Unprecedented events in the 2024 United States presidential election have jarred us in recent weeks, sending shock waves through our society. First, on July 13, a would-be assassin nearly succeeding in killing Donald Trump. Then, only eight days later, President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. The AP reported this decision came “after a disastrous debate with Donald Trump that raised doubts about the incumbent’s fitness for office.”
Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place, urging Democrats to rally behind her. After a contest between Trump and Biden seemed clear for months, Harris’s presumptive nomination has cast her as the new voice of Democratic Party. Even more recently, Harris announced her choice for Vice President, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
In an interesting turn, enthusiasm for the Democratic Harris-Walz ticket has grown alongside increasing disappointment in the Republican Trump-Vance campaign.
There are many reasons for this, of course, but as a Christian, the tragedy of abortion is of significant concern. And, thus, for both campaigns, we must take a sober look at abortion policy.
First, the Republican National Committee has abandoned its pro-life plank for the first time in decades, reminding us again that the party is committed to Donald Trump and his views, and quick to jettison positions that it held only weeks before.
When the party dropped the language (and ignored the pro-life leaders who spoke up), I said, “I’ve voted for a convictional pro-life candidate in every presidential election since I was allowed to vote. It’s not a political choice, it’s a moral choice. I’ll vote pro-life again this time, because the unborn still matter.”
I still will.
Most evangelical Christians will factor in the life issue, because for them, like me, life is a paramount issue. I encourage you to value the unborn as well.
Affirm Life Regardless of Party
I’ve written often about the importance of the pro-life position. After Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade, something for which many of us worked and prayer, I said in USA Today, “In a sense, our work is just beginning…we still have to work to make abortion unthinkable, by helping people to see the value of unborn life and demonstrating consistent and holistic values of life.”
And, as Christians, we do need to speak up on these issues. When Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey posted a picture of himself wearing an abortion pin with a heart inside the first “o,” I noted the irony: “A tiny heart? Do they not even see the irony? Pastors, I encourage you to speak up on issues of life. Help build a culture of life that changes hearts and minds.”
I still think we should.
As I’ve said before, Christians should approach an election like an umpire approaches a baseball game. We don’t uncritically join or cheer for a team. We call balls, strikes, and fouls. We support a candidate when they speak for biblical values, and we call them out when they fail to do so. I’ve consistently criticized and commended presidents and candidates of both parties—which, it appears, bothers some people.
I cried foul when Republicans softened their stance on pro-life matters this July. With the Republican Party becoming a pro-choice-by-state party and with the Democratic Party portraying Republicans as the radical side on abortion, it is important to know where the new Democratic ticket stands.
The Harris-Walz ticket’s views on abortion are completely unacceptable and quite radical, and Christians must say so.
Kamala Harris on Abortion
Abortion has been the top issue for Harris for years. The Washington Post listed her positions on five key issues: abortion, the border, Israel and Gaza, the economy and climate. There is no doubt as to which is most important, as The Post observes, “By far, Harris’ best-known policy position is that people should have access to abortion care.”
This is a central theme.
Harris’ record proves that she prioritizes abortion and holds radical ideas on the issue, as Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, has shown.
“Kamala Harris is an abortion extremist. Her words and actions over the course of her career—as California’s attorney general, as United States senator, and as vice president—leave no doubt as to that fact,” Anderson writes.
“Since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency,” he adds, “Harris has sown confusion about her political vision by reversing many of her own publicly stated positions. But one thing remains constant: Abortion is her top priority.”
Justin Taylor recently noted some examples of Harris’s abortion extremism:
- Consistently withheld support for any protection of the unborn or the just-born.
- Wants to force taxpayers to fund abortions.
- Goals would require pro-life advocates to violate their conscience.
- Displays an anti-Catholic bent.
- Sought to compel pro-life centers to advertise for abortion.
- Targeted pro-life activists.
There are all easily verifiable with a simple Google search.
“Her choices—to visit a Planned Parenthood in Minnesota, a state competing to have the most permissive abortion regime in the nation, and to select Minnesota’s radically pro-abortion governor as her running mate—flow from her priorities,” Anderson writes.
This is important.
Harris’ Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz
What about Harris’ selection for vice president, Tim Walz?
Minnesota was the first state to enact pro-abortion legislation after the Dobbs ruling by SCOTUS. Anderson points out how Walz signed legislation that declared abortion to be a fundamental right through all nine months of pregnancy.
You read that correctly—all nine months. To quote one of many fact checks, “The statute does not include any specific prohibitions on abortions at any stage of pregnancy.”
Anderson notes that Republicans are not without their issues, as they have weakened their support for the defense of unborn children. But this “should not obscure the fact that the Democratic Party under Harris is as radically pro-abortion as it can possibly be.”
Two things can be true at the same time—the Republicans have changed their views, which rightly leads to many questions about what that ticket really is committed to, and the Democratic Party is now the most radical party on abortion in American history—and certainly among the most radical in the world.
Remember, under Roe v. Wade, the United States was one of only seven countries in the world with such radical abortion laws, alongside nations like North Korea and China, allowing elective abortions after 20 weeks. This point was fact-checked by The Washington Post, no less.
Taylor added details on Walz’s extreme views:
- Removed almost all health and safety protections for women
- Removed a 24-hour waiting period
- Permitted taxpayer funding of abortion
- Repealed the state’s protection of children born alive after a failed abortion
This is part of why it is so strange to see Evangelicals for Harris, who posted, “We do not believe in abortion up until birth, neither does @KamalaHarris. We believe in common sense pro-life policies that protect life at ALL stages. From conception to grave.”
Vice President Harris may be trying to nuance that she does not believe in abortion up to the moment of birth—which I hope someone will ask about at a press conference or a debate—but for Christians to be defending any of Harris’ views on abortion is a far departure from the view that Christians have held for two millennia.
Facts really matter here. After the embarrassment of Pro-life Evangelicals for Biden, who were shocked when Biden continued his aggressive pro-choice policies, it is surprising to see Evangelicals for Harris make the same mistake.
“As pro-life leaders in the evangelical community, we publicly supported President Biden’s candidacy with the understanding that there would be engagement [with] us on the issue of abortion and particularly the Hyde Amendment,” Evangelicals for Biden wrote of President Biden. “We feel used and betrayed and have no intention of simply watching these kinds of efforts happen from the sidelines.”
Instead, the Harris-Walz ticket already has told you what it will do—adopt the most radical abortion policies in this nation’s history. For Evangelicals for Harris, they know this going in.
Serving a Greater Kingdom While Being Salt and Light
While I’m grateful for so much as an American, I must remember that Christians serve a greater kingdom than the United States. The Lord of our kingdom calls us to be salt and light in a dark and unsavory world (Matt. 5:13–16).
Speaking up for those who have no voice is part of that call.
As you consider your vote, please keep in mind those who have no voice: the unborn.
Facts matter. Calling balls and strikes matters. The Republicans have decided that pro-lifers have nowhere to go, and now hold similar views as pro-choice Democrats did a few decades ago. And the Democratic Party is among the most radical on abortion in modern history.
I don’t tell people how to vote—that’s binding the conscience in ways in which I am not comfortable, but facts are our friends. And these are the facts.
However, I will say this: The unborn deserve better, and I’ll use my vote accordingly.
I still will.
This article originally appeared here and is reposted here by permission.