Every pro-life advocate faces difficult questions from time to time. Some are philosophical, others bizarre.

Strange was what came to my mind when an angry caller confronted me with this: “God causes pregnant women to miscarry, so isn’t God the greatest abortionist?”

It threw me off guard. I had never heard the pro-abortion side make that case before, and I didn’t know how to respond. However, the caller wasn’t interested in listening, and went on with the questions before I could give much of an answer.

The question, perhaps, is more common than I realized, because just a few days later I read an article responding to the very topic.

Scott Klusendorf from Life Training Institute boils down the question to this: “Does it follow that because nature (or God) kills people we may deliberately do so?”

Klusendorf takes the argument beyond the womb, and the true implications of the question becomes clear. If it’s ok to kill a baby inside the womb “because God does,” is it also ok to kill an impoverished infant in a third world country or an older resident in a nursing home? They have greater risks of dying. Does an act of nature such as a hurricane or tsunami that kills dozens of people justify the deliberate killing of a human being?

It is important to prepare for these arguments — but not just to learn to recite the pro-life response. We need to think and truly discern the heart of the question. Then, the next time an unexpected question comes up, we will be better prepared.