There is no question that the pro-life movement took a beating on November 4. In addition to the election of Barack Obama as president, there were five other defeats on election day:

Not very good results to say the least. Those results could depress even the most ardent pro-lifer. It certainly calls into question about what went wrong and where to go from here. 

Some pro-life leaders and commentators have advocated that a change in strategy is needed.   Specifically, the new strategy should focus less on changing abortion laws through the political process and more on changing hearts.

While the frustration and disappointment of this election is understandable, we still must fight both battles – changing laws and hearts – with equal passion, fervor, valor, and dogged determination. Yes, we lost some significant battles this year, the most damaging is the election of Obama, who may become the most radical pro-abortion president in history. If he lives up to his promise and record, he will push to loosen any restriction on abortion (even the partial birth abortion ban), while appointing pro-abortion Supreme Court judges, likely sealing Roe vs. Wade for another 30+ years.  

But despite the bad news, let’s not forget some important things:

1) The political climate and mood in this past election was extremely unfavorable to pro-life causes due to other non-related issues (financial crisis, unpopularity of President Bush / GOP, the mainstream media’s love affair with Barack Obama). It is hard to imagine a more unfavorable political climate than this year.    If the mood were not so uniquely unfavorable, the results may have been different on several items on the ballot. And an Obama loss would have certainly been much more possible if the financial crisis had not occurred a month prior to the election (and remember, Obama only won by a 6% popular vote margin despite benefiting from huge aforementioned advantages and raising almost five times more money than the McCain / Palin campaign). So while this year’s results were very rough, the same may not be true for the next election—or the ones after that—when the national climate and mood will be more advantageous.   One thing is for sure—we will never win the legislative battles if we give up. Losing is tough but not playing at all is unacceptable. 

2) Changing laws and changing hearts are not mutually exclusive. As Randy Alcorn notes his book, ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments, “It is true that hearts and minds—not just laws—need to change in relation to abortion. Yet, we often underestimate the power of law to mold thought as well as action. When slavery was abolished, people gradually began to think differently.   The civil rights movement brought about further changes in law, and further changes in people’s thinking. The law is a moral guide, a tutor that helps shape the conscience of society.”

3) Speaking of slavery and civil rights, consider how long it look to change laws in those areas.   Slavery had been accepted in society since as early as 2,600 B.C. The slave trade became a lucrative European industry in the fifteenth century. Several hundred years later, in 1787, William Wilberforce, a British abolitionist leader introduced legislation in the Parliament to abolish slavery. Year after year it was defeated. In 1807, a small victory was won when the slave trade in the British colonies was abolished. The ultimate aim of abolishing slavery itself was not accomplished until 1833, when Wilberforce, while on this death- bed, was informed of the passing of the Abolition of Slavery Act.   It had been 46 years since he first introduced the Act. 

In the United States, one of Britain’s former colonies, slavery can be traced to 1619, when the first slaves were brought to Jamestown, VA. In1857, the United States Supreme Court dealt a severe blow to the abolitionist movement when it ruled in the Dred Scott case that slavery was protected by the Constitution and could not be prohibited by Congress. The ruling became one of the causes of the American Civil War, which eventually led to the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and then the enactment of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865, completely abolishing slavery.  

The end of the Civil War led to the beginning of the civil rights movement. The movement to grant equal rights and protection to blacks endured a number of losses and struggles but eventually won due to the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964—almost 100 years after slavery was abolished. 

So maintain some perspective—we may have lost some battles but not a war— far from it.   And we need to continue fighting to the end, using both arsenals, changing hearts and laws. The victory will come some day, perhaps in 10 years, perhaps 100. Until then, we must press on and fight until our last breath, just like Wilberforce and others who have gone before us.