By Sharayah Colter
January 4, 2023
While the Trump administration delivered many positive results for the American people and specifically for evangelicals, the 45th president’s decision to blame midterm election disappointments on the pro-life movement is an unforced error.
In a post to Truth Social Jan. 1, Trump faulted pro-life Republicans for poor election performance among the party’s candidates.
“It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the MidTerms. I was 233-20! It was the ‘abortion issue,’ poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on No Exceptions, even in the case of Rape, Incest, or Life of the Mother, that lost large numbers of Voters. Also, the people that pushed so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish from the U.S. Supreme Court, & just plain disappeared, not to be seen again. Plus, Mitch stupid $’s!” - Donald Trump
I supported Donald Trump during his presidency as his administration invited counsel from Christians leaders, made policy decisions that respected religious liberty, and spoke clearly and often in defense of the sanctity of human life. This most recent remark, however, seems to find the former president taking aim at perhaps the most devoted portion of his base: conservative, evangelical Christians holding to a biblical ethic regarding the value of human life.
The former president is flatly wrong about the staunchly pro-life position harming election results. If anything, recent years have shown that the Republican base favors candidates who will stand boldly and even brashly for life and liberty. Even Trump’s own success as a candidate came in large part from his appeal to a more overt brand of conservatism contrasted with beltway-friendly RINOs — or the “swamp” as he has frequently described.
But, none of that even matters. Not even one bit.
The truth in regard to pro-life voters is that opposing abortion because life is intrinsically valuable is not just a political position; it is a conviction. And when you hold a conviction, you don’t simply change it whether you win or lose.
So, even IF holding a staunchly pro-life position spelled certain electoral loss, convictional pro-life voters would hold it anyway. Some issues are so foundational to our faith that we hold them at all costs.
We vote pro-life because it is the right thing to do, not because it guarantees a political victory.
Win or lose, it is our Christian duty to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves (Prov. 31:8-9). We oppose the barbaric murder-by-choice of 63 million babies and counting because we can do no other. We do not support rape and incest “exceptions” touted by Democrats and left-leaning Republicans because while they may sound compassionate and reasonable at first blush, closer examination reveals them to be nonsensical and hypocritical. Answering a rape with a murder compounds one atrocity on top of another. If an unborn baby is a human life worthy of protection, then he or she is worthy of protection whether conceived in love or violence (Ps. 139:13-16; Gen. 1:27; Ex. 20:13). Either abortion is murder or it isn’t. But if it is, the law should be applied in equal justice and the rights of all humans—born or pre-born—upheld and protected.
This is not the extreme view, as the left tries to portray it. The extreme view is that of believing that a mother should be legally able to kill or hire someone else to kill her child simply because she wants to. That is extreme. And that is the position that Christians convictionally oppose and on which we will not equivocate or negotiate.
We stand for life. We thank God for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, including the former president’s integral role in that, we seek actively to end legal abortion in our states and nation through any and every legislative means possible, we pray for success in those efforts, and we leave the results to God.
We don’t stand for life to win elections. We try to win elections to stand for life.