Pray for unity in prayer for the lives of the unborn.

“Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.” (Eccl 11:5)

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Editor’s Note: This article is excerpted from The Washington Post, a publication hostile to pro-life beliefs and values. We include it here because it illustrates how radically different we, as Christians, are from the world. Their reporting on a meeting of pro-life leaders about what it means to be pro-life helps us pray strategically for this critical issue. Also, IFA has recently published two devotionals on life issues that address the very question: what is pro-life! You will be touched and encouraged by spending a bit of time daily for 10 days (each series is 5 days) reading, reflecting, and praying about what God is showing His servants about His heart for life. Sign up HERE.

“It’s a seemingly triumphant moment to be an abortion opponent. President Trump has filled his administration with antiabortion conservatives, GOP majorities in Congress are friendly to the cause and states across the country are cracking down on abortion wherever possible.

Today, the Senate has teed up a bill banning abortion about midway through pregnancy, based on the idea that a fetus can feel pain. While Senate Democrats are certain to block it, the measure has been passed multiple times by the House and represents the biggest federal legislative push by abortion foes in recent years….

This question was the subject of heated debate at a private Jan. 17 meeting convened by antiabortion leaders as part of several events leading up to the annual March for Life abortion protest, where attendees grappled over their core mission and even over how to define the term “pro-life.” …

Others argued “pro-life” should be interpreted more broadly as helping people flourish at every stage of life, including until natural death, through supporting policies or programs that help low-income individuals access health care, food assistance or job training or even by taking a softer line toward undocumented immigrants.…

Many of the students her group is trying to reach are politically liberal and find many of Trump’s policies distasteful. Hawkins says the more she can detach the abortion issue from GOP politics, the better chance of winning over these students. She doesn’t even use the terms “pro-life” or “pro-choice” anymore in talking to students because they either haven’t heard those terms or find them too politically charged.

“Expanding [the definition] limits the number of people we can get to agree with us on this issue,” Hawkins said, adding that “it was really interesting to see the people in the room who balked” at her suggestion to keep the use of “pro-life” narrow….

“If he is a good pro-life believer, he must understand that family is the cradle of life and one must defend its unity,” Francis told reporters in September.

Roland Warren, president of the chain of CareNet pregnancy centers, was also at the strategy meeting of antiabortion activists. He’s among those who believe “pro-life” should mean a lot more than just eliminating abortion. Making abortion illegal shouldn’t be the end goal but instead a “tactic” to help people live “abundant” lives, he said.

CareNet centers advise women to continue their pregnancies but then help provide them with resources to care for their babies. Warren, who is African American, says making abortion illegal but then not assisting parents to care for their children is like making slavery illegal but not bringing equal rights and resources to black people….

Another big reason for divisions in the antiabortion crowd is the lack of a clear leader in contrast to the abortion rights movement, where Planned Parenthood has risen to prominence. Its leader, Cecile Richards, announced last week she’ll be stepping down after more than a decade.

“A lot of people would be in agreement with this idea that Planned Parenthood is a leader in their field, and it’s not clear who the pro-life leader is,” Brownback said….

Yet whatever weaknesses plague the antiabortion movement probably won’t get in the way of more actions by the Trump administration to craft policies deeply pleasing to conservatives, not just on abortion but on religious freedom issues as well (I detailed the actions the administration has already taken in this Health 202).

Activists’ internal angst certainly wasn’t apparent at the March for Life, where attendees clapped and cheered as Vice President Pence introduced Trump as “the most pro-life president in American history.”

“Can we just thank God for giving us a pro-life president back in the White House?” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said. (Excerpts from Paige Winfield Cunningham’s article in The Washington Post)