A pro-life organization raised that the hot topic of abortion must be discussed within church circles to augment the healing of women who have undergone the procedure, as well as, to prevent others from doing so.
Students For Life, a nationwide organization advocating the end of abortion by focusing on youth awareness, took to Twitter to highlight the lack of churches in providing pastoral accompaniment to women who had abortions. The 16-year-old pro-life organization said helping women heal from the trauma begins by talking about the procedure despite the discomfort it brings.
"Neglecting to teach about abortion in the church is neglecting women of a space for healing and redemption. How are women supposed to find healing from abortion experiences if it's the one sin that's 'too complicated' for even churches to talk about it??" Students For Life tweeted on Saturday.
A Challenge For Churches
Students For Life, which held a nationwide, simultaneous post-Roe victory celebration on Saturday entitled "Life Is Louder," explained that it is important to talk about abortion in the church because many women who had an abortion are churchgoers themselves.
"Pastors should be talking about abortion in the church. Around half of women who are coerced, manipulated, and guilted into abortion are regular church goers. They need to hear messages of hope and healing from the pro-life movement; not condemnation," the organization explained.
Renowned pro-life activist Lila Rose similarly called on churches previously to join the fight against abortion. Rose said religious organizations and churches must use the opportunity to start educating members on the dangers of abortion. She said this is in response to God's call to use one's talents in answering the needs of the world.
In an August 2021 report of Focus On The Family, women in crisis are more likely to go to an abortion clinic than seek help in their church because of the fear of church members gossiping about their condition.
Focus On The Family stressed that four in every 10 women in crisis silently go "from the church pew to the abortion clinic" and that only 7% of women discussed their decision to have an abortion with anyone in their church.
Also Read: Supreme Court Overturned Roe Amidst Threat On Justices
The family organization said data also showed that 70% of women who identify as Christians had an abortion. While 43% of women even attest to being frequent churchgoers (once or more than a month) when they underwent the procedure. This is supported and echoed by data showing that 64% of women believe that church members will likely gossip about them.
Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell told Focus On The Family that the church has the opportunity to hugely "impact on those decisions." McConnel said this presents a church culture lacking in grace, which if it does not change would only lead women to continuously have abortions.
"For most women with an unwanted pregnancy, if nobody is willing to say, 'We're going to help you through this,' it's hard for them to rationally say they should keep the child," McConnell said.
Churches Talk About Abortion?
In addition, a Pew Research 2020 Survey showed a few pastors mention abortion in their sermons. The study highlighted that one in every five congregations heard at least one message on abortion from the period of April 7 to June 1, 2019. These congregations were historically black Protestants, evangelical Protestants, and Catholics. While only one in ten mainline Protestants spoke about the issue for the same period.
Pew Research stressed that sermons on abortion rarely focused on the topic, translating to 1% of sermons gathered during the period. However, this changes for smaller congregations who tend to hear messages on abortion more frequenty than larger congregations.
This is in the face of Friday's Supreme Court decision overruling Roe v. Wade as not a constitutional right causing division among religions and communities including Christians. The LA Times reported that most religious Americans opposed overruling Roe because it denied women of their right to autonomy and health care, as well as, religious liberty.
A matter debunked by political author and Mathematics professor Carlo Lancellotti who pointed out the need to teach people the truth about abortion.
"If you teach people that they are entitled to 'rights' in an ontological vacuum (without any reference to human nature, or a metaphysical order), naturally they will start making them up, and they will become more and more imaginary," Lancelloti said.
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