When I think about people following their concerns and burdens for the culture and finding their place in our movement – I think of my friend Teresa Strack. She knew that people were struggling to answer simple questions related to the pro-life issue, so she stepped up to help.

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Here was the problem she was attempting to solve several years ago.

Answering the Hard Questions

Have you ever been asked why you believe in the value of human life at every stage of development, but didn’t know what to say? You’re not alone.

There is a desperate need for resources to equip pro-life believers to respond to the challenges we face in our everyday conversations with family, friends, and others. While we care about the pro-life policies of our nation, we also need help to have better conversations with those near us, because cultures change one conversation at a time.

Teresa Strack at LifeFirst in Magnolia, Texas, answered the call to do what she could to fill that void. She has been a longtime advocate for equipping pro-life believers with clear, concise answers for our interactions about the sanctity of life and created LifeFirst’s Pro-Life Answers 101 resource as a tool for every Christian.

I would encourage you to save it as a favorite on your phone and if you are in a conversation anywhere, anytime, with anyone, and you don’t know what to say you can simply open the Pro-life Answers 101 page and you will have a concise, respectful answer at your fingertips. The next time you’re asked a pro-life question, just hit the link!

Here are two examples of things people say to get you to stop talking about the LIFE issue and how you can respond.

They say, “If you don’t like an abortion, don’t get one.”

Answer: The business of protecting innocent human beings’ lives is everyone’s business. Injustice survives when people stay silently on the sidelines. At conception, a new, unique human being begins life. We all began that way. From that point, nothing genetically will be added – only time and nourishment is needed. So scientifically, that unborn human is as fully human as you and me, and as deserving of the Right to Life which is guaranteed in our Constitution.

They say – “When life begins is subjective.”

Answer: Actually, there is almost universal consensus among biologists that human life begins at conception. In a landmark study in 2019 Steve Jacobs “emailed surveys to professors in the biology departments of over 1,000 institutions around the world.” Jacobs wrote, “I found that 5,337 biologists (96%) affirmed that a human’s life begins at fertilization…”

Please also consider this quote from Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth, Harvard University Medical School: “…It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception…Our laws, one function of which is to help preserve the lives of our people, should be based on accurate scientific data.”

The responses that LifeFirst lays out are respectful, accurate, and concise. Perfect for quick sharing or using in your discussions with others.

Other key questions and issues LifeFirst answers include, “A fetus is not a person,” “What about rape?”, “Right to Life doesn’t include the unborn”, “Pro-life laws oppress women”, “Fetal anomalies”, and perhaps the most atrocious claim that, “Abortion is healthcare.”

An Example How One Person Can Shift Hearts and Minds

LifeFirst, and what Teresa Strack has done, is a perfect example of what a local outreach focused on the grassroots work of impacting individual hearts and minds can produce. We want to see an attitude shift back toward respecting the sanctity of human life. This work is essential because it is attitudes toward this subject that drive individual decisions, and those stories ungird our laws and judicial rulings.

Voting Matters

Then we have the next step. To continue supporting pro-life policies at the state and national level, we all have another important role – the privilege and responsibility to participate in our nation’s elections.

Much good news can be celebrated in our nation for the lives of children in the womb in recent years. The 2022 Supreme Court decision returning abortion laws to the state level has led to many states limiting abortions in ways that have saved thousands of lives.

One year after the court’s decision, fourteen states implemented near-total abortion bans. However, other states expanded abortion access, with some becoming “abortion sanctuary” states. Pro-abortion constitutional amendments have now been approved by voters in ten states – including in what were thought to be pro-life states. There are now only twelve states with near-total bans. Imagine what would have happened if more Christians had voted in those referendums. Unfortunately, some surveys show that only one in three Christians regularly vote in elections.

Chemical abortions, or abortion by pills (mainly mifepristone), now account for over half of the nation’s abortions. Yet many Christians know little about this horrific practice, while some politicians who claim to be pro-life refuse to push back to stop the use of abortion pills.

The Battle is Far from Over

Let me just say here – the battle for life is far from over!

Every prayer, every conversation, and every vote matters, so we set out to solve that problem. We saw a need and filled it – tracking every election in the nation and pushing out Christians to vote – teaching them the Bible as they go.

At Christians Engaged, we are committed to mobilizing Christians to take the pledge to pray, vote, and engage and through Family Policy Alliance, our parent ministry – we mobilize Christians to help impact policy on the sanctity of human life, protecting families and children, and religious liberty.

If Christians retreat from the call to be involved in our culture, our nation will continue to stray away from God’s timeless truths and principles. “Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep…” (Romans 13:11).

What if every Christian found their place in the nation using their talents for the glory of God and solving problems like Teresa? Her creating these LifeFirst’s Pro-life Answers 101 is making an impact on her local community and her state. She is an example for us all to do our part.

What if every Christian voted for pro-life candidates at every level of government in every election every time? We would see more policies affected by the right personnel.

We see the problems all around us in the culture. Let’s start asking God for wisdom and attempt to solve them. It is about being obedient with our one thing – like Teresa.

Did this article stir something in you? If so, share with us in the comments!

Bunni Pounds is the president and founder of Christians Engaged, a ministry activating the Body of Christ to pray, vote, and engage regularly. She is the host of Conversations With Christians Engaged and Jesus for America and is the author of Jesus and Politics: One Woman’s Walk with God in a Mudslinging Profession. Bunni Pounds is also a senior vice president for the Family Policy Alliance and the Family Policy Alliance Foundation. Started by Dr. James Dobson in 2004, FPA hosts 39 state family policy councils around the nation as together they defend faith and protect families by organizing, educating and mobilizing the social conservative movement in America. Photo Credit: Tessa Rampersad on Unsplash.