In the last two articles, I explained the Second-Victim Narrative that mainstream pro-lifers tend to employ:

“Abortion commits violence against both women and babies.” 

We saw this theme in a recent Students for Life advertisement, and it’s also lying quietly within phrases like “Love Them Both,” and “Abortion Kills One and Wounds Another.” All these phrases imply that the woman is on the receiving end of abortion instead of the giving end. 

They treat women like abortion’s second victim. 

I also explained two key truths for why this narrative has to stop. 

First, despite all the pressures that surround many women, the woman is still ultimately responsible for her choice (and remember, in these articles I’m only speaking about women who choose abortion; see the first article for what I mean). The Second-Victim Narrative ignores that. 

Second, the narrative distracts attention away from the primary victims of abortion, when a woman who chooses an abortion is in no way (either medically or morally) a victim in the same way the baby is. The narrative actually offers a prompt for the abortion industry to get safer and more efficient for the women—while killing just as many children, if not more.

Now let’s address our final key truth in response to the Second-Victim Narrative, which is possibly the most devastating of all. 

Key Truth #3: The narrative ignores the guilt that a woman possesses and puts an obstacle in her way to repentance. 

We’ve already established that a woman who chooses abortion is just as guilty as the abortionist is. Since the abortionist is a murderer, she is an accomplice to murder. The only way to get around this conclusion is to claim that we shouldn’t afford pre-born people with the same legal protection as post-born people. 

(That would undermine our entire position and teach the world that not even we believe what we’re talking about.)

Yet now we must ask ourselves a question—since we know that a woman who aborts her baby is guilty of murder, what is our proper response to her? 

Well, we must do the exact opposite of what the Second-Victim Narrative prompts us to do: we must tell her she is guilty. Refusing to tell her the truth is an act of hatred, not of love, because we are denying her need to repent before God and find forgiveness. 

Scripture is clear: for all the ghastly evil that abortion entails, there is no sin that cannot be covered by the blood of Christ. Not even abortion.

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18, NIV).

“If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NIV). 

On that splintery, blood-soaked wooden cross, Jesus Christ took abortion upon Himself and paid for it with His own blood. Let me repeat: God has forgiven murderers before (1 Timothy 1:15), and He will forgive you if you call on His name. 

But Scripture is also clear: forgiveness of sins comes after confessing them. If you do not confess your sins, you cannot expect to find forgiveness.

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

“If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (1 John 1:10).

And I don’t think I need to elaborate more on this point more than how God has already said it in Psalm 32:

“When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”—and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.” (Psalm 32:3–6, NIV)

The biblical testimony is clear: if you confess your sins, you will find forgiveness from God. But if you do not confess your sins, you will not receive forgiveness. 

So why in the world do we lie to women who choose abortion and tell them that they are victims instead of accomplices? 

That’s the most hateful thing you could say to a woman after an abortion. If a woman who chose abortion is the “second victim,” then she’s innocent. That means she doesn’t need to repent for the forgiveness of her sins and trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ for redemption. 

If deceiving her in that way isn’t hateful towards her, I don’t know what is.

This is why this key truth is the most devastating of all. It’s because it shows that the Second-Victim Narrative imposes devastating spiritual harm on a woman. It lies to her and removes her call to repentance. 

As a matter of fact, it is an obstacle to her repentance. And so, it prevents her from finding the only true healing from abortion she could ever find. 

So, when we go around telling the world that abortion commits violence against both women and babies, we are acting hatefully toward those who need love the most. 

I hope you can see how, although this key truth is the most devastating of all, it also shows us the glimmer of hope that God has even for those who commit this sin.

Let’s wrap up what these three key truths show us. 

When we discard the Second-Victim Narrative, we are actually being honest with a woman by explaining that she is personally responsible for the choice she made, no matter the pressures around her. 

We are actually valuing pre-born life as the supreme reason why abortion is always wrong, and we aren’t trying to label the woman—morally or medically—as a victim like the baby is. 

Finally, we are actually providing the woman with the only sure foundation for repentance, redemption, and healing.

America’s pro-lifers, scrap the Second-Victim Narrative.