From Abortion Survivor to Prolife Advocate

The challenge of abortion in the world today demands that we multiply our leaders. In responding to this global missions crisis—where the US accounts for only 3% of worldwide abortions, leaving 97% as a challenge before us—it is essential to cultivate emerging voices who can take the gospel of life to people in a way that generates an army of good Samaritans. I am one such emerging leader, having dedicated my life to equipping pastors and young people across Latin America with the biblical and apologetic foundation necessary to address the moral crisis of abortion. My journey into full-time advocacy is deeply personal, stemming directly from an experience of crisis pregnancy and God’s profound mercy.

The Miracle of a Crisis Pregnancy

I grew up in a Catholic home in Colombia, following the tradition common in our country. When I was about 12 years old, my mother shared a story with me that irrevocably shaped my life and subsequent ministry. In 1985, she became pregnant while unmarried, leading to a significant personal crisis. A family member attempted to help by providing her with pills, which she took out of fear and distress. However, she was so scared and “freaked out” that she went to the bathroom and threw the pills up. She began praying, and, in what I now understand as God’s intervention, the pills ultimately did not work.

Despite the failure of the chemical attempt, the ensuing nine months of pregnancy were extremely difficult for her. I was supposed to be born on August 29th, but when she came to the doctor, there was no sign of labor or pain. She had to be induced on September 22nd, finally giving birth to a 10-month-old newborn who was almost dead. The baby—me—was taken immediately to the infants’ hospital. In those days, transportation was not as developed as it is now, so my mother had to travel long distances daily, taking two buses each way, just to nurse the baby.

The doctors held little hope for my survival. They quickly called a priest to baptize the baby, giving him the name George. It was during this time that my mother recounts how a woman appeared from somewhere to pray for her. I survived, and they later rebaptized me, naming me Anderson. This name was inspired by the last name of the actor from the television show MacGyver, whom they likely admired.

Reflecting on this foundational event, I came to recognize an intense curiosity about why I was born instead of not. This journey—being connected to a crisis pregnancy and saved by the mercy of God after receiving bad advice—now holds a ring of poetic beauty and justice as I help others. It is a story I share anytime I can, as it helps me to break the ice and serves as a foundational testimony. Many pro-life leaders are very familiar with experiences just like this, where a personal connection to the cause acts as a springboard for ministry.

A Foundation in Faith and Apologetics

My spiritual journey deepened years later. When I was 15 years old, a neighbor approached me late one night in the street, around 10 p.m., to share the gospel. He told me, “Anderson, I got to tell you about Jesus Christ. He has changed my life”. He reminded me that I knew him and that he had previously been in prison in the U.S., but he was now sharing the gospel. I went home, and the next day, I literally woke up feeling like a totally different person. That experience was 25 years ago, and I spent my entire teenage years fasting and being active in a Pentecostal church.

By 2018, the year I met my colleague, I had already begun extensive research into the pro-life questions: When does life begin? and all the related debates. I wondered why my church was silent on the issue, never addressing it in a sermon format or any other venue. This personal questioning and desire for biblical clarity helped me connect my birth story with what I came to understand as God’s purpose for my life.

Today, I work full-time addressing the widespread ignorance among many pastors who are unsure of how to address the moral crisis of abortion. This lack of confidence in leadership is often due to a lack of knowledge regarding when life begins and, sometimes, a diminished confidence and trust in the authority of the Bible.

Equipping Pastors: The Four Questions

My work revolves around training pastors and leaders throughout Latin America using a simple, consolidated approach to biblical Christian ethics around abortion, known as the Four Questions. These questions are designed to be a 10-page, free resource available for download at our website, complete with a leader guide, so that anyone can teach the biblical response to the shedding of innocent blood.

The Four Questions are structured as follows:

1. What does God say about the value of human life, including life in the womb?
2. What God tells us about the shedding of innocent blood, including abortion.
3. How do we take the gospel to those that experience guilt and shame from abortion so they are free and forgiven?
4. What God calls us to do to stop the shedding of innocent blood and how others have done in the past.

When teaching these questions, we prioritize establishing a foundation in what God says before we move on to scientific correction. Pastors often tell me they fear talking about abortion because it is seen as political, while politicians claim it is too religious. To break this ice and bring awareness, we encourage them to use biblical language, such as referring to abortion as the “shedding of innocent blood,” rather than immediately using the controversial word “abortion”. This framework helps leaders see the issue not just as logical or scientific, but fundamentally as a matter of discipleship within the church.

We work extensively with Genesis and the Gospel of Luke to teach the biblical formula of conception and birth. The Bible, though ancient and written by different authors in different cultures, is firm in informing us that life begins at conception. God views the human being created at conception as a whole human being throughout development. The Bible treats the unborn as a human being and an image bearer.

This biblical foundation is crucial because many Christian leaders hold scientifically inaccurate beliefs. For instance, one pastor I worked with once confirmed, “Just to confirm, life begins 24 hours after the sperm meets the egg. Is that correct?”. This is a typical, though scientifically inaccurate, teaching. We clarify that life starts at the very moment of conception, with the union of the male sperm and the female egg, creating a new image bearer and human being that didn’t exist before, not 24 hours later. We also try to correct expressions such as the idea that the unborn does not yet have a “human form,” clarifying that the human form develops throughout our entire life.

A powerful tool in correcting these falsehoods is focusing on Luke Chapter 1, where Mary meets Elizabeth. When I ask pastors how old John the Baptist was (six months) or the size of Jesus when the two women met, they often don’t have any idea because we never ask the Bible that question. This passage is enlightening because it shows Jesus Christ—very God and very man—developing in the womb, perhaps only a week old. He doesn’t have hands or a head yet, but he is already very God and very man just right there. This demonstrates that He looks exactly like every other baby at that age of development, underscoring that our lack of familiarity with one-day-old babies in the womb, as opposed to after birth, is simply an issue of education.

The Fruit of the Ministry

The impact of this teaching has been immediate and transformative, leading to the opening of eyes regarding how much the Bible informs our response to this crisis.

I recall a story from Mexico about a year ago where a pastor approached me after teaching the Four Questions. He confessed, “I have been a Christian since the 90s and I’ve never heard this,” and revealed he had previously taken an ex-girlfriend to practice an abortion. Two years later, he met her again after he had married another woman. The ex-girlfriend revealed she had been unable to have children. Now grounded in Christ, the pastor prayed for her, and five years later, he shared with me, “now I am a mother”. This pastor now stands up in his church and shares this powerful story. This demonstrates how the training provides the foundation for pastors to find their footing and voice, becoming good leaders on the moral crisis of abortion.

This pattern—where ignorance about when life begins or the lack of confidence in the Bible is replaced by clear, transformative truth—is one I continually see across Latin America.

Apologetics in Secular Spaces

My ministry extends beyond the church walls and into hostile or secular environments, specifically public and Christian high schools. It is critical to know how to make the case for life without relying solely on the Bible.

In these schools, we create an environment of confidence where students can ask questions freely, without judgment. The questions I receive are remarkably similar in both Christian and non-Christian settings. The main concerns in Latin America are often practical: “What’s going to happen if the baby is going to suffer?” or “What if the mother is very poor?”. We also address the universal arguments, such as “my body, my choice” and “it is not a human yet”.

In responding, we rely heavily on logic, using the framework that abortion is evil or the killing of a human being only if the unborn is human. We press the students to define their terms: “What do you mean by a clump of cells?” or “How do you explain that it is not human?”.

A crucial tool in this secular apologetics work is the use of the tiny baby fetal models developed by Passion Life. This fetal model is a medically accurate representation of a baby from the ninth week after conception. When students see how a baby looks at nine weeks, it often changes their minds because they have never seen a baby of that size before. Using logic and the fetal model is highly effective. It is truly exhilarating to see young people engaging on this issue, with the lights going on and the wheels starting to turn, allowing us to engage them to think without getting angry or violent about it. We encourage those who want to learn how to make the case for life in five minutes or less to explore the resource called “only one question”.

Contextualizing the Pro-Life Message

To further aid this continental movement, I authored a book, Apologetica Provida. I published this book two years ago because much of the existing pro-life literature available in Spanish bookstores—both Catholic and Christian—is simply translated from English. As a result, readers often believe the information only applies to the U.S. or English-speaking countries, and some of the arguments needed to be contextualized for our specific culture and language.

Furthermore, most of the literature around on how to defend life is focused on logic and science but lacks adequate Bible support verses. My goal in writing Apologetica Provida was to provide both the Bible and logic (along with statistics and implementation guidance). I wanted to help both young people and pastors challenge their assumptions about the issue. The book not only exposes abortion but also highlights the alternatives of life.

A Growing Movement

The movement to defend life has expanded rapidly. I currently work with a pro-life committee here in my city of Medellín, Colombia, which began in 2022. Medellín itself, the city of eternal spring, is a beautiful city with big mountains all around it and great weather. Medellín has made great efforts to change its culture from the negative history of drug cartels like Pablo Escobar in the 80s and 90s. Today, the physical structure of the city has changed; we have amazing transportation, a metro, and many foreigners who enjoy visiting. Although we are not primarily focused on tourism, this shift in the city’s culture reflects a general move toward positive change.

From Medellín, where we teach the Four Questions in local churches and engage in apologetics in public and Christian schools, our work has spread. We also assist pregnancy centers, helping them with counseling and training. For instance, back in April, we conducted a tour throughout Colombia with a doctor, training people on how to use ultrasound technology for risk assessment.

My international travel schedule demonstrates the scope of this commitment. This year alone, I have been to Mexico three times, visiting Mexico City and Aguascalientes. Following up on these trainings, we provide tips and ideas so leaders can re-teach the Four Questions independently. I also recently came back from Chile, where we trained a group of about 60 pastors and helped establish a pregnancy center. Additionally, I have been to Honduras, Guatemala (where we spoke to 800 pastors), Cuba, and El Salvador. I am happy to report that we are multiplying our leaders and taking the gospel of life to pastors.

My personal survival story has proven to be the foundation for this ministry, underscoring the poetic beauty and justice in how this mission started. By using the biblical and logical framework of the Four Questions, combined with tangible resources like the tiny baby models, we continue to see transformation, guiding churches all over the world to respond faithfully to the gospel of life. I commend all involved for their work and pray that the gospel of life will go out and multiply a thousandfold.

This article is adapted from the episode transcript.