The ‘win-win’ efforts of the early church by Brian Denker
What did the early church do to combat abortion? They had little political recourse and few ways to influence the laws of the land. During times of persecution (and they were many) it would have been impossible to launch large scale publicity campaigns to sway public sentiment against abortion. Few early Christians held prominent political or military positions. So what option did they have to defend the lives of unwanted babies.
Though abortion was practiced during the time of the early church1, the solution of choice for many ‘unwanted’ pregnancies was infanticide by means of a practice often referred to as ‘exposure’. Unwanted newborns were left alone, usually outside in an inconspicuous place, so that exposure to the elements would end their lives. Such a barbaric solution seems unthinkable to (most) modern minds, but it was a common practice in the ancient Roman empire.2
The question emerges how the early church was able to ‘speak out’ against this animalistic practice?
Lacking political, military, and financial means to effect large-scale change they instead chose to combat the problem by rescuing abandoned newborns and taking them home to raise them as their own.3 The early church developed a reputation for being those in society who would come behind others who practiced infanticide by exposure and save the unwanted babies from the elements and wild animals.4 Such a habit surely cost them dearly, but they were willing to be people who would pay the price. They loved not in word only but also in deed.
Perhaps the most profound result of this practice, besides the preservation of the living image of God in each discarded human life, was the reputation the Christians achieved with those outside the church.5 The pro-life followers of Christ were able, in this one action, to accomplish several things. They valued and saved human lives, but they also demonstrated the love of Christ and His willingness to suffer and sacrifice for the good of others. This ‘win-win’ approach was followed in later centuries as the church of the middle-ages became Europe’s primary institution for the care of the sick and the raising of orphans.
The modern Christian pro-life movement can learn a great deal from the sacrifices of these early Christians. We must be willing to participate in sacrificial living that, while perhaps being inconvenient, is also prophetic in demonstrating the love of Christ through actions that not only prevent abortions but also provide solutions for those who would be most affected.
1Michael J. Gorman, Abortion and the Early Church (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1982), 27.
2 The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford: Oxford Press, 1997), s.w. “contraception, procreation, and abortion, ethics of.”
3 Brad Kierkegaard, “Placing the Early Christian Family in Its Roman Context,” Journal of Lutheran Ethics 9(February 2009).
4 Edmund H. Oliver, The Social Achievements of the Christian Church, reprint (Vancouver, BC: Regent College Pub., 2004), 31.
5 ibid., 32.
