Written by Hayden Sledge

I am a woman. I am also pro-life. Unfortunately, many people today see these identities as contradictory and antithetical. Over the past few decades, society has tried to force many women into a box: If you are a woman who is proud of your womanhood, you should support and advocate for abortion. If not, how can you be a true advocate for women? Supporting women has become synonymous with supporting abortion.

But truth be told, abortion is devastating to women. Abortion can cause physical and psychological complications to the woman obtaining the abortion and affect her ability to successfully carry future pregnancies to term. Not only that, but many of abortion’s unborn victims are female.

These considerations lead to an important question: What does it truly mean to advocate for women?

A true advocate for women supports God’s design for women

God specially designed women with the capacity of bringing life into the world. In the creation mandate given in Genesis 1:28, the first human couple was charged to fill the earth and exercise dominion. While both the husband and wife play a role in conceiving life, the woman has the privilege and responsibility of bringing the new life into the world. Thus, while not all women will be mothers, many will, and motherhood should be seen as a high calling worthy of respect, rather than an impediment needing to be overcome.

Unfortunately, the abortion industry presents a narrative that women can only assert control over their lives if they have the option to abort their children. However, God is ultimately sovereign over all aspects of our lives, including the pregnancy journey, the mother’s life experiences, and the development of unborn children. God’s hand is entirely evident throughout the process.

Thus, as Christians we should support women in the unique callings God has given each of them, whether that calling includes a career, motherhood, or both. We should appreciate the variety of ways God works in and through each woman.

A true advocate for women helps women facing hardship

God is active during times of celebration and suffering. He reminds us that we will all experience suffering during our time on earth. In fact, Romans 8:22 tells us that the all of creation “groans” due to the curse of sin.

We all experience various forms of hardship, which can include familial loss, illness, financial stress, mental illness, infertility, miscarriage, or unexpected pregnancy. The church ought to come alongside and help people in their most vulnerable stages of life. This includes actively loving and protecting mothers who have made the brave and courageous decision to keep their babies despite pressure to abort.

Many women experience confusion, shame, and difficulty throughout their pregnancies, especially if those pregnancies are unexpected or unwanted. Although pregnancy is ideally a time of celebration and rejoicing in a new God-given life, it is important to remember that many mothers need care and comfort during and after their pregnancy. It is not an easy journey and is even more difficult for single mothers who are already lacking support.

A true advocate for women supports mothers before and after pregnancy

The church should love and care for women in one of the most life-altering and vulnerable stages of life: the time during and after pregnancy. We should continuously remind mothers of Jesus’ steadfast love as we walk alongside them.

Too often, churches encourage mothers in the early stages of pregnancy but neglect to stand with them after birth. Although pregnancy can be a difficult time, there are a host of challenges that can arise after birth as well. So, it is important that we seek to encourage and help the mother and baby after birth.

In honoring the Lord, we are to care for all mothers and their unborn children, reminding them of God’s truth that they are—or by faith can become—the beloved daughters of a loving heavenly Father.

Here are some resources that seek to help mothers during their pregnancy and beyond. Although an online resource cannot address all the complexities and possible difficulties surrounding pregnancy, these are helpful places to start.

• Human Coalition – An organization dedicated to helping women with unplanned pregnancies through all nine months and beyond
• Let Them Live – An organization that provides direct financial assistance to pregnant women in danger of aborting through online crowdfunding
• Sisters of Life – A community of women who seek to advocate for the protection of unborn babies and to support the mothers
• Find a Pregnancy Care Center and Other Resources – SBA List
• Alternatives to Abortion: Pregnancy Resource Centers – Focus on the Family

Hayden Sledge is a Coalitions intern at Family Research Council.

This article originally posted at FRCblog.com

You know how conservatives are always warning against non-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation and gender identity language? We try to communicate that not only are such laws unnecessary, but also pose a threat to other freedoms. For example, they will prevent a Christian school from requiring its teachers adhere to a statement of faith. Such laws also lack common sense and will lead to abuse by disturbed individuals that pose both privacy and safety concerns for people.

Adding sexual orientation or gender identity to non-discrimination laws eventually leads to allowing transgender and cross-dressing persons into bathrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities for the gender they are biologically the opposite of. So, in the end, cross-dressing men get to go into women’s locker rooms, and transgender females are allowed into men’s bathrooms.

Our opponents try to laugh it off, as if that sort of thing has never happened and will never happen. Enter Rodney Kenneth Peterson. A recent article explains that Mr. Peterson decided to get“dressed up in women’s clothes — and a brunette wig — and unsuccessfully attempted to sneak into student-only areas of a women’s residence hall on the campus of Loma Linda University in Southern California…Eventually, dormitory staff members noticed a cross-dressing, middle-aged man in their midst and confronted him.”

It has been determined that Mr. Peterson sought to take pictures with his cell phone of the females in the residence hall and that he has tried this stunt in other places. Evidently Mr. Peterson hasn’t been listening to the politicians that assure us these things never happen as a result of adding sexual orientation and gender identity to non-discrimination laws.

Another ill-effect of this language being added is the story of Don Ennis. Don is a middle-aged ABC News editor that believes he is a woman trapped in a man’s body. So he decided to become transgender, leave his wife, and change his name to Dawn. Don, err…um…Dawn of course used the women’s restroom and other facilities since “she” was obviously identifying now as a woman. The problem is that Dawn decided she was really a he and changed his name back to Don and apologized to friends after realizing that he is “not transgender after all.”

The problem in each case is that laws are being passed to accommodate a minority group that is very confused. If a person can wake up one day and conclude that he is a she or that she is really a he trapped in a woman’ body, the opposite can be just as true. Just as Don came to the conclusion that he was “not transgender after all” so can others now saying they are trapped in the wrong body.

Just as Mr. Peterson decided to cross-dress in order to fulfill his perverted fantasy, so others can abuse non-discrimination laws with sexual orientation and gender identity language to similarly take advantage of unsuspecting girls and women.

Add to this the very dangerous trend of adults encouraging gender confusion in children. Rather than recognize the natural curiosity of children which can lead to a temporary period of gender experimentation, parents are quick to conclude their sons are girls and their girls are boys. From there, with the encouragement of their parents, these children become locked into a pattern of behavior that at one time was classified as a mental disorder, but is now seen as “normal.”

So what happened to Don Ennis? He says he was diagnosed as transgender and began living accordingly. Now he says he is absolutely certain he was misdiagnosed and is “totally, completely, unabashedly male.” Was Mr. Ennis confused about being confused? Was he trying to take advantage of a politically correct corporate world in order to fulfill a perverted fantasy?

The danger with non-discrimination laws that include sexual orientation and gender identity is that they elevate one class of people based on variant characteristics over the rest of the population with non-variant characteristics. No African American has ever suddenly realized he was “a white guy.” Outside of surgical procedures even biology is non-variant. Homosexuality, transgenderism, and other sexuality based characteristics seem to be unstable.

Do we really want our daughters to become accustomed to grown men seeing them in the bathroom or the locker room? Where does that kind of “normal” lead? I submit that it leads to a society where our daughters become so accustomed to grown men seeing them in various states of dress and undress that they think nothing of sending pictures of themselves in their underwear, or even nude, to the boys in their school. Pornography becomes a routine part of life. Engaging in sexual activity with numerous partners of various sexual orientations at a young age becomes the standard.  

Is that really the society we want to leave for our daughters and grand-daughters?