Sanctity of Life

Since the Supreme Court legalized abortion throughout the nation in 1973, abortion has remained one of the most enduring and emotionally charged issues in American public life. Since the landmark Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton rulings, there have been over 45 million abortions in the United States. In addition, there are tens of millions that occur worldwide each year, most of which are for non-medical reasons. According to the Guttmacher Institute, American babies currently stand a one-in-five chance of being aborted. Churches continue to struggle with the enormity of this challenge in a manner that is consistent with Christianity’s historic compassion for mother, child, and all other persons involved in challenging pregnancies. 

IRD encourages churches to work to affirm the inherent, God-given dignity of all human life.  IRD provides accountability by informing grassroots church members when their names and offering plate money are used by denominational officials to oppose this bedrock principle of Christian morality, such as through lobbying in defense of partial-birth infanticides. We also similarly monitor the response of Christian denominations to such related issues as physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research, and the cloning of human embryos for research or profit.