I’ve lived only a little longer than Roe v. Wade has existed. But I’ve lived. Under the pall of shadow that Roe v. Wade has cast over my lifetime, having a birthday to celebrate is precious.

I have compassion for those persons who deeply regret their part in aborting their children—including those who once worked as abortion providers. I knew one personally when I lived in Dallas. They’re in our churches now. They’re in my church. It takes no more of the amazing grace of God to forgive them these sins than to forgive me my sins against Him.

Compassion for the rueful does not mean the church should stop condemning the rule of abortion.
Roe v. Wade is government “wielding the sword” against its most innocent citizens who most merit government’s protection. It is brutality against children. It is a savagery of humanity. How do you mourn the loss of children in a school shooting but defend abortion rights and not feel like an abject hypocrite?

Birth doesn’t make you a person, conception does. And that’s not just a theological argument but empirically verifiable: A human zygote (embryonic human being) is a whole living member of the species Homo sapiens in the earliest stage of his or her natural development. It is incredible poverty of soul to give ourselves, because we live outside the womb, the right to deprive someone still inside the womb that development.