In the abortion abolition debate, justice and mercy don't have to clash

Justice and mercy are not opposites. When abortion laws threaten prison for women, they miss the real perpetrators and they miss the Gospel. Christians should defend unborn children without treating frightened women as the enemy.

Abortion ends a human life. Christians should say that clearly, and they should work until abortion is unthinkable and unlawful. At the same time, good law places accountability where power, profit, and coercion sit. A woman often stands at the end of a chain of pressure, fear, and deception.

Women in crisis describe the same pressures again and again. Ultimatums from the father of the child. Threats of violence, eviction, or abandonment. Family shame and isolation. Pressure from employers. Control from traffickers and abusers. Even when a woman signs a form, the decision often unfolds under force or manipulation.

Research supports what front-line workers see. A major review of pregnancy coercion found reported rates ranging from 1 percent to 19%, depending on setting and definitions. That range reflects threats, control, and interference in pregnancy decisions.

Scripture holds justice and mercy together. God calls His people to do justice and love mercy (Micah 6:8). God calls leaders to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. Proverbs 31:8. God defines true religion as care for the vulnerable (James 1:27). Jesus confronted sin without joining a mob hungry for punishment (John 8:10-11). Christians who fight abortion should hold the same posture. Protect the child. Confront the evil. Refuse a posture that treats a woman as disposable.

That posture also fits sound public policy. In most crimes tied to exploitation, the law targets the people who create, sell, and profit from the harm. It does not treat the exploited person as the main criminal. Drug networks illustrate the point. Law enforcement aims at manufacturers, traffickers, dealers, and pill mills. Trafficking laws also aim at traffickers and buyers, not at the person under control.

Pregnancy is not the crime. The crime is the act that ends a child’s life, and the commerce that enables it. The targets for penalties should include the abortionist who performs the act, the prescriber and dispenser who enable it, the manufacturers and distributors who supply the drugs for abortion, and the online sellers and facilitators who market and deliver them. Men and institutions that coerce abortion should face penalties as well.

Some Christians worry about incremental reform. They fear that step-by-step progress signals compromise. It does not. Abolition remains the goal. Incremental steps serve as the path.

A first priority is confronting the driver of abortion that is hardest to regulate and easiest to scale, the abortion pill. Guttmacher reports medication abortion accounted for 63% of U.S. abortions in 2023.

Mail-order abortion turns a life-and-death decision into a shipping transaction. The FDA states that mifepristone is available through a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy program, and that certified pharmacies dispense it in person or by mail. Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration, mifepristone information page.

Reporting on this regulatory shift notes that the FDA stopped enforcing the in-person dispensing requirement in 2021 and removed it in 2023.

Christians should not accept a system where abortion drugs travel through the mail with little verification of gestational age, incomplete screening for ectopic pregnancy risk, and weak follow-up care. Those gaps harm women and they end children’s lives. A pro-life strategy should press for stronger safeguards, stronger enforcement against illegal distribution, and stronger accountability for the sellers.

A serious pro-life legal framework follows a clear sequence.

First, place criminal penalties on providers and sellers who perform abortions or distribute abortion drugs in violation of state law.

Second, treat illegal abortion drug distribution as a serious trafficking offense, with penalties for manufacturers, distributors, brokers, and those who profit from the sales.

Third, strengthen enforcement against coercion, including penalties for partners, traffickers, and others who threaten, pressure, or force a woman toward abortion.

Fourth, expand real support so women see a future that includes their child, including housing stability, material help, parenting support, and church-based care.

Fifth, fund post-abortion recovery work and promote it widely, because trauma and shame often persist for years.

The pro-life movement also needs honesty about its own blind spots. Many abolition arguments live in legal theory and punishment models. Women often meet abortion as a crisis, not an ideology. They sit with fear, coercion, risk, and grief. When activists dismiss pregnancy centers and post-abortion healing as weak or compromised, they push away the people closest to abortion’s human cost.

The gender pattern that many people notice deserves attention. Men should lead with courage, and they should also lead with repentance. Male sexual irresponsibility, abandonment, pornography, and coercion form a pipeline into abortion. A culture that excuses male abandonment fuels the crisis. A pro-life ethic that ignores that reality is incomplete.

Christians should aim for abolition with moral coherence. Accountability for perpetrators. Protection for children. Mercy for women who have been used, pressured, or misled. Justice and mercy are not opposites. They belong together.

If the pro-life movement wants laws that last and save lives, it should pursue reforms that match truth and lived reality. Make abortion illegal to perform. Make abortion drugs illegal to sell for the purpose of ending a pregnancy where state law prohibits it. Build enforcement that targets the industry and the coercers. Surround women with support and with the hope of Christ.

Protect the innocent. Confront the profiteers. Heal the wounded. That is the path to abolition.