How Can This Happen?

At the beginning of March, our friends gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at 27 weeks—the final week of the second trimester; way earlier than most preemies. Three weeks ago, I saw her for the first time in the NICU, as she is still developing, awaiting the day she can go home and start her own life out of the plastic container she spends most days. She struggles to breathe, eat, and do all the other functions, but is finding comfort in snuggle time with mom and dad when she can. And then, she passes right out in peaceful sleep, knowing who has her.

When I arrived at the hospital and peeked into the incubator she was in, I was taken aback at how small she was. At just two pounds, her tiny hands with even tinier fingers reached out and stretched. Her little feet and little toes peeked out of the blanket she was under to keep her little frame warm. I wanted to see her little details closer through the glass, but these old eyes wouldn’t allow it. Truly a work of art, engineered to perfection, and a miracle to be had. No doubt the birth of a human being is a magnificent sight, as King David wrote, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).

“Who can gaze even upon a model of our anatomy without wonder and awe? Who could dissect a portion of the human frame without marveling at its delicacy, and trembling at its frailty? The Psalmist had scarcely peered within the veil which hides the nerves, sinews, and blood vessels from common inspection; the science of anatomy was quite unknown to him; and yet he had seen enough to arouse his admiration of the work and his reverence for the Worker.”1

Charles Spurgeon

But…

But as I sat in silence in the waiting room to allow others to take their turn, I could feel an almost uncontrollable rage boiling in me. The thought that someone could kill a child like her—so tiny, cherished, delicate, and innocent—in the most brutal way possible, all to the god of convenience. A precious gift. An awe-inspiring and amazing miracle of God. That a mother could feel the tiny life growing inside her and hate it with contempt. I just cannot imagine. How could a mother, like one seen to the right, advocate for the destruction of other tiny, innocent human beings while holding a tiny, innocent human being of her own? Does she look down at her sleeping child and imagine its head being crushed, torn limb from limb, or burned alive through chemicals and suffocated to death? Would it bring her joy imagining ending her family and decimating generations to come in one act of selfishness? I wonder how the women below will have to explain, as their children get older, how they held signs to advocate for their murder and the snuffing out of their siblings. I wonder if they’ll find these pictures and ask, “Do I have siblings that didn’t make it? Why am I so lucky and they were not?”

Why is hell so horrible?

I do not understand how a mother could gaze upon her precious infant and salivate over taking his or her life, claiming it’s her right as an American, then turn around and claim that God is a mean and unfair judge by wiping out the Canaanites in the Old Testament or send anyone to hell for eternity.

In the Old Testament, one of the most grievous sins of the pagan nations was the sacrifice of their children to the false god Molech. God’s Word is explicit about how detestable this practice was to Him. Leviticus 18:21 says, “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.” The worship of Molech involved burning children alive as offerings to gain favor, prosperity, or relief from fear. This was one of the most repulsive acts in God’s sight, and it was a major reason why He brought judgment upon the Canaanites and commanded Israel to destroy them (Leviticus 20:2–5; Deuteronomy 20:16–18).

When we look at abortion today, we see a haunting parallel. While modern society does not call it “worship,” the underlying principle is tragically similar—innocent lives are sacrificed for the sake of convenience, comfort, or perceived freedom. The Canaanites offered their children to idols of fire; today, many offer their unborn children to the idols of self, success, or fear of hardship. Psalm 106:37–38 describes Israel’s later fall into the same sin: “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.” God’s response to such evil was judgment, because the shedding of innocent blood defiles the land and offends His holiness.

The horror of hell starkly embodies the infinite gravity of sin committed against an infinitely holy God. Sin transcends mere error or moral failing; it stands as a defiant rebellion against the Creator and Sustainer of life. Romans 6:23 unequivocally states that “the wages of sin is death,” while Revelation 20:15 solemnly outlines the final judgment, declaring, “if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” This lake of fire is not an act of arbitrary cruelty but rather the rightful consequence of rejecting the sole source of life, light, and goodness—God Himself. When individuals turn their backs on God, they forsake all that imbues existence with joy and meaning. Thus, hell serves as the ultimate manifestation of that separation.

How Pro-life Are You?

One particular Saturday, I was disrupted by the doorbell, and a gentleman was on my porch handing out flyers for his campaign, running for election to the Iowa House as a Republican. As he was talking about his campaign and the issues he would be defending for his constituents, I read in his bio that he is unabashedly Catholic and pro-life. So I asked, “How pro-life are you?” He looked puzzled at my question, so I asked the question again and added, “What would you do as a congressman to end abortion?”

“Well, I am in complete agreement with the Iowa Heartbeat Bill, that we should never end the life of a human being that is alive?”

“I see that you are Catholic too. According to the Church, when does life begin?” I said. 

“At conception.”

“As do I. So then why are you okay with special murder rights for mothers six weeks until an audible heartbeat?”

He didn’t have much of an answer after that. The Democrat Party wants to kill children; the Republican Party allows it to happen. The former sins in commission, the latter in omission. But God hates them both. Sin is sin in His eyes, especially when it comes to murder. Whether explicitly or implicitly, children are being murdered.

Incrementalism is a slap in the face

This is why Incrementalism is such a slap in God’s face, and Christians fall right into it. That political or social policies need to be implemented gradually, as in the classic “frog in the water” illustration; if you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out, whereas you put the same frog in lukewarm water and increase the temperature slowly. When you say that abortion policies need to be implemented slowly, you are procrastinating your repentance for a more convenient time. I don’t know where in the Bible it says that God says to ‘repent later at a more convenient time for you.’ No, He says emphatically—”Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand!” God requires an immediate repentance all throughout Scripture.

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” – Act 17:30-31 ESV

“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” – Rom 2:4-5 ESV

Jesus’ mission was to call sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32; 24:47). Not later, but NOW! This is why I am an Abolitionist and why it aligns perfectly with the Bible. Promising to repent later is a denial of true biblical repentance; it conveys to God, “I want to stop sinning, but not at this moment. It’s simply not the right time for me.” When it comes to giving, the Bible makes it clear: if you have the means, you are called to share with those in need.

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again, tomorrow I will give it”–when you have it with you.” – Pro 3:27-28 ESV

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” – 1Jo 3:16-17 ESV

The pro-life and pro-choice movements agree on one point: mothers who choose to end the life of their unborn child through abortion, even with malice and forethought, will not be punished. This belief is also inconsistent with the Bible, which shows God disapproves of such thinking. Only with Abolition and criminalizing all forms of abortion, at any stage of pregnancy, would it end overnight.

We are all made in God’s image

The destruction of the Canaanites was not an act of cruelty but of divine justice. Their culture had become so corrupted by idolatry, sexual immorality, and child sacrifice that God’s patience, after centuries of warning, finally gave way to judgment (Genesis 15:16; Leviticus 18:24–25). In the same way, abortion today reveals how far humanity can drift when it rejects God’s authority and the sanctity of life He created. Every child is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and Psalm 139:13–16 reminds us that God forms each life in the womb with purpose and love.

Even in judgment, God’s mercy was evident. Individuals who turned to Him in repentance and faith were spared—Rahab in Jericho (Joshua 2:9–11) and the Gibeonites who sought peace (Joshua 9:3–15) are examples. Ezekiel 33:11 reveals God’s heart: “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” We need to repent from child sacrifice and end it now while we still have time.


  1. Spurgeon, Charles. “Psalm 139.” Blue Letter Bible. 5 Dec 2016. Web. 27 Mar, 2026. https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/tod/ps139.cfm. ↩︎

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