By Rev. Mark H. Creech
January 19, 2004

(AgapePress) - For more than three decades, Protestant Evangelicals and Catholics have been waging war on the practice of abortion. Evidence indicates the war is being won.

Polls consistently demonstrate Americans are becoming more pro-life. Zogby International, a respected non-partisan polling firm, released a poll last December showing Americans support the statement, "Abortion destroys a human life and is manslaughter," by a 53% to 36% margin. The poll also showed the public is more inclined to support "restrictions on abortion" compared to five or ten years ago. Other polls such as an October 2003 Washington Post-ABC News poll found a majority of Americans believe abortion is "morally unacceptable."

Yet, I am deeply concerned the war on abortion will never finally be won unless pro-life Protestants are willing to strike at the root of the problem – contraception. Unfortunately, for too long, contraception has been seen as an "over-the-top" Catholic issue. But few realize Protestants consistently spoke out against the practice until 1930, when the Anglican Church -- swayed by growing social pressure -- caved in and allowed it in certain circumstances. Thus, the Trojan horse entered the house of God.

Consider this quote: "The purpose of marriage is not to have pleasure and to be idle but to procreate and bring up children, to support a household. Those who have no love for children are swine, stocks, and logs unworthy of being called men or women; for they despise the blessings of God, the Creator and Author of marriage."

Perhaps you're thinking some deranged medieval Pope must have made that statement. Hardly! It was Martin Luther, the Father of the Protestant Reformation who said it.

Other Protestant forefathers besides Luther also opposed contraception. John Calvin, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, A.W. Pink, and Matthew Henry, to name a few, condemned it.

Someone once said even Jonah couldn't see the whale once he was swallowed by it.

Sadly, with the ascension and acceptance of principles espoused by Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood, pro-life Protestant Evangelicals now reflect the same worldly fears and rejection of pregnancy that motivate women to seek an abortion -- inconvenience; interference with the pursuit of happiness or possessions; undue stress added to the marriage, etc. Today, most pro-life Protestants would readily acknowledge certain types of contraception might be wrong, but they would bristle at any suggestion all contraception is wrong.

This poses, however, a theological dilemma, as well as a practical one that's becoming more pervasive on the front lines of the abortion war. Some new forms of oral contraceptives, which are abortifacients, destroy a fertilized egg before it can implant in the uterus. Christians generally hold life begins with fertilization and any procedure that destroys a fertilized egg -- whether or not it is implanted in the uterus -- would be murder. There are numerous verses of Scripture supporting the stance that life has its beginnings in the womb. But what biblical instruction, save the first command of God, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1:28) and God's hatred for Onan's sin (Gen. 38:1-10), which was essentially a contraceptive act – the act of sexual pleasure without embracing the responsibilities of procreation -- is left to address these new techniques of birth control? These new forms of birth control make it extremely difficult to determine when contraception ends and abortion begins? Should they grow in acceptance and accessibility, and we should expect they would, it could split Catholic and Protestant pro-lifers, while significantly weakening the arguments of pro-life Protestants who partially support contraception.

In an excellent article titled "One Step Forward," published by World magazine, Bob Jones IV explains this new and complex challenge for pro-lifers. He writes that Catholic ethicists have long viewed the position of Protestant Evangelicals on contraception inconsistent with a pro-life philosophy. He says Catholics have largely kept their views quiet about contraception "for the sake of saving babies." But now, he adds, "medical advances are forcing the Catholic critique to the surface."

Jones also quotes Ralph McInerny, professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, who says, "With 'technological progress' the moral case against contraception is even stronger ... " McInerny believes the "new abortion technology will lead Evangelicals to re-think their position in favor of contraception." McInerny says, "I think it's got to. Given the goodness of heart and the liveliness of faith there, it's got to carry over sooner or later. There's a continuing coming together on this issue. In the practical, moral order, it's just to hard to distinguish between taking a life and preventing one."

Granted, this short editorial doesn't address many of the questions it raises. Neither does it serve to make all the connections of contraception to abortion, though many are implied.

What is more, I am no role model in this matter. Like most of my fellow Evangelical Protestants, I also practiced contraception in marriage. But since fighting in the trenches against America's wholesale murder of the innocents, I believe I understand something I didn't before. To destroy abortion, you must strike at the root of the problem -- contraception.

Let it suffice to say contraception and abortion are the twin-children of a Medusa-like god with vipers on her head that represent a self-centered, anti-child, materialistic, non-theistic quality-of-life mentality that God will not indefinitely suffer as a rival.

I believe Matt Trewhella, pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, aptly summarized the argument: "We have no God-given right to manipulate God's design for marriage by using birth control. As long as we continue to make 'possessions' and 'self' our god, and as long as we continue to look at children as a diaper bill rather than a blessing, we will never see the Church act in mass against baby-murder."