The Old Testament is silent on the abortion issue, and Jesus Christ never mentioned it, but that doesn’t stop evangelicals from pushing the false narrative that the church has always considered it a sin in the sight of God.

When Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973, Roman Catholics stood alone in Christendom in their crusade to overturn the landmark Supreme Court decision granting women sovereignty over their own bodies.

Protestants (including evangelicals), and Jews (including Orthodox Jews) hardly considered Roe v. Wade an existential threat to their respective religions. It wasn’t until the late 1970’s that evangelicals the likes of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Chuck Colson joined forces with Catholics to use abortion as a wedge issue to advance their religious and political objectives.

Evangelicals may believe that salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ alone, but if an evangelical holds a pro-choice position, he/she is considered a heretic who isn’t really saved.

Evangelicals should welcome pro-choice believers into their tent, they shouldn’t allow an issue that isn’t central to the faith divide them. And they certainly shouldn’t demonize pro-choice Christians by referring to them as pro-abortion, nobody is pro-abortion. Pro-choice doesn’t mean pro-abortion, it means pro letting a woman make critical choices about her body and her health. There are critical issues facing evangelicals and society at large: climate change, COVID, contamination of the Gospel message by mixing it with politics and the rise of anti-democratic movements at home and abroad. Abortion isn’t one of them.