Chelsea Clinton: Ending Abortion Would Be “Unchristian”

During a radio interview, the former first daughter said it would be “unconscionable” for the US to return to the “pre-Roe” era when abortion was illegal: “When I think about all of the statistics that are painful of what women are confronting today in our country, and what even more women confronted pre-Roe and how many women died and how many more women were maimed because of unsafe abortion practices, we just can’t go back to that.”

She added, “Like that’s unconscionable to me. And also, I’m sure this will unleash another wave of hate in my direction, but as a deeply religious person, it’s also unchristian to me.”

Clinton also claimed that the legalization of abortion was a boon to the US economy: “American women entering the labor force from 1970 to 2009 added three and a half trillion dollars to our economy, right? The net, new entrance of women–that is not disconnected from the fact that Roe became the law of the land in January of 1973.”

“Bad philosophy needs to be answered”

Let’s learn from Chelsea Clinton’s defense of a ruling that has cost more than sixty million unborn children their lives. We can respond to unbiblical claims in two ways: we can ignore them, or we can engage them.

Ignoring falsehoods may seem to be a short-term solution. We’re all busy people with multiple demands on our time. When we encounter statements we know to be false, it’s easier to dismiss them and move on.

However, if we will not counter falsehoods by speaking biblical truth to our culture, those who need God’s word will not hear it. “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14).

In The Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis noted: “Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”

So, if we would be effective witnesses to our culture, it is important that we engage falsehoods with biblical truth. God calls us to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15 NIV).

$45 trillion in lost labor

Let’s take Chelsea Clinton’s defense of abortion as an example. She warns that reversing Roe v. Wade would subject women to “unsafe abortion practices.” Therefore, we should keep abortion legal to safeguard the procedure.

By this logic, should we legalize illicit drugs to protect addicts from contaminated needles? Should we legalize prostitution to protect prostitutes from unsafe working environments? Does legalizing an immoral act to make it safer render it moral?

Clinton clearly avoids the underlying question, whether an unborn child is, in fact, a child. That’s because this is not an argument she can win.

Scientific advances are increasingly showing that life begins at conception. From that moment, the fetus is human. He or she is distinguishable from all other living organisms, possessing all forty-six human chromosomes and able to develop only into a human being.

Nothing will be added during pregnancy except for the growth and development of what exists from the moment the child is conceived. (For more, see my essay, “Abortion and the Mercy of God.”) Because life begins at conception, and our nation’s founding document considers life an “inalienable” right, the unborn have the same right to protection as the rest of us.

Now let’s consider Clinton’s economic argument. She claims that women “added three and a half trillion dollars to our economy” after Roe because they could abort their babies and thus enter the workforce. However, the staunchly pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute asserts that abortion was common in the pre-Roe era.

And what about the economic impact of all the lives lost to abortion? One analyst calculated that abortion has cost America’s GDP $45 trillion in lost labor, a number that climbs by $2.5 trillion every year. Every abortion costs our country a potential worker and taxpayer, not to mention the lost offspring of those aborted.

A personal request

I hope to make three points today. One is that unborn children can and should be defended, not just by biblical principles but also by reason and empirical evidence. The second is that Christians need to counter falsehoods for the sake of those who don’t know the truth.

My last point: Denison Forum exists for just this purpose, speaking biblical truth to the vital issues of our day to help Christians change our culture for Christ.

I make this point because North Texas Giving Day is today. This annual fundraising event is not just for those who live in our area–anyone in the world can participate.

Would you consider helping us reach a critical $500,000 goal?

A very generous donor has already provided a $75,000 matching grant. Your support will help us match this gift and will ensure that Denison Forum can continue providing Christians like you with news discerned from a biblical perspective. To give, please click here.

“Speaking the truth in love” is God’s charge to his people (Ephesians 4:15). I am honored to answer his call with you.

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