Love bestows worth upon the weak and unwanted; love speaks on behalf of the child in need. And we should not grow so old that we forget what it was like to be a child and to sing at Christmas: ‘Bless all the dear children in thy tender care.’

We preach on abortion to save such women, and to protect other women from making the same mistake. A letter we received from a woman who had an abortion urges us not to fear speaking out. ‘I can’t help but think that if I heard in church that abortion was wrong...I might have chosen to keep my baby instead of killing my baby.’...We can help them enter the path of healing by proclaiming the truth about abortion and the reality of forgiveness. When we address abortion, it tells her, "We care." Our silence, on the other hand, does not interpret itself. To her, it could mean that we don’t know her pain, or worse, that we don’t care.

The fact is, every church is already ‘divided’ in the sense that you will find people on different sides of the abortion issue. If we never speak of the issue, we may cover over the division for a while, but that is not the same thing as unity. Unity is founded on truth, and is fostered by a clear exposition of truth. ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself’ (John 12:32). We do not build unity by our own human plans, efforts, and programs. We build it by lifting up Christ for all to see and hear. We build unity by proclaiming his Word, without ambiguity or apology. Sure, there will be some division for the same reason that there will be some alienation. But the Word itself causes that. ‘I have come for division (Luke 12:51).’ It is the division between truth and error, grace and sin, life and death. This division must come before unity is possible; otherwise the unity will be superficial and illusory.