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by Jon Hinton

In 2009, 5,829 abortions were performed in my home state of Iowa.

In 2000, 6,058 abortions were performed in Iowa.

In 1998, Planned Parenthood murdered 167,928 babies through abortion.

In 2010, that number rose to 324,008 but…….

Right to Life organizations say that slowly chipping away at Roe v. Wade is the way to go. I can’t help but point out that trying to lower the amount of abortions still allows them to occur.

Many politicians and pro-life organization leaders say the “chipping away” is “victory” because it represents progress in the right direction. I have to ask, is it really?

What are these organizations saying exactly?

By accepting the idea that our focus should be Roe v. Wade, aren’t they accepting a false premise that man has jurisdiction over the giving and taking of life? Are they working to rid America of the genocide that has killed 55,000,000 babies since 1973 and allowed many sexually active individuals to not take responsibility for their own actions?

Or are these organizations just cashing the check by not standing for principle? Where are those that stand boldly for the laws of nature and Nature’s God? As JFK said 50 years ago, “the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.” The right to Life was so plainly seen in the Natural Law of God by our founding fathers that they wrote it into the Declaration of Independence. It is the principle that man is made in the image of God (“endowed by His Creator with certain unalienable rights”) and with that comes a uniqueness and preciousness to every human life.

That is the principle I thought right to Life organizations stood for – to fight for every life, not just the ones that are politically convenient.

It seems to me that slowly chipping away through parental consent and waiting periods hasn’t gotten these organizations anywhere for 38 years…..except for ever-growing donor lists.

5,829 babies were aborted in Iowa in 2009……chipping away didn’t save them.

My adopted sister could have been aborted 25 years ago until my parents stepped in and advocated for her unborn life. They didn’t chip away, they took a stand – for one precious, human life.

I have to admit one thing—I used to believe in the “chipping away” policy until something happened to me in college. My landlord asked me a hard question that was filled with truth. He asked, “So your telling me it’s okay to kill something made in the image of God?” I had to reassess my convictions and ask, “Am I standing for what is right and true – or am I unknowingly negotiating with evil?” I realized I was doing exactly that, and that was unacceptable.

That was over three years ago. My thinking has changed. I admit that the thought of enacting legislation in this state (or any other) to make abortions harder to obtain is tempting, but I want to see all life protected. It is not for me, or any man, to decide who lives and who dies. That is God’s decision alone. It is for me, however, to stand for God’s principles. Chipping away hasn’t worked. My parents action on behalf of my sister showed me that.

As God’s children–His Ambassadors–we are to stand firm for what is right and true. We are salt no matter what—we just have to decide how “salty” we are going to be. We are the light—we have to decide how many watts we’re going to give out.

And the moment is ripe. For the first time in America since Roe v. Wade, a majority of Americans believe that abortion should be illegal (55% to 43%). Now is the time to take the principled stand.  We must stop “chipping away” lest we continue along a road of political convenience that refuses to hold organizations responsible for the mission statements they claim and the checks they cash.

Jon Hinton is an Iowa native who graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a degree in Interpersonal Communications. He now works for Healing Joplin, an organization dedicated towards recovering and rebuilding the town of Joplin, Missouri after the costliest and deadliest tornado in U.S. history.