When <strong><a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/notorious-late-term-abortionist-leroy-carhart-dies-at-81.html">the news broke</a> </strong>that notorious late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart was on his death bed, some pro-life Christians on social media asked for prayers for his conversion. This received a mixed reply, to say the least. LeRoy Carhart died a few days later.
As Christians, we are told in no uncertain terms that we must love our enemy. Jesus said “you have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).
We may want to become perfect, but it’s hard. Praying and loving your enemies must be one of the hardest things for a Christian to do. LeRoy Carhart was certainly an enemy, not just to Catholics, but to all decent and right-thinking people. He persecuted the most innocent and defenceless – the unborn child.
Carhart was one of the few abortionists in the United States willing to conduct abortions once an unborn child can survive outside of the womb. He once called unborn children a "parasite”.
The abortionist admitted in a 2019 BBC interview that he would conduct late-term abortions based on the woman's financial circumstances or social health. During the 30-minute report titled "America's Abortion War", journalist Hilary Andersson appeared surprised that Carhart would refer to the unborn foetus as a "baby", with him revealing that he uses the word with his patients.
After Andersson asked whether he had a problem killing a baby, the abortionist answered: "I have no problem if it's in the mother's uterus." So Carhartt was a baby killer. It was reported that he carried out at least 30,000 abortions. He is responsible for ending the lives of 30,000 children, damaging their mothers and ruining what could have been wonderful families. He was a bad guy, a monster, extreme even in the eyes of many pro-choice campaigners.
Considering all this can we really, as Christians, be expected to pray for Carhart or even love him? Yes, if we understand what this means. As CS Lewis explains in On the Importance of Practicing Charity: "love in the Christian sense does not mean emotions. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves and must learn to have about other people.” Also, charity means love in the Christian sense and praying is an act of charity.
So how we feel about Carhart is not important. As Christians we are called to "love our enemy", which means willing his own good. Praying for him would be an act of charity, an act of love.
To love someone in this sense means to want their own good. In Carhart’s case therefore it would indeed be an act of charity to pray for his repentance and conversion. This would be for his own good. Without it, we can only assume that he will face eternal damnation, although only God can judge the human soul.
Of course, if this is an act of charity too far or too difficult for now it would also be an act of charity to pray for the mothers Carhart targeted with the false solution of abortion. Finally, we must remember and take comfort in the knowledge that the souls of all the thousands of babies known only to God because they were quite literally targeted and murdered by Carhart are with the angels in heaven.
<em>(Photo: Reuters 2000)</em>
