Recently I watched a TikTok video in which a pro-life advocate was marching with a sign saying “God is pro-life.” A man with a microphone, who I assume was pro-choice, asked him what the sign meant and then reminded him that God killed almost everyone on earth during Noah’s flood, leaving the pro-lifer speechless in response.
This is why we need to be careful when we use phrases like “God is pro-life.” Pro-life doesn’t mean all killing is wrong. For example, there are circumstances—like self-defense against a violent aggressor—in which human beings may use lethal force (see CCC 2264). Also, God has the right to end our lives whenever he sees fit. Here’s an analogy: if I give you $20 today, and $20 tomorrow, but I stop giving you money on the third day, I haven’t wronged you, since the money was a gift. Likewise, God doesn’t wrong us when he stops giving us the gift of life and chooses to end our earthly lives.
Or look at it this way: a principal of a school might tell his students to imitate him, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay for them to go on the public address system and cancel school. They should be honest and responsible like the principal, but only the principal has the authority to do things like cancel school. Likewise, we should be holy like God, but we don’t have authority over human life like God does. God can end human life on his terms; we can’t.
Finally, if you want to be cheeky, you can point out the inconsistency of a pro-choice person who condemns God for ending the lives of human beings (“His universe, his choice?”) but sees nothing wrong with a pregnant woman ending the life of her unborn children for any reason.
So, if someone asks you if God is pro-life, you can say, “Yes, God wants it to be illegal to kill innocent human beings.” You can then ask them, “Do you think that makes sense to do?” and from there you can have a productive conversation on abortion instead of being the victim of an uncharitable “gotcha” question.