Meet J.D. Vance, the evangelical pop-politician who’s become the poster boy for “religious populism” among starry-eyed Republicans and credulous Evangelicals. It’s a curious badge of honor for a man—a man who converted from atheism to Roman Catholicism just a few years ago, and whose fame rests on championing conservatism while simultaneously embracing policies that hollow it out from within.

While Trump’s choice of Vance as his VP pick might be a shrewd move in the grand political chess game, it’s hardly a strategy that earns God’s approval. God, after all, isn’t impressed by such feeble and shallow commitments to the sanctity of life.

In a recent interview with NBC, Vance endorsed the abortion pill mifepristone, revealing a curious contradiction—one that his evangelical supporters seem more than willing to overlook in their quest for a political savior. In fact, Vance’s rhetoric mirrors that of past leftist arguments, proposing not only support for the abortion pill but also an alternative to anti-abortion legislation.

Just as leftists have historically framed social justice as a means to reduce abortion rates, Vance suggests that instead of pushing for restrictive laws, we should “make it easier and more affordable for young women and parents to have families.” His solution? Lower housing costs and eliminate those “surprise medical bills that so many families see after they have a baby.”

Not that these particularl policy positions are bad in and of themselves, depending on how they’re approached. But holding unborn children hostage to a political strategy? This effectively makes unborn children pawns in the game of social policy, whether the moves are made by the right or the left. The message is clear: if one wants to save the lives of unborn children, they must support a slew of policy measures rather than criminalizing the systematic murder of these innocents.

Picture making these arguments about the lives of toddlers, adolescents, or the elderly. Imagine contending that the Supreme Court has the authority to permit the extermination of these groups and that the federal government has no responsibility to step in. Envision defending this as a “states’ rights” issue while states blatantly flout the Constitutionally-protected, God-given right to life.

The absurdity is palpable, yet this is precisely the twisted logic being peddled when it comes to the unborn. Life is not a ‘states rights’ issue, it is a God-given right with guaranteed protection by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Adding to the contradictions, Vance has previously expressed rigid views against any exceptions for abortion, including in cases of rape or incest, framing such circumstances as mere “inconveniences.”​ Yet, in his quest for political expediency, he now endorses a national mere 15-week abortion ban with exceptions—a stance that aligns with the Democratic ethos of “safe, legal, and rare” from a decade ago.

Do you know what a 15-week fetus looks like? That’s almost four months. Of course, we believe life begins at conception and abortion at any stage is a crime against children which should be punished with the full force of our laws against murder—including the mothers who seek them. But to look at a clearly defined, developed human child and still be okay with murder after that is egregious.

Make no mistake about it—both Trump and Vance know this. But a total abolition of abortion is not a politically expedient position for them to hold. It is not popular with the masses. But ask yourself this question: Is God pleased with their position?

JD Vance is no evangelical hero—he’s simply a pragmatist devoid of genuine conviction concerning the lives of fellow Image-bearers. His approach—echoing the Democratic ethos of “safe, legal, and rare”—betrays the very principles he claims to uphold. Trump’s pick may play well in the political arena, but it falls woefully short of the moral clarity and commitment to life that God demands.

But let’s face it, our corrupt and dying world, which will face the ultimate judgment and wrath of God, loves “bodily autonomy,” loves abortion, and loves death—because they hate God. (Proverbs 8:36)