Why 'Pro-Abundant Life' Is the Future of Saving Babies

PERSONAL BEGINNING

For Roland Warren, the pro-life conversation is more than a public cause. It’s personal. He was a 20-year-old student at Princeton University when his life changed. His girlfriend, who would later become his wife, found out she was pregnant. The two of them walked into the campus health center unsure of what to expect. The nurse listened, then gently suggested they consider abortion. She explained that continuing the pregnancy would make it hard for his girlfriend to finish school or become a doctor. But that wasn’t the path they chose.

Instead, they got married. She stayed in school. Not only did she graduate from Princeton with a child, she had a second baby before finishing her degree. Eventually, she fulfilled her dream and practiced medicine for more than 30 years. That experience shaped how Warren sees everything. He often compares it to the story of Mary and Joseph. An unplanned pregnancy. A moment of uncertainty. And a decision to trust God’s plan anyway. "I saw myself as Joseph and her as Mary,” he recalls. “God was calling us into something bigger than we could understand." Through that lens, Warren began to see the life issue differently. It wasn’t just about the woman or the baby. It was about family. About responsibility. And about how the right kind of support can turn fear into faith

FROM PRO-LIFE TO PRO ABUNDANT LIFE: ROLAND C. WARREN’S CALL FOR A BETTER WAY

When you talk to Roland C. Warren, one thing becomes clear fast: he’s not here to argue over buzzwords or party platforms. He’s here to talk about people, mothers, fathers, families, and the deeper calling the Church has to serve them. As the President and CEO of Care Net, one of the most influential pro-life ministries in the country, Warren has spent years rethinking what it really means to be “pro-life.” And in his view, the term has lost its way. 

WHEN POLITICS TAKE THE LEAD

Warren doesn’t hesitate when asked what’s wrong with the current pro-life conversation.
“We’re out here celebrating 15-week bans that still allow 96 percent of abortions,” he says. “So what does that even mean anymore? We’ve taken an issue that’s life or death, and somehow made it negotiable.” He’s not just critiquing legislation. He’s calling out the mindset that has crept into the Church, one that trades moral clarity for political safety. “Pro-life takes you to the polls. But Pro Abundant Life? That takes you to the cross.”

Warren isn’t suggesting we ignore politics. He’s saying it cannot be the driving force. He’s seen how the movement has flipped the priorities: politicians and material support at the top, and the Church and its calling at the bottom. “That’s upside down,” he says. “The Church is supposed to lead. That’s where real transformation happens.”

A BIGGER VISION: FAMILY, DISCIPLESHIP, AND REAL SUPPORT

For Warren, the answer lies in something richer and more rooted: discipleship. He doesn’t just want babies saved. He wants families restored. He wants mothers supported. Fathers involved. And churches equipped to walk alongside them long after the crisis moment passes. “The sanctity of life is tied to the sanctity of family,” he says. “And if we’re serious about saving lives, we need to see this through the lens of the Great Commission.”

That’s what “Pro Abundant Life” is all about. At Care Net, it’s not just about pregnancy tests or crisis calls. It’s about showing up with resources, with mentors, and with the gospel. It's discipleship, not just intervention. And it’s deeply personal for Warren. He’s seen too many families fail, not because they didn’t want to do better, but because no one walked with them. “Jesus didn’t come just so we could live,” he says. “He came so we could have life abundantly.”

MORAL COURAGE: WHAT LINCOLN AND DOUGLASS TEACH US

In a culture where abortion is often treated as a political issue rather than a moral one, Roland C. Warren believes history offers a powerful mirror. The way Americans once navigated the question of slavery, he argues, closely parallels how we approach abortion today. To make this point, Warren draws on the tension between President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. These were two men who agreed that slavery was wrong, but responded to it in profoundly different ways.

“Lincoln was anti-slavery. He believed it was morally and politically wrong, but he wasn’t willing to risk the Union to end it,” Warren says. “Douglass? He challenged Lincoln from the pulpit. He said, if you really believe it’s wrong, you don’t just try to contain it. You abolish it.” Warren sees Lincoln’s shift from cautiously preserving the political order to boldly embracing moral clarity as a lesson the Church must learn today. Lincoln did not fully step into abolitionist territory until his second inaugural address, when he acknowledged that the nation could not survive half-slave and half-free. For Warren, the Church is now facing its own version of that moment.

“Too many of us are standing at the podium when we should be in the pulpit,” he says. “We’ve let politics define what we stand for, instead of leading with conviction.” Warren is not suggesting that the Church disengage from public life. On the contrary, he believes it should engage more deeply, but from a place of moral courage rather than political calculation. “We’re not called to just save lives,” he says. “We’re called to transform them.”

To find out more about Care Net click the LINK! And for more information about Roland C. Warren click the LINK! 

CREDITS

The Alternative to Abortion. A graduate of Princeton University and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, 20 years in the corporate world (with IBM, Pepsi, and Goldman Sachs), He is a sought-after speaker at national conferences, church events, and in the media, with appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, and Black Entertainment Television