– 10 Min Read
Introduction
What is the right method of approach for Christians seeking to stop legal abortion in the United States? Christians appear to be in a state of confusion as to what they believe success and failure are in efforts to abolish abortion. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Dobbs and overturned Roe vs. Wade. But what we found is that the number of national abortions did not slow down, halt, or decrease after this ruling. In fact, the number of surgical abortions increased in 2023 to 987,576 in the United States, not counting self-managed chemical abortions carried out in homes [1].
The incrementalist approach is a tactic of incremental “victories”. This could be getting a heartbeat bill passed in your state or something of that nature. The idea is that we cannot go straight for abolishment but have to gradually work there. As of late, all in the pro-life movement are incrementalists. This would include groups like Live Action, National Right to Life, Susan B. Anthony, Students for Life of America, and figures like Lila Rose and Kristan Hawkins.
On the abolitionist’s side, there is a much different understanding. Abolitionism seeks only after the abolition of abortion, if that is not on the table then the deal is considered a failure (I will explain more about this later on). To be clear, the abolitionist’s position is not to be labeled as the “overnight” position. This is often what people think of when they hear abolitionism, therefore writing it off entirely since that is far from ever happening. It is also important to note that the abolitionists do not associate with the “pro-life movement”. This is because there is a strong disagreement between them, as we will unpack.
House Bill 813
In 2022, down in Louisiana, we saw a gross betrayal from the pro-life movement. Rep. Danny McCormick of the Louisiana House of Representatives brought forth bill HB813 (Abolition of Abortion in Louisiana Act of 2022), to the house floor. This bill sought to abolish abortion and “would have rewritten the state’s homicide statute to redefine personhood beginning at the moment of fertilization and would afford embryos all of the legal protections that come with that status” [2]. This bill also would have allowed for doctors who perform abortions to be charged with murder along with the mother [3]. This bill was gaining great momentum and by all accounts was expected to be passed, until the pro-life organizations got involved.
But within days, some of the most influential anti-abortion groups in the state joined the chorus of opposition to the bill, saying that any legislation criminalizing “abortion-vulnerable women” was “not consistent with their pro-life policies.” Louisiana Right to Life and other organizations lobbied Republican lawmakers over the last week to undermine support for McCormick’s bill and find a lawmaker to sponsor sweeping amendments that would bring the bill in line with their position.
– 89.3 WRKF Baton Rouge | By Paul Braun
The measure had received major backlash not just from abortion rights activists but also anti-abortion organizations and politicians, including the Louisiana Family Forum and Louisiana Right to Life. . . “The most prominent national organizations don’t support anything that would criminalize the mother. They are focused in on criminalizing the abortion industry,” said Sarah Zagorski, communications director for Lousiana Right to Life. “Ultimately, this is inconsistent with what we as an organization have worked toward, by loving them both [the mother and the baby].”
– 19th News | Jessica Kutz
Rep. Danny McCormick removed the bill from consideration for a House vote after a proposed amendment would have stripped the criminalization sections of the legislation. Here we had a legitimate bill that would have criminalized the murdering of innocent children and the pro-life movement rallied their hardest to shut it down. This is because these pro-life organizations do not want abortion to be abolished, for advocating against abortion is their business.
Not only did the pro-life movement get involved in shutting down this bill, but even the ERLC (The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission). Brent Leatherwood, President of the ERLC, signed an open letter calling for national support to help pressure legislators to stop this bill from passing. In the letter he states; “Women are victims of abortion… We state unequivocally that we do not support any measure seeking to criminalize or punish women and we stand firmly opposed to include such penalties in legislation.“
But out of all of these people and groups that came together to kill House Bill 813, none of them were as effective and held more responsible, than U.S. Congressman Mike Johnson. Currently, Johnson is Speaker of the House, but at the time in 2022, he was simply U.S. Congressman of the 4th District of the state of Louisana. Mike Johnson is the reason that HB813 was killed and that to this day image-bearers are being legally murdered in the state of Louisana.
What we found out is that the pro-life movement does not want equal protection for all human beings. They only want protection for some unborn babies, not all. In other words, the pro-life movement is totally fine with the murdering of some babies and completely for offering protection for mothers who murder their unborn children. Another way to say it is that they are against God’s law.
Mike Johnson, Brent Leatherwood, and the pro-life movement are in a classic “fear of man instead of a fear of God” scenario (Matt. 10:28). They do not share the same sentiment as the apostles who said; “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Instead, they lean more into pragmatism instead of principle.
Justice For The Fatherless
There doesn’t seem to be any case for an incremental approach to justice in the Bible. In fact, we see the opposite time and time again. One of the most notable instances is seen in the book of Exodus between Moses and Pharaoh. In Exodus 8:25 Pharaoh offers a compromise saying; “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” Moses declines and explains that they must go a three-day journey outside of Eygpt, to which Pharaoh counteroffers that they can go out of the land but “only [they] shall not go very far away” (Exod. 8:28).
Pharaoh, under extreme frustration, offers to set them free to leave but asks who will be going (Exod. 10:8) seeking that some will be left behind, to which Moses replies that all of them, young, old, their sons, their daughters, with the flocks and the herds (Exod. 10:9). Pharaoh declines, but later will allow for them all to leave only they must leave their livestock (Exod. 10:24), to which Moses declines (Exod. 10:25-26).
What Pharaoh was offering to Moses was an incremental approach or gradual option. But what we see from Moses is that immediatism is the only way. It is either doing all that God requires or not doing any of it at all; full stop. There was no room for negotiations. There was no chance for a third way. According to the pro-life establishment, Mike Johnson or the ERLC only some of the Israelites making it out of Egypt would have been a pretty good deal. But would it have pleased God?
But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb, and yet disregard justice and the love of God, but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
– Luke 11:42
Christians cannot neglect justice, which is what the pro-life movement has done and is seeking to do. To help write or even condone policies or bills that explicitly say that it is legal to abort a child before ______ weeks old is neglecting justice and promoting evil. To say that the mother who murders her child cannot be prosecuted is not seeking justice for the fatherless.
learn to do good;
– Isaiah 1:17
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
The fatherless is the one who does not have a true father, someone to protect them. The fatherless are helpless and left as prey to the world and all of its evils. God commands His people to bring justice to them. The very fact that the pro-life movement wishes to do the exact opposite proves that they are in opposition to God and acting contrary to His commands.
He has told you, O man, what is good;
– Micah 6:8
And what does Yahweh require of you
But to do justice, to love lovingkindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
God requires justice and the pro-life movement and incrementalists are making sure that that does not happen. They instead help secure the immunity of the mother and approve of the murder of some unborn children by the policies they cotify and promote. The position of the pro-life movement has always been that the mother under no circumstances is a perpetrator of murder but is instead a victim.
Now more than ever it has become easy to abort an unborn child in our country. Abortion is legal in all 50 states and is thriving. The abortion pill is readily available and easily mailed to any mother who wishes to murder her baby and the bills that the pro-life incrementalists have helped pass assures her immunity for killing her child. There is a consequence from God to incremental obedience and incremental justice and we are seeing it.
Conclusion
As soon as there is a fire started by abolitionists to burn down abortion we see time and time again the pro-life movement run to put it out. There is not a convincing biblical argument offered for incrementalism, especially the results of it in the anti-abortion arena. If you financially support any national or state-level pro-life organization I would strongly encourage you to reconsider and instead support an abolition organization (End Abortion Now, Abolitionists Rising, Foundation To Abolish Abortion).
If you have had an abortion or know someone who has, I want you to know that there is forgiveness of sins and redemption freely offered in Christ. The gospel is for all and all are commanded to turn from their sins and submit to King Jesus. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and that includes those who have had abortions.
Works Cited
[1] Lila Rose’s Raise and The Failure to End Child Sacrifice, (Abolitionists Rising – Blog), by Jon Speed.
[2] After abortion-as-murder bill is gutted, Louisiana lawmaker pulls amended proposal before vote, (WWNO – News, May 12, 2022) by Paul Braun
[3] Pushback on Louisiana’s scuttled abortion bill reveals a limit on how far anti-abortion groups are willing to go, (19th News, May 13, 2022) by Jessica Kutz. After abortion-as-murder bill is gutted, Louisiana lawmaker pulls amended proposal before vote, (WWNO – News, May 12, 2022) by Paul Braun