The abolition of abortion is the only logical and biblical path to putting an end to the murder of unborn children.
An Abolition Meeting
On Friday, February 9, 2024, Matt and I made the 165-mile drive to Des Moines where we met Pastor Mike for dinner. Pastor Mike had made the drive earlier to meet someone for lunch.
After dinner, we made our way to a church not far from the Iowa State Capitol. We had been invited to attend a special meeting, which was to be led by Pastor Jeff Durbin and Zach Conover of Apologia Church and End Abortion Now. The purpose of the meeting was to make Iowa churches aware of a new piece of legislation that, if signed into law, would abolition abortion in the State of Iowa.
Iowa State Representative Zach Dieken was also at the meeting. Representative Dieken authored HF2256, a bill of equal protection for the unborn in Iowa. The bill was co-sponsored by representatives Carlson, Stoltenberg, Cisneros, Bradley, and Sherman.
Matt and I pulled back into my driveway a little after 11:00 PM, both very encouraged and motivated by the evening’s meeting and fellowship.
Death on a Desk
During the meeting, we were advised that the bill was sitting on the desk of Representative Steven Holt, the chairman of the judiciary committee. Rep. Holt has the authority to either move bills along to the subcommittee for a hearing or allow bills to die on his desk. Rep. Holt, who is identified as staunchly “pro-life,” soon made his sentiments known through replies to emails and Facebook posts. He had no intention of moving HF2256 along to the subcommittee.
Pastor Mike and I drove back to the capitol on Wednesday, February 14, to attempt to meet with Rep. Holt and try to convince him to reconsider his decision regarding HF2256. Our sense of urgency was fueled by the need to have HF2256 assigned to the subcommittee no later than Friday, February 16. All bills to be considered for hearings and floor votes during the current legislative session had to be in subcommittees by that day. In Iowa, this mad legislative dash is called “Funnel Week.”
After two attempts to see Rep. Holt, and contact with his judiciary assistant, it was clear that he would not make time to us.
He is Not an Abolitionist
On Thursday, February 15, just a day before the end of “Funnel Week,” Rep. Holt showed that he is “pro-life,” but he is not an abolitionist. He wrote an article for The Iowa Standard website titled “A Reality Check on House File 2256.” In response, I posted the following comment:
In Response to: ‘A Reality Check on House File 2256’
For the sake of brevity, I will focus my response to Rep. Holt’s article by addressing what he said, here:
“Some pro-life advocates demand loudly on social media that I advance HF2256. Let’s talk about this horribly written legislation. I wonder if those advocating for this are aware that this legislation would allow mothers who abort their children to be prosecuted and jailed. This is something that no credible person in the pro-life community I have spoken to believes is acceptable.”
Yes, as an advocate of HF2256, I am aware that unlike Rep. Holt’s toothless HSB621 (a law without real penalties for assassins and the women who hire them), HF2256 would actually prosecute those who break the law.
Rep. Holt cites his prior military experience in his effort to convince the people of Iowa that he is doing battle and going to war for unborn children. I think it is very difficult to successfully wage war when you intentionally identify enemy combatants as victims or collateral damage. And, as Rep. Holt is well-aware, engaging in warfare is often referred to as “prosecuting” war.
Having served as a deputy sheriff for 20-years (now retired), I can’t remember ever enforcing a law that didn’t include penalties for violating the law. Robbery, burglary, assault, domestic violence, vandalism, drunk driving, drug possession, child abuse, etc.–all of these crimes include penalties for those who commit them. Of the untold number of people I arrested during my career, not once did I advise them, “Not to worry; nothing will happen to you. You bear no responsibility for your actions. In fact, you may just be a victim of the crime you committed.”
And there you have, in a nutshell, a five-decade-long incrementalist approach by the pro-life establishment–an approach that has not and will not ever end the scourge of abortion.
Rep. Holt’s and the pro-life establishment’s incrementalist approach is inconsistent. Case in point:
A woman is raped and becomes pregnant. Against the counsel she receives from friends and family, she decides to allow the baby to live. The baby is born, and the mother loves her child.
A few months later, the mother notices that her baby is taking on some of the physical features of her attacker. It bothers her. As days move into weeks, the woman begins to think that she cannot love and raise a child that looks like her attacker. So, she decides to fill her bathtub with warm water and drowns her baby.
I cannot think of a single person (at least none with whom I have spoken) in the pro-life and the pro-abortion camps that would not agree that the woman should be prosecuted for murdering her baby. And here’s where the inconsistency of both camps comes to light.
The only difference between every unborn child and the born child in my scenario is the age and location of the baby. Both children are alive. Both children die at the hand of their mother. And both women should be prosecuted for the crime. It is both ridiculous and illogical to refer and treat the mother who murdered her unborn child as a “victim” while referring and treating the mother of the born child as a “suspect.”
Both the pro-life incrementalist and pro-abortion advocate are inconsistent in their handling of the murder of unborn children. The abortion abolitionist is not.
The only way to end human abortion is to abolish it, outright, and then truly hold accountable those who choose to murder children in violation of the law. Iowa HF2256 would be such a law. But Rep. Holt refuses to allow it to move from his desk to the subcommittee and then onto the judiciary committee, which he presently chairs.
Here’s the most important reason why bills like Rep. Holt’s HSB621 and the pro-life establishment’s incrementalist approach to ending abortion will never work. They’re void of the gospel.
God the Son took on human flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. He did not come to earth to save victims who have no need of forgiveness, for being a victim. He came to earth to save sinners, those who have broken God’s Law (e.g. “do not murder”), who are in desperate need of God’s forgiveness. Until the pro-life establishment has the Word of God and not their own manmade “strategies” as their authority–their marching orders, they will never truly “prosecute” and win the war against abortion.
Mr. Holt, allow HF2256 to move on to the subcommittee. Take a real and courageous step toward ending abortion in Iowa.
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