Is Abortion “Holy”?

Is abortion “Holy”?

How could one even use the word “Holy” in reference to abortion?

That was my reaction when I came across an article titled “Holy Abortion” in First Things.

If you’re not familiar with this publication, here’s the description from their website: “The Institute on Religion and Public Life, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization (EIN: 52-1628303) and the publisher of First Things, was founded in 1989 by Richard John Neuhaus, a Lutheran pastor who later became a Catholic priest. The Institute’s mission is to advance a religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society.”

I try to read articles in this publication occasionally. I find them thought-provoking and edifying. Often, they are a bit too lofty, cerebral, or scholarly for me, but that is usually my experience with philosophy.

Written by Samira Kawash for the December 2023 issue, “Holy Abortion” is one of the finest treatments I have read of the reality we are facing in our battle against the culture of abortion. Kawash entwines the stories of several women, professed Christians and supporters of radical abortion rights, with the history of abortion in the United States. She also explores the shift in how some Christian clergy view abortion and its place in American life. Even to the point of, “taking a stand for abortion as a positive moral good.” ¹

In early 2022, the Washington Post identified “an increasingly bold and more visible religious movement for reproductive choice, a hard shove back to the decades-old American narrative [whereby] a devout person sees abortion only as murder.”  ²

So, what does this all mean? The way I see it, our battle to eradicate the evil of abortion is no longer (if it’s ever been) only against pagans, atheists, and godless heathens. The enemy includes those who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior while at the same time supporting the so-called reproductive right of a woman to choose to kill her unborn child.

1. ^{https://www.firstthings.com/article/2023/12/holy-abortion}
2. ^ibid