Most Churchgoers No Longer Pro-Life: A Wake-Up Call for the American Church

By Jeff Bayard, Virginia Christian Alliance

When culture catechizes louder than the Church, even God’s people forget who gives life.

There was a time when the Church in America spoke with one voice on the sanctity of life. From the smallest country chapel to the largest suburban campus, the message was clear: every human life—born and unborn—is sacred, created in the image of God.

But according to a recent Family Research Council survey, those convictions are fading. The findings reveal a shift so dramatic it should stop every pastor, elder, and believer in their tracks.

The Survey That Should Shake the Pews

A new study conducted by the Family Research Council in partnership with researcher George Barna shows that the percentage of regular churchgoers who identify as pro-life has plummeted—from 63% in 2023 to just 43% in 2025. (download the pdf here)

In that same time, those identifying as pro-choice have climbed from 22% to 35%. The data represent believers who attend church at least once a month—65% of them weekly.

That’s not a poll of the unchurched. It’s a snapshot of the faithful.

Watch the Interview

Watch: Todd Starnes speaks with David Closson, Director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at the Family Research Council, about the decline in pro-life conviction among churchgoers and what it reveals about discipleship in America’s pulpits.

(Video: “Most Churchgoers No Longer Pro-Life” — Todd Starnes Show, featuring David Closson, Family Research Council)

Closson warns that the culture has been “catechising and discipling people in our churches,” especially Millennials and Gen Z. In other words, when the Church grows quiet, the culture fills the silence.

The result? A generation of believers who love Jesus but are unsure when life begins—or whether defending it is still part of the Gospel’s call.

What God Says About Life

Long before surveys and polls, God spoke plainly:

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” — Genesis 1:27

“You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” — Psalm 139:13

Life begins in the mind and will of God. It is not a human right granted by government—it is a divine reality declared by the Creator.

To be pro-life is not a political label. It is a confession of faith. It is saying, “I believe what God says about Himself and about us.”

The Culture of Death Creeps into the Church

When believers stop hearing about life from their pastors, they start learning about it from the world. Closson noted that just 44% of churchgoers heard a sermon or teaching on abortion in the last year—even in the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned.

That statistic tells a heartbreaking story. The culture was loud. The NBA and NFL issued statements. Politicians and celebrities took sides. But many pulpits stayed silent.

And in that silence, the next generation learned to see abortion not as sin, but as a “personal issue.” They learned to see life as optional instead of sacred.

This is the discipleship crisis Closson describes—a Church losing its moral vocabulary because it fears controversy more than compromise.

The Gospel of Life

The sanctity of life is not a “social issue.” It is the Gospel made visible.

When Jesus declared, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10), He wasn’t just promising heaven. He was revealing His heart for all human existence.

Every child formed in the womb, every elderly soul gasping for breath, every life the world deems “unwanted”—Christ has already declared wanted, loved, and redeemable.

To defend life is to proclaim that Christ still reigns over creation.

What Christians Must Do

David Closson doesn’t scold pastors; he diagnoses the problem. “There is a hunger,” he says. “God’s people are hungry for what God’s Word says on these issues.”

His appeal is simple: teach to the test.

That means sermons that recover biblical clarity.

Discipleship that trains the next generation to discern truth from cultural counterfeit.

Churches that speak with both conviction and compassion to the post-abortive woman, the confused teen, and the fearful couple considering IVF.

The problem is not that people don’t want truth—it’s that they aren’t hearing it consistently.

And when they do hear it, they respond. Closson noted that the majority of regular churchgoers want more worldview training on life, sexuality, and biblical morality. The field is ready. The shepherds must lead.

Hope and a Watchman’s Warning

This isn’t the time to despair. It’s the time to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves (Proverbs 31:8–9).

A watchman doesn’t sound the trumpet to condemn the city—but to save it. The tears come because he loves the people inside the walls.

So let the Church rise again with tears of compassion and a voice of truth. Let our pulpits recover the courage to declare that life is sacred because God is holy. Let pastors teach the Word boldly and believers defend life graciously.

Because silence is not compassion. And indifference is not mercy.

To love our neighbor as ourselves begins in the womb.

Resources & Links

• Family Research Council — Center for Biblical Worldview

• Todd Starnes Show — “Most Churchgoers No Longer Pro-Life” Interview: Watch on YouTube »

• Virginia Christian Alliance — Sanctity of Life

• Scripture References: Genesis 1:27; Psalm 139:13–16; John 10:10; Proverbs 31:8–9

“Write like a watchman warning the city, but with tears for those inside the walls.”

For the Glory of God and the Defense of Life.

— Jeff Bayard