When Peter and John were witnessing to the Jews in what is called Solomon’s portico, Peter said “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses” (Acts 3:14-15). Here Peter was saying that they chose a murderer over the “Author of life” and that of course was Jesus. The crowd was so compelled to take the Son of God’s life that they released a murderer and murdered by majority vote, Jesus Christ. They preferred a murderer over He Who gives life. What a travesty, right? Now, think about this. There are many Christians who prefer to be pro-choice, which is really pro-abortion, over being pro-life and taking the life of an innocent, unborn child. When does life begin? Is it at conception? Is it at the first trimester? What does the Bible say about this and when is a baby, embryo or fetus considered a human being?

When Life Begins

Here are some Bible verses that clearly indicate that God considers someone to be alive and be a person, and in some cases even have a name and purpose, even before they’re actually born. These verses will prove that even before a child is conceived, they are, in the mind of God, a human being.

Psalm 139:13 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.”

The Hebrew word for “formed” is “ qanah” and means “to get, acquire, create, buy, possess” meaning that God has created a life. Then the Hebrew word for “inward” is “kilyah” and literally means “physical organ” so God has created the human’s physical organs. Next the word for “wove” is “cakak” and means “to fence about” or “shut in” so God speaks as if they are a living human being, which of course they are.

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

How clear that is! God knew Jeremiah even before he was born. Prior to being born, and even before he was formed in the womb, God considered Jeremiah a person and personhood designates being human and not a mass of tissue. God knew us too before we were born and the Book of Ephesians said even before the earth existed as we read; “he chose us in him before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4). Before the earth existed, there was no humanity but God chose us before we existed and called us to adoption (Eph 1:5) which once again indicates personhood.

Psalm 139:15-16 “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”

God speaks of His eyes beholding his “unformed substance” and before birth, the psalmist’s days were already written down. Even more for the psalmist’s, his days were written down in a book “when as yet there were none of them.” God looks at things that do not yet exist as though they already are and that extends to those who are not yet born and those not even conceived (Rom 4:17).

Isaiah 49:1 “Before I was born the LORD called me; from the body of my mother he named my name. “

God had already given them a name before they were born, indicating that this is talking about a person; a person before birth! A person with a name already has an identity in God’s eyes, regardless of human opinion. From within and while within his mother’s body, God “named my name” so how much clearer do we need to see it?

Galatians 1:5 “But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased.”

When God set Paul apart to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, he did this while he was still in his mother’s womb. This indicates individuality and in a state of “being” and God places personhood on those who are even in their mother’s womb so how we can possibly rationalize away the fact that it’s not a life is beyond biblical reason. Human opinion is not important when compared to what God says because humans have subjective beliefs while God has objective truth.

Pro-Choice is No Choice

To say “I’m pro-choice” is only being spoken from the perspective of the one whose opinion seems to matter. For them it is a choice but really, it is a child. The child has no choice in the matter of whether they live or die. I love what the late President Ronald Reagan said “I notice that everyone that’s pro-choice has already been born.” If you are pro-choice, you should thank your mother that she wasn’t with you! You are alive and living because your mother choose life. To claim to be a Christian and yet chose to support murder over life is hard for me to understand. The commandment, “Thou shall not kill” is still valid isn’t it? Since 1973’s Roe v Wade, nearly 60 million innocent babies have been murdered and sadly, by many professing to be Christian. God forgives all sins including abortion but to condone and actually support abortion and claim to be a Christian, I don’t see how these two can go together. It seems incompatible to believe in the “Author of life” and yet support the murder of untold millions of babies.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.