Should pro-life Christians vote for Trump?
Americans take their blessings for granted, including the blessings of pro-life presidential candidates.
Most anti-abortion Christians don’t know that until this week, America has been the only major country in the West that has consistently offered pro-life politicians in federal elections. Since public support for abortion is higher in other Western nations, abortion isn’t a major political issue in the West, except in America (and Ireland).
As a Canadian pro-life advocate who recently moved to America, I don’t take inadequate pro-life politicians for granted. As anti-abortion voters have learned, you don’t know what you have till it’s gone.
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Recently Donald Trump said he wouldn’t sign a federal abortion ban. He said laws on abortion should be decided by states. Yet when Arizona’s Supreme Court decided to reinstate a law that bans nearly all surgical abortions, Trump said “They went too far” and “it will be straightened out.”
Trump has betrayed pre-born babies, pro-life voters, and the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution says:
“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Therefore abortion isn’t a state’s rights issue, it’s a federal issue. The right to life is a universal right, not a local privilege. Nothing less than a federal abortion ban, with no exceptions, is sufficient.
Trump’s latest position on abortion is especially disappointing because his policies on abortion are the reason why many evangelicals were eager to re-elect him. So now that Trump is essentially pro-abortion, what should evangelicals do? Should pro-life Christians vote for Trump?
In their arrogance, many Christians are attempting to bind the consciences of other believers. According to some Christians, people who refuse to vote for Trump are not real conservatives. And according to others, people who vote for Trump are not sincere Christians.
Though they claim otherwise, their words are influenced by subjective reasoning, not Scripture. The Bible doesn’t say you should vote for Trump and it doesn’t say you shouldn’t vote for him. You have Christian liberty over whether you vote for Trump or abstain from voting.
Don’t let anyone pressure you into voting for Trump. You’re not obligated to vote for the lesser evil. If you believe you would be sinning if you vote for Trump, don’t vote for him. If you believe you would be supporting evil by voting for him, then don’t. Do not go against your conscience (Romans 14:23).
However, if you want to vote for the lesser evil — you wouldn’t be sinning. That is what Christians in other Western nations have been forced to do for decades.
Canada’s Conservative Party leader, Pierre Poilievre, became popular with conservatives in America after his viral exchange with a journalist while he was eating an apple. But what Americans don’t know is, he’s more pro-abortion than Donald Trump.
Canada is the only nation in the world with zero restrictions on abortion, and Pierre Poilievre has said repeatedly he doesn’t plan to change that. The official policy declaration of the so-called Conservative Party of Canada says: “A Conservative Government will not support any legislation to regulate abortion.”
However, pro-life Christians in Canada will be voting for Poilievre in the upcoming election. This is because despite Poilievre’s and the Conservative Party’s evil positions on abortion, they are less evil than Justin Trudeau’s — who wants to make abortion even more accessible and he’s promised to strip the tax-exempt statuses of crisis pregnancy centers.
On top of that, Poilievre is overwhelmingly better on the economy, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and particularly, freedom of assembly—which Justin Trudeau infamously infringed on when he banned the Freedom Convoy protests.
So when Christians in Canada vote for Piere Poilievre over Justin Trudeau, are they sinning? I don’t think any reasonable person can say “yes.” In voting, context matters. Voting for the lesser evil can be righteous.
People who say it’s always a sin to vote for the lesser evil tend to quote Charles Spurgeon, who said: “Of two evils, choose neither.” But Spurgeon wasn’t talking about voting. He was talking about refusing to choose between bad theology and bad character.
On how Christians should vote, Spurgeon said: “In things Divine we are probably at one. You shall abstain from voting as unto the Lord, and I will vote as unto the Lord, and we will both give Him thanks … Vote your conscience ‘as unto the Lord.’”
So just as you shouldn’t submit to people who say “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch (Colossians 2:21),” do not submit to people who say “Do not vote.”
The truth is, Trump didn’t become the lesser evil this week. He’s always been the lesser evil. His latest position on abortion was evident from two years ago when he blamed the results of the 2022 Midterm elections on pro-life laws.
Moreover, many of the Christians who are now attempting to shame other Christians for voting for the lesser evil voted for him in 2016 and 2020, even though Trump was waving gay flags at his rallies. Why wasn’t it sinful to vote for Trump when he was promoting what God calls an abomination?
Too many of us make our standards the litmus test for godliness, instead of God’s standards.
That doesn’t mean Christians who plan to vote for him should do so with eagerness and joy. We should be saddened by the state of America. When a righteous person votes for the lesser evil, it should be bittersweet — more bitter than sweet.
However, righteous people do not have to vote for Trump. The only person who should have our undying loyalty is Jesus. He doesn’t betray those who support him. He loves babies and hates murder.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump have declared war on Jesus, but as the Bible says, Jesus will “conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings (Revelation 17:14.)
So cheer up, Christian. A righteous man won’t sit at the White House after the election, but a righteous man is sitting on his throne in Heaven. Be glad, because the “government is upon his shoulders (Isaiah 9:6).”
Originally published at Slow to Write.
Samuel Sey is a Ghanaian-Canadian who lives in Brampton, a city just outside of Toronto. He is committed to addressing racial, cultural, and political issues with biblical theology, and always attempts to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
