Choosing Life in All Its Fullness: The Nature of the Abundant Life and Its Relationship to Abortion Politics

Abstract

In John 10:7-10, Jesus promises that he has come so that we may have life in all its fullness. This article examines life in its fullness from an Anglican perspective, articulating a Christian ethic that asserts freedom, voice, identity, and an opportunity to flourish are essential components to such a life. Life experiences illuminate ways in which the choice about whether or not to terminate a pregnancy helped define full life for both mothers and children. These insights grow out of experiences working in a teenage parent program in Florida and as the director of a family planning clinic in the rural west. The premise of the article is that both scripture and our Anglican tradition imagine life to mean more than just subsistence, and that current prohibitions on abortion, even before fetus viability, thwart Christ’s vision for life, most poignantly for women and children in poor and rural settings.