THE IMAGE VS IDENTITY:

When the Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs decision in late June, Christians of various traditions began to reflect on the incredible amount of work that had led up to this historic moment. Thousands of pregnancy centers throughout the United States and many pro-life organizations deserve our praise. Countless individuals over the past fifty years have worked tirelessly toward securing the right to life for the unborn--many of whom will only be fully recognized in eternity for their influential roles. Yet, there is one man in particular who made so much of this possible. 

Francis Schaeffer is very much the "father" of the pro-life movement among protestants. Without his work and influence, Dobbs may never have come to pass. Garry Wills, in his book Under God, rightly notes that regarding the increase in pro-life activism, "One man deserves more credit than anyone else--Francis Schaeffer." It was Schaeffer who developed the vision and framework for the pro-life movement as we understand it today. And yet, he was the exception during the early post-Roe years. Shortly after Roe was decided, former SBC president and pastor W. A. Criswell "felt that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person." Evangelicals in the middle of the last century were largely unconcerned about the atrocities of abortion, and were ambivalent toward activism on the matter. Advocacy for the unborn was deemed a "Catholic issue," unimportant to many protestants.

Not to Francis Schaeffer.

Because human beings are made in the image of God, they possess inherent dignity. This principle influenced Schaeffer's apologetics as much as it did his public theology. He embodied this doctrine in the way he conversed with skeptics and cared for the most vulnerable. He believed each and every individual--regardless of their age, status, race, nationality--had immeasurable worth as a human being.

Because of this, Schaeffer challenged the heinous practice of abortion, which he regarded as an assault on the imago Dei. Without the imago Dei, he argued, human life is cheapened and lacks value, leading to an increase not only in abortion, but also in infanticide, euthanasia, child abuse, pornography, torture, crime, and violence. Schaeffer understood that abortion did not operate in isolation; it opened the doorway to other evils.

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