"How a society treats pregnant women is a metaphor for a how society raises its children." - Ibram Kendi, How To Be An Anti-Racist
As we're seeing new, draconian, anti-abortion laws take effect two weeks into the new year, I'm noticing a bunch of criminally stupid, self-congratulatory "we did it" posts from Christians online that end with something to this effect:
"Now that we have banned abortion and restored our values, please consider donating to a crisis pregnancy center."
The part of my heart that easily registers disgust would like nothing more than for me to strike out at them; to offer seething, sanguinary sentiments regarding the sheer lunacy of such an asinine idea. As tempting as that might be, I think I'll just weigh in with this:
I've got news for you, you nefarious hypocrites: It's too late. Nevermind all the women up to this point who have already had abortions for purely economic reasons. Nevermind all those who had abortions solely because they lacked any sort of real community and system to support them.
There are abortion bans going into effect *right now* all across the country, and your suggestion is to "donate some used blankets to a crisis pregnancy center?" That's it? Seriously? That's what you think will be required of you in order to stem the tide of bloodshed from back alley and bath tub abortions?
You fought tooth and nail, practically put your life on the line, against healthcare for pregnant women. You called preschool programs "socialism" and therefore decried them as evil. You railed against EBT and the EITC and every method by which the poor, the disadvantaged and the marginalized might be able to get a leg up and find their footing. You sneered at single mothers, dismantled any hope of affordable housing and ripped money from public schools. You're not a Christian, you're a philistine pillager. You have looted and destroyed all the ways and means by which poor people can afford to raise healthy children. You've done nearly everything in your power to make pregnancy a frightening, dangerous affair for millions of people in this country, and now, you think a few fucking blankets will be enough to make up for it? A one time donation to a crisis center will absolve you of all the times and the ways you have oppressed the unborn by oppressing their mothers? You've done nothing, absolutely nothing, but oppress the very people you claim to want to save, and now you want to congratulate yourself for "stepping up" by offering your measly pocket change as an afterthought?
What a damned country. What a hateful, wicked people.
As a Christian, your witness to the world cannot simply be that you're opposed to the slightest deviation from biblical literalism, or that you diminish or attempt to erase the existence of any and all things that discomfort you, even risking the harm and safety of human beings in the process.
If you want to be a Christian, if you want the teachings of the Christ to reverberate through the land, then let your courage break through. Look into your heart and let it speak. Let your hands feed the hungry and let your words be a balm for the wounded. Let your testimony and your witness be that you will not bend to empire, that you will not abandon those who are hurting and suffering in your midst. Let your heart love fiercely and affirm the imago dei in every single person you encounter. They are all worthy of love and protection. They are all worthy of owning their own bodies. They are all our Mother.
