Rethinking the Value of Potential

I love seeing Christians advocate for the unborn. A certain passion and earnestness generally comes through when we talk about the value of life–especially life that is so fragile and precious as a baby in the womb. Since I became a foster mother to our sweet baby girl, in some ways it has become more real to me. The reality is that if children are allowed to be born, they are born into all kinds of circumstances–some good and some bad–and none of those circumstances determine their worth. Human beings are intrinsically valuable and should be treated as such, both in the womb and through all the stages of their lives.

With that truth in mind, I’ve noticed that a common pro-life talking point needs reforming. Often we’ll hear Christians say things like, “We probably aborted the person who would have found the cure for cancer” or “You don’t know–you could be aborting the next great world leader” or “the next great artist/musician/preacher.” You get the point. Theologically, there are a couple of issues with this type of talk, but I’m going to focus in on what these statements say about the value of life.

I understand the sentiment behind these arguments, and it’s true that we have aborted over a billion human beings with untold potential. But we miss the mark if we make claims that these lives are valuable because of what they might have done or become. Saying that we may have aborted the person who could cure cancer is not necessarily wrong on its face, but the implication is that other people who were not cancer curers, who were just regular joes, or even more, those who were going to be criminals or homeless or mentally ill or living in poverty are not quite so valuable. In our world have we aborted children with the potential to be great artists, musicians, doctors, and educators? No doubt. But we have also ended the lives of children who would live in obscurity or infamy and those who would never speak a word–even those who would only live a few minutes or hours or days. Are they any less precious as God’s special creation? I hope that we can all agree the answer is no.

I would like to see Christians begin to change the way we speak about human life. Most of us are not the “next great” anything, so we would do well to remember that every single life is precious, no matter where we come from or where we’re headed. A soul cannot be measured by the weight of its contribution to our society. Rather than arguing that abortion kills the best of us, we should remind the world that no one, ever, in the history of the world, was worthless. Babies are a reflection of God’s glory. And so are children, and teenagers, and adults of all ages. Nothing we do or don’t do can overshadow this truth: as a human being, you are dear and priceless, and that will never change. This is why babies need to live. They are worth so much more than the things they will do.