This special issue of Sojourners is on abortion. It is overdue. The magazine staff has for several months been in a process of study and prayerful reflection, and the whole community has faced the issue more squarely than ever before. We now feel ready to begin to address this most difficult and controversial subject.
During these months we have tried to make connections between the concerns we have held dear for so long and the question of abortion. Though Sojourners has never been "for" abortion, we have not been clearly and publicly against it either. Very honestly, abortion has not been one of our priorities. Many of our readers have been ahead of us on this issue, pushing and probing with their letters and concern.
Like many, we have often been put off by the anti-abortion movement. Its attitudes toward women and the poor, combined with its positive support for militarism and capital punishment, have been deeply offensive to us and have helped keep us away from the issue of abortion. Serious contradictions, along with the insensitivity of rhetoric and tactics of many in the pro-life movement, have alienated others from their cause--just as, it must be admitted, similar problems in the peace movement have turned many away from peace.
However, the problems and shortcomings of the anti-abortion movement cannot continue to be excuses for us. Our deepest convictions about poverty, racism, violence, and the equality of men and women are finally rooted in a radical concern for life--its absolute value and the need to protect it. It was only a matter of time before the spiritual logic of these other commitments would lead us to a "pro-life" response to abortion as well.
In the process of our reflection and re-evaluation, we have noted two significant occurrences. First, some radical voices in the peace and justice movements are reaching the same pro-life conclusions about abortion. Second, we have met and had very encouraging dialogue with people who represent a whole new generation of leadership in the pro-life movement. They are mostly young men and women whose opposition to abortion is leading them also to oppose nuclear weapons and power, genetic engineering, and capital punishment. Some are now questioning the kind of global economic system that starves children after they are born and makes expendable whole classes of human beings.
There is clearly an opportunity here for a convergence of concern. The fundamental affirmation of the sanctity of human life could begin to bring together people who began at very different places and have been involved in movements that have been at odds. New relationships may develop as those working for peace and justice make necessary connections to abortion, and as those who oppose abortion extend their concern for the unborn to the other places where human life is now most threatened. For some conservative Christians, abortion has become a "threshold issue" opening the door to wider concerns. For some radical Christians, abortion is emerging as a "consistency issue" which reveals basic differences with the cultural and sexual values of the Left. There is the real possibility of some highly creative and unexpected new alignments.
The purpose of this issue of Sojourners is to demonstrate that convergence of concern. We are presenting many voices that are in the process of creating a more credible and holistic pro-life commitment.
Both Jerry Falwell and Gloria Steinem agree that to oppose abortion means to oppose equal rights for women. Both the Left and Right have linked abortion and women's rights together and made support for abortion a crucial test of support for women's liberation. In this issue of Sojourners are committed feminists who radically dispute that twisted logic and see abortion as yet another form of violence against women.
Similarly, concern for the plight of the poor and welfare families in particular has often been put forward as a justification for abortion. Contributors to this issue ask why our society is so willing to abort the children of the poor but is unwilling to establish justice and a decent life for its oppressed minorities. As with other issues which affect their lives, the poor are seldom consulted about abortion. The truth is that many poor women do not regard abortion as a real solution but as a brutal substitute for social justice and even as white society's way of controlling the population of racial minorities.
The worst use and abuse of the abortion issue has come from the so-called new Christian Right. It is increasingly clear that the energy and the moral passion fueling groups like the Moral Majority and Christian Voice come from Christians at the grassroots level who feel very deeply about abortion. Many in the anti-abortion movement feel the same grief and outrage that others earlier felt over Vietnam.
However, that energy and passion against abortion has been used to support a broad ideological agenda which incorporates political goals that have nothing to do with abortion and, in fact, are often directly contrary to the principles on which a genuinely pro-life position is based. In other words, the issue of abortion is being manipulated to serve other ends.
The political strategy of these Christian groups is being formulated by longtime Washington veterans of the extreme right wing who have not been known for their religious devotion. Their motivations have always had more to do with military and economic goals than with abortion. Their pro-military and pro-business agenda is decidedly anti-poor, anti-black, and anti-feminist, and they have directly linked the anti-abortion cause to that agenda. This fall, the "hit list" of congressional candidates targeted for defeat by the new Christian Right included some, like Senator Thomas Eagleton, who were against abortion but didn't conform to the rest of the Right's political program, while ignoring strongly pro-military candidates who consistently vote for abortion.
In its strident militarism, inherent racism, and hostility toward the poor and women's rights, the New Right betrays the heart of a movement founded on the concern for the sacred value of human life. The unholy alliance between the anti-abortion movement and the right wing must be directly challenged by those who seriously and consistently espouse a pro-life commitment. The energy of the pro-life movement must be removed from the ideological agenda of the New Right.
The staggering fact that 1.1 million abortions are performed each year in the United States makes abortion a profoundly pastoral issue. The lives of millions of women and men in this country have been personally touched by abortion. The feelings of remorse and guilt which often follow abortion are deep and more prevalent than people would like to admit. The need for healing is tremendous.
It is not a time for personal judgment and recrimination. It is a time for loving dialogue, understanding, and most of all, for forgiveness. In seeking after the truth and striving after consistency in this issue, we come quickly face to face with the need for reconciliation. Our hope is that this special issue can be a small part of that process.
Jim Wallis is the editor-in-chief of Sojourners.
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