If life matters, so do the midterm elections

The midterm elections are coming up, and once again the sanctity of life and abortion are on the ballot.The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision of 2022 may have overturned Roe v. Wade, but it only intensified the abortion battle.While policy questions surrounding abortion are continually being decided, many who believe in the sanctity of human life consciously decide to stay out of politics. This lack of involvement may seem pure to the cause. However, when questions about protecting life are before voters, lawmakers, and courts, this lack of involvement does nothing to defend and protect the most vulnerable.Recently, a federal judge paused a lawsuit brought by Texas and Florida seeking to revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone. The pause extends until Dec. 1, after the midterm elections, or completion of the FDA’s safety review.At the same time, Senate Republicans’ investigation has raised questions about oversight and prescribing practices surrounding abortion pills, including whether existing safeguards adequately ensure a true provider-patient relationship.As people of faith, we should be careful not to confuse political victories with the work of God. However, while politics can be an exhausting sport of discernment, we cannot neglect our civic responsibility to vote when it truly affects the lives of both vulnerable women and children.The laws that policymakers decide upon determine real-world conditions for real people. If you believe human life has inherent dignity, then you have a reason to care about the policies that govern it. Our convictions about human dignity have to inform how we participate in public life.This conviction shouldn’t suddenly disappear after birth. Our attention must not only be on the unborn or women facing difficult pregnancies, but on all vulnerable children who depend on adults and institutions to protect them.The question isn’t whether the government can solve every problem facing children. It is whether the people we elect will shape policies that make it easier or harder to protect and serve them.Faith-based organizations and families play a significant role in child welfare, which means that religious liberty isn’t simply a theoretical constitutional debate. In my experience as president and executive director of Lifeline Children’s Services, I have seen firsthand how policies governing who can participate in child welfare directly affect the pool of families and organizations available to serve children.When qualified people are excluded from serving children because of their religious convictions, the children who need stability are the ones who suffer.Children in foster care are already among the most vulnerable children in the country. They often enter care after experiencing instability, abuse, neglect, or family disruption. Child-welfare policy should prioritize stability, parental involvement, safety, and the long-term interests of the child, not affirming a vulnerable child in a gender identity that is often inspired by trauma rather than truth.The people elected this November will influence important legislation, agency oversight, judicial appointments, state policies, regulations affecting abortifacients, policies affecting faith-based child-welfare providers, and policies governing children in foster care.While the end of the midterm elections won’t silence the political news cycle or end the abortion debate, people of faith should be motivated by faithful participation. Through these elections, God gives us an opportunity to exercise responsibility in a government that will make significant decisions for image bearers of God across our nation.Being pro-life doesn’t mean everyone will agree on every candidate. It doesn’t mean you should outsource moral discernment to a political party. It doesn’t mean political leaders are the solution to every social problem.We should examine candidates’ actual records, positions, and proposed policies. Disagreement shouldn’t become disengagement. Political independence and political apathy are not the same thing. You don’t have to believe politics will save us to believe that political choices matter.Vote every time you have the opportunity, because the pro-life movement needs your engagement.The legal question hasn’t disappeared. The abortion-pill regulatory debate hasn’t disappeared. The questions surrounding religious liberty and child welfare haven’t disappeared. The needs of vulnerable children haven’t disappeared.Therefore, neither should civic engagement.OUR SAVIOR IS JEWISH. WHY ARE SO MANY CHRISTIAN LEADERS STAYING SILENT?If we believe human life has inherent dignity, that belief should follow us into the voting booth.We don’t vote because we believe politics will save us. We vote because the people affected by these decisions matter.Herbie Newell is the president of Lifeline Children’s Services, the largest Evangelical Christian adoption agency in the United States. The organization serves vulnerable children and families through private domestic and international adoption, family restoration, and pregnancy counseling. Herbie is also the author of Image Bearers: Shifting from Pro-Birth to Pro-Life.