How do we “pray to end abortion?” There are very specific contours to this multi-faceted
intention, and in this sixth and final part of this series, we continue to explore what they
are.
Among those for whom we pray are the abortionist and his or her staff, the people
actually carrying out the killing. These people are under terrible deceit and under terrible
distress. They are so devastated themselves and conflicted and harmed and wounded by
the acts of killing that they are carrying out. We have to pray that the light breaks through
that darkness, that the truth breaks through that denial, and that they repent and cease
their actions of killing. Pray for the abortionists.
And then we pray for those who are reaching out to that child. There are often sidewalk
counselors. There are pregnancy centers working day and night to reach abortion-minded
moms and dads before they even get to that abortion facility. Praying for an end to
abortion means praying for the entire pro-life effort: pregnancy centers, pro-life
educational groups, and the wide variety of people in the movement who are advocating
and trying to save these lives. Praying for an end to abortion means praying for all these
people.
What it also means is praying for our lawmakers. Abortion happens not only because of
despair in the heart of that mom and/or dad, or grandparents; it happens because of a fault
in our legal system where just laws have been replaced by unjust laws, which are acts of
violence. Saint John Paul II said this is the death of freedom. It’s only a caricature of
democracy and legality. It is the introduction of a tyrant state where the weak are no
longer protected from the strong. And the disintegration of the state, itself, has begun
when abortion is permitted (see Evangelium Vitae n.20).
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This, too, is what we pray against when we pray to end abortion. We pray against this
disintegration of the state, this caricature of democracy, which comes when policies are
put in place that permit the killing of these children in the womb. And who has to repent
here? Who has to be changed? First of all, the lawmakers, themselves, that they recognize
that the first purpose of law is the protection of rights over which they, themselves, do not
have any authority.
I was privileged to preach to members of Congress on the day that they voted for
Obamacare back in 2010. They had a Sunday worship service right there inside the
Capitol building. And I said to the lawmakers gathered that day, “You are ministers of
God, also. Scripture in the letter of the Romans calls you ministers of God because
you’re servants of God and his people. He bestows the right to life. You don’t bestow it
and you don’t certainly take it away. You serve it. And that’s what law is meant to do, to
secure our rights as our Declaration of Independence says very clearly.”
So praying for an end to abortion means praying for enlightenment and strength on the
part of the legislators.
We need public servants who know the difference between serving the public and killing
the public. This is their first duty. Praying for an end to abortion means praying for
repentance on the part of those politicians and those political parties and platforms that in
some way would allow the killing of children by abortion. We pray that court decisions
be reversed. We pray for judges. We pray for executives. We pray for people like our
pro-life president, that they continue to be strong in their prolife commitment and that
they sign the right types of legislation that will bring an end to abortion and appoint the
right kind of judges who will uphold the laws against abortion.
We pray that they continue to bear witness in their public life, because this is not just a
private matter. They bear witness in their public life that, indeed, these children are to be
protected.
Finally we also pray for the healing of all those who are wounded by abortion. God wants
them to have that healing, and we do too. Moreover, their healing helps to bring an end to
abortion. Half of the abortions that occur in America are repeat abortions. Half of the
women going into abortion clinics have gone at once before. And it is precisely the
wound of that previous abortion that increases the temptation to abort again. The sooner,
therefore, that they find healing, the less likely it is that a future child of theirs is going to
be killed. So we pray for the healing of the moms, dads, grandparents, friends, family
members, abortionists, all the people I mentioned before who may have been complicit in
an abortion.
No problem in our society right now is more urgent in the heart of God than abortion.
Praying to end abortion is a form of prayer that we can be sure he will hear. To find
specific prayers that you can use on all occasions to beg God to end this holocaust, go to
www.ProLifePrayers.com.
