The Matter of Life: science, reason call for protecting the unborn

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, expected to be announced before the court recesses in late June, is the most highly anticipated abortion ruling in recent years. The pro-life movement may be on the verge of a major legal victory. Winning the hearts and minds of the American people, however, is yet another challenge.

The Matter of Life, a new documentary in theaters for two nights only May 16-17, powerfully presents the arguments in the abortion debate and demonstrates how science and reason support the protection of human life from its very beginning in the womb. The film effectively counters the argument that the pro-life position stems strictly from religious conviction and therefore has no place in public policy. It’s almost a minicourse in pro-life apologetics, offering persuasive arguments without resorting to Scripture or doctrine.

The film also surveys the history of how we got into this mess: how, in the wake of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the men seeking to profit from abortion persuaded women’s-rights feminists to take up the abortion mantle and flooded the nation with the kind of lies and false statistics that grew popular support for the “choice” to “terminate a pregnancy.”

Yet Christians come under scrutiny as well. Are we doing enough for women in crisis pregnancies, or are we too judgmental?

“We’ve got to overrule Roe v. Wade in our own pews,” says Roland Warren, president and CEO of CareNet, a network for crisis pregnancy assistance. “If a woman wakes up Sunday morning, takes a pregnancy test, and it’s positive — and its not good news — exactly who is she supposed to speak to in your church? She’s got to know that her church is not going to treat her like the Pharisees tried to treat the woman caught in adultery. She has to know that her church is going to treat her the way Jesus did.”

It’s a question worth asking. If Roe v. Wade does fall, we will have many more mothers and babies coming to us for love and support. And that’s a good thing.

GERALD KORSON is a Legatus magazine editorial consultant and staff writer.