Carolyn Yoder, a self-proclaimed “international trauma and resilience trainer” and “Christian from the Anabaptist stream” has written a blog post titled “Blood on Our Hands: 7 Reasons Why I’m a Christian against Abortion Who Doesn’t Vote Pro-life”. Miss Yoder, I thought, was laying the groundwork for her argument with this introductory statement: 

“Because the Anabaptist ideal, as I understand it, is that as followers of Jesus, we are to be as pro-life as possible in our complex world. …

“This means no killing. By abortion. Or the death penalty. Or of enemies, even in war.“

I was wrong. Her seven “head-and-heart reasons” for not voting for candidates who oppose abortion demonstrates little concern for Anabaptist tradition but a solid commitment to intrusive government. Consequently a reasonable response to Yoder’s claims is more challenging than anticipated, not because of her stellar logic but precisely because her arguments are rambling, incoherent. 

Miss Yoder’s reason for voting for pro-abortion candidates boils down to this: she has never seen a problem which government, through the generous application of other people’s money, cannot solve.  Funny thing though, each problem she identifies as requiring more tax-payer funding has been made worse by government interference. 

Still, I will reply to each of her seven “head-and-heart” claims in turn.

1. My convictions are shaped by my work as a counselor with left-behind children in public schools, some of whom wished they had never been born. I’m glad people care passionately about unborn children, but I find my heart breaking when that passion seems to dissipate once a baby is born and disappears altogether at our borders.

However Miss Yoder defines  life, it is strikingly different from the Biblical view. Life involves hope and thankfulness. Is Yoder really conceding that these “left-behind” children reason aright? Does she think they have been better off had their mothers aborted them?

Apostle Paul told the Athenians the Lord “gives to all people life and breath and all things…” Children who wish they had never been born hunger for this news as evidenced by the fact that they had, prior to meeting Miss Yoder, rejected suicide. Redirecting their vision entails redirecting their thoughts to the many blessings they enjoy from a faithful Creator’s hand, beginning with life itself.

As to heartbreak, Yoder’s if sincere, arises from propaganda. The Left castigates Christian conservatives for their lack of compassion because many conservatives believe charitable work is best left to private individuals. This belief does not mean conservatives lack compassion for children either here or abroad. Indeed, the success of organizations such as Compassion International argue to the contrary.

2. I’ve done community trauma work on five continents and have witnessed the devastation and suffering of real people impacted by violence, migration, war, injustice, and dignity violations. The way our elected officials vote on war, immigration, and foreign aid have life and death consequences. I want the babies and children in those far-off places, created in the image of God just like my own, to live and thrive, too.

Miss Yoder conflates several very different issues in an attempt to justify her stance on abortion. War, immigration and foreign aid may have life and death consequences in the abstract. Supporting a politicians who rejoice, as New York State Legislature did, when they pass legislation that legalizes abortion at any time up to the point of birth has a much more concrete effect.

3. Pro-life legislators are more likely than their pro-choice counterparts to vote against the very programs that research shows decrease abortion rates: access to affordable contraceptives, age-appropriate sex education, paid maternity leave, and access to affordable child care.

The red herring is perhaps Miss Yoder’s favorite rhetorical device. Question: should politicians support legalized abortion? Miss Yoder: We need to discuss expanding government programs.

Miss Yoder either knows she is wrong and is therefore lying or is a willing dupe. Sex education does not stem teen pregnancies. Out of wedlock births for teens have skyrocketed from 15% of births in the mid-60’s to 80% today. This as progressive educators introduced increasingly explicit sex education into classrooms. Miss Yoder’s claim that sex education reduces abortion is pulled out of thin air by abortion proponents. If it were true, would not instances of sexually transmitted diseases also be lowered through such education? Unfortunately, these are on the rise as the Center For Disease Control confirms (https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/std-trends-508.pdf). If you need more evidence of sex education’s lack of efficacy, you can read this summary of research on the topic presented on Psychology Today’s website.

4. Pro-life politicians are more likely to support the death penalty and increased defense spending, which includes bombs and drones that kill other people’s babies and children.

Miss Yoder resorts to arguments based upon moral equivalents with these assertions. The legalism of the Anabaptists prevents Yoder from perceiving simple distinctions. There is a moral difference between intentionally killing the innocent and executing the guilty. There is also a moral distinction between the unintended deaths of noncombatants and ripping babies from the wombs of their mothers. If your moral compass is incapable of differentiating these facts, you need a different compass! 

Miss Yoder’s argument not only trivializes the brutality of abortion but also abortion’s magnitude. The Council on Foreign Relations reports President Obama authorized “542 drone strikes that… killed an estimated 3,797 people, including 324 civilians.” This might give Miss Yoder pause over what her vote for pro-abortion candidates is buying, but even if none of these killings were justified, they pale in comparison to the 623 thousand abortions reported to the CDC in 2016. 

5. Even if I don’t condone abortion, I know it’s going to happen. I don’t condone war either, but I know it’s going to happen. I don’t support defunding and closing veterans’ hospitals as an attempt to stop war. Rather, I put my effort into supporting policies that reduce the likelihood of war. Likewise, I believe the most effective anti-abortion work I can do is supporting policies that prevent abortion and decrease abortion rates rather than working to defund or close clinics or criminalize abortion. I value the lives of women having abortions and want them to be safe, just as I value the lives of our veterans who need care even while disagreeing with their choice to go to war.

This is sophistry and hardly merits a response. What other behaviors should we adopt Miss Yoder’s attitude toward? Bullying? Racial discrimination? Sex trafficking? Rape? 

6. Being as pro-life as possible means we don’t kill through supporting policies that deprive those unaborted babies, once they get older, of healthcare or school lunches. We don’t kill by allowing assault weapons on our streets or supporting systems that pipeline young people to prison. We don’t kill this beautiful planet Creator God has given us through policies that increase our carbon footprint.

With this assortment of arguments, Miss Yoder, as mentioned earlier, reveals herself as more pro-leftist than pro-life. There are reasonable responses to each of these arguments, but I somehow doubt Miss Yoder is interested in them. She is focused on defending the indefensible as her comments in point 7 make clear.

7. If we’re one-issue pro-life voters, foxy politicians — as Jesus called Herod — play us. All they need to do is say they are pro-life, and voilà, they have a whole flock of Christian voters in their pocket, regardless of their character and even if they support policies that increase abortion rates and kill in other ways.

If anyone is being “played” it is Miss Yoder. She ignores the fact that politicians’ morals affect their behaviors. The person who has no qualms about killing a baby as it comes down the birth canal á la Hillary Clinton or who advocates infanticide as did Barak Obama when an Illinois State Legislator can contrive a justification for any action no matter how heinous. Evidence of this is piling up as I write, for the Democrats in the US Senate are working to kill legislation that would ensure babies who survive abortions receive the same care as other babies.

I would have to agree with Miss Yoder on one point: she does have blood on her hands.