On Friday, thousands of pro-life advocates gathered on the national mall for the 49th annual March for Life. Those in attendance hoped this march marked the last with the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision still in force. As March for Life president Jeanne Mancini told NPR, “We are hoping and praying that this year, 2022, will bring us historic change.”

In our culture, pro-lifers are often accused of having a double standard—marching passionately against abortion but not caring for vulnerable mothers and children after birth. But as apologist Rebecca McLaughlin makes clear in her long-form article, the best pro-life ethic is one that values human dignity throughout life.

McLaughlin’s article looks back to the Greco-Roman practice of abandoning deformed children and unwanted baby girls. Her account is sobering and sad, and as the father of a teenager with severe disabilities, I found it particularly weighty. In many cultures before Christ (and in some now), children like my daughter did not survive. 

It is Jesus’s counter-cultural care for women and children that has made the difference. As McLaughlin points out, the first Christ-motivated legislation in the world protected women from abandonment and provided for poor families. Consistent Christian ethics must continue these things today. She writes, “To solve the problem of abortion, we don’t just need one law reversed. We need a loving revolution.”

Grace and peace to you,