Mifepristone, also known as the abortion drug, is a highly controversial pill that now accounts for over 60% of abortions in the U.S., according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. Among the many fighting for and against access to mifepristone is the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), a group of pro-life physicians who challenged the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2016 and 2021 decisions that lead to easier access to the abortion drug by “permanently [eliminating] its requirements that women receive ongoing in-person medical care when taking mifepristone.”
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled last week to dismiss the challenge. As Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who wrote the opinion of the court, explained, there were “sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to elective abortion and to the FDA’s relaxed regulation of mifepristone,” but since AHM doesn’t prescribe or use the drug in question, the conclusion was that they had no legal standing for the case. Additionally, Justice Clarence Thomas made it clear that the “ruling is all about standing,” not merit, a helpful clarification for pro-life advocates.
The issue of abortion has long been controversial. However, in recent years, Christian leaders have felt new urgency to step up and bring clarity on this issue to those in the church. With the court’s latest decision, several questions have risen to the surface — including how Christians should view these circumstances.
David Closson, Family Research Council’s director of the Center for Biblical Worldview, was invited to speak on a pro-life panel hosted by the Danbury Institute. In this meeting, which happened the day before the 2024 gathering of the Southern Baptist Convention, Closson mapped out some statistical realities of where professing Christians stand on the issue of abortion. “[A] lot of regular churchgoers are actually kind of confused when it comes to the life issue,” he shared on Friday’s episode of “Washington Watch” with guest host and former Congressman Jody Hice.
Closson highlighted a few staggering numbers, including “the statistic that shows that only 44% of regular churchgoers heard a sermon that dealt with the abortion issue in the year after Roe v. Wade was overturned.” Additionally, he continued, “about 63% of those who go to church … identify as pro-life,” but roughly “one out of four actually identify as pro-choice.” As he considered these numbers, Closson stated, “I want to be a hopeful messenger, but I think to be able to kind of help our churches think well about these [matters], we need to know where we stand.”
Hice, who also serves as FRC Action’s president, agreed. “[W]e have to not just hear the news and not just go to church on the weekends, but we have to incorporate a biblical worldview into our lives and into the way we see the news and how we interpret it.” This, as he went on to say, directly ties into how Christians should interpret the SCOTUS ruling. Hice asked, “[H]ow should Christians think about the outcome of this case? And specifically, how should Christians think about chemical abortion?” According to Closson, Christians “should be both disappointed, but not too disappointed,” because again, this case was not determined on merit.
In terms of context, Closson explained that it “was first in 2016 under the Obama administration that they started walking back some of the guardrails” concerning the abortion drug. “And then under the Biden administration,” he added they’ve only been further walked back. But as Closson emphasized, “These are dangerous pills.” In fact, a warning the FDA must include on the mifepristone box is that one in 25 women who take these pills end up in the emergency room. According to Closson, this truly is “a really critical issue.”
But regarding the forthcoming cases that will analyze the abortion drug on the basis of merit, Closson urged that “our prayer needs to be … that courts will realize these pills are [not merely] obviously dangerous for the unborn child, but they’re … dangerous for the mother as well.” It’s also important, Hice added, to understand that this chemical approach to abortion is “a new frontier with abortion. … It’s the new way of doing it.” Even more important, it’s being actively manipulated by leftist political agendas to make it seem less severe and dangerous than it is, Hice observed.
He highlighted how one way this issue is being presented by Democrats, such as Vice President Kamala Harris, is by referring to mifepristone as “medication,” which Closson noted is “insane.” He continued, “A medication is something that treats an illness or a disease. Let me just be really clear: Pregnancy is not a disease.” Moreover, medicine is meant to save lives, not end them. However, Closson addressed the fact that, “thankfully, many states have aggressively passed legislation to eliminate surgical abortion.” But even so, “chemical abortion drugs … are still available in all 50 states.”
Closson concluded, “Abortion is a political issue … but for those of us who follow Jesus, we need to say first and foremost, ‘This is a theological, this is a biblical, this is a moral issue.’ … We don’t have to guess what God’s view is on this issue. There’s a ‘thus saith the Lord.’ We have Psalm 139, verses 13-16. We have Luke 1:39-45. There’s a lot of issues we can debate in the public square that good meaning people can agree to disagree on certain aspects. [But] on the life issue … we know what God thinks. And if we know what God thinks on an issue, we need to be on His side.”
Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.
