Op-Ed: Why You Should Become an Abolitionist, and Abandon Pro-Lifeism
If you have been reading my coverage of abortion-related topics with The Daily Wire, you may notice that the word โabolitionโ appears in nearly every article I write. Let me take a moment to explain what that means.
Since 1973, Americans have murdered over 63 million babies. Protestant denominations took nearly a decade to comprehend what was occurringโand once they finally did, a particular strategy called โincrementalismโ was adopted.
If you are even vaguely familiar with the pro-life movement, you are aware of the various legislative proposals that it puts forward. Most of them work within the perceived parameters of Roe v. Wade to try and โincrementallyโ end abortion. Heartbeat bills ban all abortions once a baby has a beating heart; born-alive protection acts ban abortionists from killing babies if they survive abortion attempts; and pain-capable acts ban all abortions once a baby can feel pain.
For the following reasons and many more, these lawsโand the movement behind themโare neither biblical, righteous, nor productive.
First, the pro-life movement does not establish equal justice.
Apply the logic of a pro-life bill to any other issue of criminal law. Would we ever laud a bill that bans sex trafficking for children between six and eighteen years of age, but greenlights it for children younger than six? Of course notโbut that is the logic of the heartbeat bill. Would we ever laud a bill that lets a serial killer drown his victims, but bans him from finishing the act if they manage to crawl out of the river? Of course notโbut that is the logic of the born-alive protection act. Would we ever laud a bill that lets us kill children who cannot yet walk, but bans us from killing them once they can? Of course notโbut that is the logic of the pain-capable act.
God calls for His people to โseek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherlessโ (Isaiah 1:17). He also proclaims โwoe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justiceโ (Isaiah 10:1-2). Pro-life bills are iniquitous decrees because they do not ban murderโinstead, they regulate when, how, and why it can happen. They turn our needy preborn neighbors away from justice, failing to uphold the rights of all image-bearers of God.
Second, the pro-life movement wrongly catechizes our culture.
Anyone who has ministered in front of an abortion facility can attest that mothers often raise excuses such as โmy baby canโt feel pain yet,โ โmy baby doesnโt even have a heartbeat,โ or โmy baby is only ten weeks old.โ Where did they learn to speak about their babies like this? From pro-life laws. The result? Their consciences are falsely soothed as they murder their own children.
Because pro-life billsโand, more broadly, the pro-life movementโtreat women as โsecond victimsโ of abortion, post-abortive mothers and fathers fail to experience forgiveness through the gospel. One can only repent of sin after it is rightly defined by Godโs Word. It is never loving to soften a square blow rightly delivered by Scriptureโafter all, love โrejoices with the truthโ (1 Corinthians 13:5).
Third, the pro-life movement is built upon faulty legal premises.
When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away last year, we all remember the intense mourning from the Left. The woman was treated like a deity. But the Right manifested a similar idolatry when President Trump appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrettโthere were processions and parades, the Republican establishment mobilized on her behalf, and we placed our hope of political salvation into the potential for a conservative Supreme Court.
However, for the majority of the past five decadesโeven during Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Caseyโthe Supreme Court has had a conservative majority. Republican-appointed Justices have perpetuated abortionโbecause they are equally as devoted to the ideology of judicial precedent as their Democrat-appointed counterparts.
Abortion does not need to end with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. It is not the law of the landโwhich is why President Biden explicitly campaigned on the promise of codifying it at the federal level. The judicial branch does not make law. It has no power to legislate from the bench. Nevertheless, all fifty statesโeven the ones that still have laws on the books outlawing abortionโbow to the Supreme Court’s will. At this very moment, President Biden is ignoring a recent ruling from the Supreme Court to enforce his unconstitutional eviction moratorium, and we have not heard a word from the Justices. The states are most certainly within their constitutional rights to nullify Roe v. Wade for the reason of protecting their preborn citizens.
Fourth, the pro-life movement delays actual abolition.
For the past few years, more and more Christians have begun to recognize the above truthsโand innumerable othersโabout the pro-life movement and its legislative strategies. In response, they have been proposing bills of abolitionโwhich outlaw abortion from conception, include no exceptions, establish equal justice for the preborn by criminalizing abortion as murder, nullify Roe v. Wade, and repeal all other statutes that greenlight abortion.
The responseโeven in states with Republican governors and Republican supermajorities in the legislaturesโis always the same. The abolition bill is suppressed, and a pro-life bill is adopted and marketed to voters as a landmark legislative victory. Pro-life bills allow civil magistrates to avoid their biblical dutyโas defined by the doctrine of interpositionโto protect their constituents from the federal government when it oversteps its boundaries.
Fifth, the pro-life movement is not grounded in the biblical worldview.
Politicians, activists, and intellectuals in the pro-life movementโeven the ones who are evangelical Christiansโset aside their Bibles and argue against abortion from the grounds of philosophy or science. The Bibles they set aside, however, explain that men โby their unrighteousness suppress the truthโ (Romans 1:18). Do philosophy and science have their place in Christian apologetics? Absolutelyโbut they only confirm what Scripture authoritatively declares.
The problem for the person who partakes in abortion is not a lack of evidenceโit is love of sin and rebellion against their Creator. Neglecting the Word of God in the name of pragmatismโwhich, by the way, is the reason that most churches in America are currently filled with false convertsโis rooted in unbelief in the power of God.
The pro-life movement does not hold the gospel of Jesus Christ as centralโbut abolitionism does.
The pro-life movement does not stand upon the solid ground of Godโs Wordโbut abolitionism does.
The pro-life movement does not recognize that the wisdom of the world is foolishness to Godโbut abolitionism does.
The pro-life movement has failedโfive decades and 63 million dead bodies are evidence enough. Even if its adherents have good intentions, it is time for Christians in the pro-life movement to open their Bibles and their history books to see how the Church of Jesus Christ has fought injustice through the ages.
It is time for Christians to repent of their abortion apathy and to seek justice for their preborn neighbors. God will hold us accountable on the last day for our actionโor inaction.It is time for bad ideas to die and for righteous ones to take their place.
It is time to be biblicalโeven if it means being unpopular.
It is time to love God and our neighbors.
It is time to abolish abortion.
Editor’s Note. This was a post written on Ben Zeisloft’s personal Facebook page. Reprinted in full with permission.
Romans 13 says you must accept pro-choice LAW like our judges have decreed. Donโt like it? Then stop your Bible thumping ๐บ๐ธ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๏ธโโง๏ธ๐ณ๏ธโ๐
What a truly miserable life you must lead to come hear daily multiple times and spew hate and intolerance. Thanks for reminding us daily what hate truly is.
It actually says you must accept God’s law the way God says, and those that resist the ordinances of the Lord will receive damnation. (reading KJB).
It also says the ministers of God will execute wraith on those who do evil (v4).
That applies to earthly judges too.
Your mistake is to substitute wordly powers for higher powers, and then think a human judge can met out damnation, or that people’s soul’s are subjected to them. (The KJB’s use of the word soul is the correct one – psychฤ in greek. Modern translations have subtle changed words to sound like the KJB, but has absolutely no justification in the Greek. NO ONES soul or psyche is EVER subject to earthly rulers or should be. Good grief, one of baptists and other reformers distinctiveness was freedom of conscience. Check it out, modern translations have changed the word, and with no justification of the Greek, but only to subtle change it).
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You can read places in the Bible where rulers are heavenly rulers, or justification for minister as also angels, or kings being struck down by angels administrating justice Acts 12:23. So it seems higher powers flows from God down, not a corrupt official up, as following for conscience sake (v5).
Yes “Johnny”, I know you are a troll and despicable in every way, but I thought it ironic your quoting Romans 13 to condemn others, and it is one that condemns you instead because it is talking about God’s power and damnation.
To others – careful look at these verses in Greek, and do not separate v8-10 by clever breaking of paragraphs not in the actual. Modern translations corrupt it, and it’s obvious why they would.
ordinances should be power in sentence one.
I’ve been reading Johnny’s posts pretty much from day one. I’m actually beginning to think that what he’s doing is over the top sarcasm, taking an extreme “devil’s advocate” response stance to mock the wicked. His responses are so over the top that no actual believer can take on those positions and still call Christ Lord and His scriptures the truth of God.
If you support the abolition of abortion then you should also stop supporting the state of Israel.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-shhh-don-t-tell-evangelical-supporters-of-israel-about-the-country-s-abortion-laws-1.7274968
Anti semite!!!!
#reported
#FBI
Abortion is murder be an abolitionist
Nice try troll. Cyber identity theft is illegal Mr Domestic Terrorist
I am an abolitionist and I think all those in Christ should be too! Murdering any age baby is sin and a crime !
The legacy of abolitionism will be the bodies of dead women who were denied abortions. Some even for medical reasons.
So, I bet you would be cool with incrementalism if it was your life being saved.
Also, your examples are flawed. No one has decreed that a criminal can drown someone so making it illegal to kill them after they crawl out is irrelevant.
And lastly and most importantly, EXACTLY HOW shall we abolish abortion? You call to abolish but don’t say how. I do agree abortion is heinous and murder but beyond the posturing exactly what do you propose? Shooting abortion docs like the one in Kansas? Blowing up clinics? Chucking bucks at Crisis Pregnancy Centers? Seems like we are doing almost all that is possible.