The Widening Chasm
A recent Gallup poll 1shows a record-high gender gap on the morality of abortion. Its contents report that a growing number of women believe that abortion is acceptable (57%) while a smaller number of men agree (40%).
The article pointing to the study errs in its claim that abortion has been outlawed in several states (abortion remains legal nationwide).
The survey also showed a sharp contrast in support for abortion in any, or most circumstances between Democrats (81%), Independents (51%), and Republicans (20%).
It is not surprising that those who most ardently support the murder of the unborn are women who vote Democrat.
However, is there more that accounts for the growing gap between women and men?
I believe a major factor is the kind of toxic empathy typically associated with the strategies of the progressive left.
Counterfeit Compassion: How the Culture Manipulates Emotion to Justify Murder
The victim culture of oppressed groups fighting for “equal rights” underlies much of their political rhetoric. In the case of abortion, women have been indoctrinated to believe that killing their children in the womb is a civil right and that any effort to deny this fundamental freedom is considered unloving.
Abortion is framed as an act of care, self-preservation, and empowerment.
The culture appeals to trauma, hardship, and economic struggles as circumstances that drive women to an act of necessity.
Painful stories like rape, miscarriage and a mother’s life being in jeopardy are employed to override right reasoning.
This faux compassion is widespread and touches many topics in broader society today. It goes like this: “unless you affirm me and my feelings based narrative then you hate me and want to oppress me.”
Truth becomes irrelevant. What counts is that you agree with them even if what they believe disagrees with God.
“If you loved me you would let me kill my child with immunity and impunity.”
The moral lines around abortion have been redrawn, centering on emotion rather than objective truth.
This form of toxic empathy has been weaponized against the church to emotionally direct them into supporting causes that God says he hates.
For decades, the church has shifted in its rhetoric toward “non-judgmental” support for abortion choices, and several “Christian pro-choice” movements have arisen that twist the Scriptures to justify support for the practice of child sacrifice.
Feminism, Progressivism, and the Conservative Blind Spot
But what conservative Christians may not realize is that this ploy goes both ways.
Feminism and progressivism are not just problems on the Left.
It’s a problem for us too. Egalitarian insanity is in our politics, our churches, and our pro-life organizations.
Many, if not all, of the national and local pro-life groups are led by women, who are cited as the face and driving force of the movement.
It must be recognized that these same organizations oppose legislation that would seek to outlaw the act of abortion for all responsible parties, due to the belief that mothers who procure abortions are victims.
Like the Left, they claim to support a compassionate policy that doesn’t “criminalize mothers,” effectively denying the same legal protections they enjoy to babies in the womb.
What is this if not the same form of sinful empathy pointed in the other direction? The only difference is the name it bears. But the substance remains the same:
“If you love these women, then you will never hold them accountable for murdering their children in the womb.”
Subtle Sabotage
We must recognize these pernicious ideologies for what they are: attempts to sabotage our institutional leadership into appeasing enemies of life.
They may not be as obvious as the Left. Still, the most effective forms of deception are often subtle, coming to us disguised as Christian compassion and presented by the very people we trust to prioritize our interests.
It does us no good to expose the tactics of our opponents while failing to hold those who are supposed to be on our side accountable to the same standard.
Toxic empathy must be rejected in all its forms, especially when the lives of the most defenseless are at stake.
Abortion is alive and well because of counterfeit compassion. If we hope to uphold the sanctity of life in a culture of death, we must define love by the truth.
The Call for Men to Lead with Clarity and Courage
The truth is that no woman is free to kill her child. She ought not to be free before the law to murder because she is not free before God, who will call her to account.
This kind of clarity is desperately needed to protect lives and souls. Men who “disagree” with abortion must do far more than express dissent.
Fathers must lead. Pastors must proclaim. Civic officials must restore protections for all life.
Men must have the fear of the Lord as their ultimate commitment. Their minds must be clear, their souls must be stable, and they must demonstrate a readiness to act in the face of bloodthirsty mobs that demand appeasement.
And they should be ready to do so while laughing louder than their enemies.
- https://www.christianpost.com/news/record-gap-between-genders-on-if-abortion-is-morally-acceptable.html ↩︎
