If I was to give this article a subtitle it would be “How a younger generation is moving toward a more pro-life position on abortion and what we Christians are doing to try and stop it.”  But before I get into that, let me share the good news.  Recent polls show that among younger women aged 18-29 an increasing percentage are calling themselves pro-life and there is now more than a majority, even among non-Christians, that think abortion is a moral issue. 

As I said, this is good news.  In fact, at a time when Christians are increasingly seen in a negative light, to see more people sharing our views on this issue is great.  How has this come to be?  Are they being persuaded by the overpowering logic and compassion of our arguments?  No.  In the poll many of the young women make this clear, they still doubt and distrust pro-life leaders and organizations. 

So why are they changing?  It’s a combination of two things.  One is advancing technology and the second is the intransigence of the pro-choice side.  As technology, particularly sonograms, improve it is easier and easier to see clear images of unborn children with tiny features, beating hearts and obvious movements.  In the face of this, pro-choice leaders continue to use agenda-motivated terms like “unwanted fetal tissue” to describe these tiny children and this is turning off these women.

One would think that these are exciting times in the pro-life camp and that deep and sincere outreach would be taking place to these young women to help solidify their views and support them.  Perhaps the tide may be turning on this decades-long stalemate.  But we don’t see much evidence of this.  Pro-life forces continue to see this issue as needing to be fought on two fronts, politics and protest.  And, if I may say so, they are fighting these battles in ungracious ways.

Just witness the fate of the hapless pro-life congressman, Bart Stupek.  He and a few other Democrats succeeded in getting pro-life wording into the House version of the recent health care bill.  When he later agreed to keep this pro-life wording out of the bill in exchange for the signing of a Presidential order giving the same wording he faced death threats and charges of “baby-killer.”  You may disagree with Stupek but the baby-killer charges are outrageous ungrace. 

On the protest front pro-life forces continue to waste time and effort on fruitless campaigns.  Whether it is sending thousands of red envelopes to the White House that went unread and did nothing more than annoy the mail room and custodial staff, or heartless protests harassing troubled pregnant girls, they accomplish nothing but to make us look uncaring or silly.

Grace teaches us that this battle needs to be fought and won in person-to-person encounters.  When a young mother-to-be brings the DVD of the sonogram of her unborn child to show her friends at work, when we support in personal ways unwed pregnant women or parents struggling to adopt, when poor families find their church a refuge and support, or in a dozen other caring ways pro-life people become friends and not faceless protestors we win these individuals.

It is hard to express the joy you can have when you see an adorable baby in the arms of a proud mother who had considered abortion and you know you were there for them in their struggle.  And, even better, as we move in that direction of making our abortion stance personal and real there will be opportunities to reach out to the young women in the survey above who are on the verge of being more pro-life.