Sixty-three percent of all abortions are now administered by the abortion pill.
While this month at Christ Over All covered multiple facts, figures, arguments, and approaches to ending abortion, nothing stood out to me more than this simple fact: women in 2026 are killing their pre-born babies the way that women in 1976 used to remedy heartburn.
Do you remember Alka-Seltzer? In the 1970s, this home remedy for heartburn could be picked up at the local drugstore. And with two tablets bubbling in water, one’s poor decisions about food and drink could be relieved—so the commercial promised.
Now, it has been years since I’ve seen a commercial for Alka-Seltzer, but I still remember the famous tagline: “Plop, plop. Fizz, fizz. Oh what a relief it is!” I can almost sing the tune, too, as this wonder drug was sold to a generation of men and women who looked for gastrointestinal relief.
Fast forward to today and we have another drug that is sold online and in some drug stores. This oral drug is also marketed to bring relief. Only, this drug does not provide relief for poor eating habits. This drug, in its first dose (mifepristone), kills the preborn child growing in the mother’s womb, and then with the second dose (misoprostol), the lethal treatment expels the dead baby from the woman’s body.
Plop, plop. Fizz, fizz. Oh what a horror this is!
Since the Dobbs decision (2022) overturned Roe v. Wade (1973), the number of abortions has not gone down. It has only risen. As Dusty Deevers reported in his article for Christ Over All,
US abortion totals went from 1.06 million in 2023 to 1.14 million in 2024 to 590,000 in just the first half of 2025. With the consistent month-over-month rate of increase, that number will likely exceed 1.2 million when fully reported.
Yes, the total number of abortion clinics in the United States has fallen since 2020. And many of these closures have come as a result of Dobbs. Still, with fewer in-person clinics, the number of total abortions rises. And if we are being honest, this only confirms how entrenched abortion is in America. And how easy it is, too.
With two pills a woman can end the life of her healthy child. And worse, many women, in protest of Dobbs and other efforts to end abortion, are shouting their abortions. As social media platforms invite all manner of self-expression, countless women have documented their homicidal actions by letting the camera roll as they unbox the mifepristone and defiantly swallow the chemical which will destroy their uterine wall and the child depending on them for life.
How far we have fallen.
With the ease of popping two pills, women today are aborting their children at an unprecedented rate. Indeed, nearly two in three women are killing their children with their own hands and a gulp of water. This rise in self-administered abortions brings the painful realization that the strategies once employed for saving the unborn and ending abortion are woefully inadequate.
As Steve Deace highlighted in his podcast with us, the Pro-Life Movement was woefully unprepared for winning Dobbs. Likewise, the politicians and pro-life leaders who willfully refuse to address the responsibility of the woman are wholly incapable of addressing the most prevalent form of abortion today. No longer can we point the finger at Kermit Gosnell and his jars of human remains. Now the one who is responsible for the abortion shares the same eyes as the victim.
In many ways, this has always been true. While threatening fathers and abusive boyfriends have led women to get an abortion under duress, the rise of feminism has only increased the woman’s role. After all, as the misguided maxim goes, it is “her body” and “her choice.” Indeed, so great is her choice today, that there are men who only learn about their child’s destruction after the fact.
Truly, we have moved beyond the effervescent advertisement of Alka-Seltzer. Now Alka-Seltzer abortions are for sale in all fifty states, even in those states where abortion is illegal. And thus, Christians must return to the Lord in prayer, planning, and action to discern what we can do to rescue those who are being taken away to death (Prov. 24:11). While Dobbs certainly was a victory for the Pro-Life Movement, it was one that moves the battle to all fifty states. And, as Steve Deace observed in his podcast, it reset the clock to 1973 and the need to argue again the very personhood of the child.
Still, we cannot simply return to 1973, for in the last five decades, those in the culture of death has hardened themselves against the preborn children that they know are genuinely human. While some may have once believed (ignorantly!) that abortion expelled a sub-human clump of cells from the woman’s body, today such a belief is unjustified. Too many ultrasounds have been seen. Yet, this inconvenient truth only means that women have willingly sacrificed a child for the sake of their own life’s comfort.
This anti-gospel, where the mother sacrifices her child to preserve and protect her life, is just one of the places the Christian must stand up and speak. As we have observed this month, many churches still do not address this subject. And many others address it with feminine-coded speech—meaning that they teach their people that abortions will be reduced if only we can give more support to the woman. Certainly, there is a place for Christians, pregnancy care centers, and churches to have compassion for confused women. But as many women knowingly gulp down death, they also need to hear the full counsel of God, the righteous law of God’s liberty, and the reality that abortion is murder. As Ginna Cross informed us, too many pregnancy care centers have refused to confront women in their sin. And too many pro-life politicians have played along by carving out any way for women to be held accountable.
Understandably, abolitionist campaigns that begin, middle, and end with the message, “punish all women,” are rhetorically ineffective. But there is a way to call for equal protection under the law that focuses on the protection of the child and impartial justice. And if we are honest, this is a fact that some incrementalists have begun to recognize, too.
With the changing landscape in the way abortions are being performed, laws that only address abortion clinics miss the mark. Just the same, there needs to be an informed discussion between those who seek to abolish abortion immediately and those who seek to end abortion incrementally. Too often online arguments result in accusation and balkanization. And what is needed are extended forums, even private debates, where those who have different strategies, live in different states, and occupy different vocations discuss the many ways we need to work together to end abortion.
This month at Christ Over All, that has been our aim. We have offered a variety of perspectives, some of which have been contradictory. That has been on purpose. We wanted to facilitate a conversation and to provide a place for the best arguments to be made. And with this month finishing up, we encourage you to read all the arguments and then to think carefully how the Lord would have you speak and act in your local setting.
I know that in Virginia, with abortion legislation coming this year, our church will have more work to do than we have ever done. And in our state, abolitionists and incrementalists should have no trouble working together to overturn HJ1, the constitutional amendment to make abortion a fundamental right. And we will need to work together, if the Lord will honor our prayers to throw out the ballot measure this November. In my mind, that is one way that all Christians, whatever their convictions about political strategy, can cooperate.
And cooperate we must. For we won’t make headway against the forces of evil and the advocates for abortion unless we stand, pray, and work together. With biblical foundations, wise actions, Spirit-empowered boldness, may the resources this month help you work to abolish abortion and advocate for life. For specific help, take time to consider all the resources below, with the longforms in bold. And bookmark this month for future help on the subject.
- Abortion in America After the Fall of Roe: Important Advances and Remaining Challenges by David Closson • Concise Article • What is the state of Abortion in the United States after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022?
- December Intermission: From Enjoying Christmas to Ending Abortion by David Schrock • Concise Article • Join us as we transition from December’s Christmas Buffet, where we celebrated the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ as a baby, to the month of January, where we consider how best to save babies in their mothers’ womb.
- A Case for Abortion Incrementalism by David Closson • Longform Essay • Virtually all concrete and measurable gains against the abortion industry since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 have been through incremental strategies, while abolitionism has yet to result in the passage of a single law.
- 5.01 “A Case for Abortion Incrementalism” by David Closson • Podcast Reading • Virtually all concrete and measurable gains against the abortion industry since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 have been through incremental strategies, while abolitionism has yet to result in the passage of a single law.
- “Thou Shalt Not Murder”: Abortion and the Civil Use of God’s Moral Law by David Mitzenmcher • Concise Article • Abortion violates the sixth commandment and demands civil justice, and the church must recover this aspect of God’s moral law in public life.
- Fewer Babies, Later Babies, Lost Babies: The Shrinking American Family by Joshua D. Holler • Concise Article • Whatever happened to the American family? As families keep getting smaller—and rarer—society is increasingly structured against big families. What are Christians to do?
- The Death Penalty Is Pro-Life: Three Responses to Pope Leo XIV’s Unbiblical View by Scarlett Clay • Concise Article • Do pro-lifers need to oppose the death penalty? Pope Leo XIV thinks so. God’s Word says otherwise.
- 5.02 “A Case for Abortion Incrementalism” by David Closson, David Schrock, & Stephen Wellum • Podcast Interview • Listen in as David Schrock & Stephen Wellum interview David Closson on his COA Longform Essay “A Case for Abortion Incrementalism”
- Abortion in Canada: Confronting the Darkness by Jay Postnikoff • Concise Article • Canada hasn’t had a single law preventing abortion in almost forty years. But hope is not lost.
- A Case for Abolitionism: The Only Way to End Abortion in America by Ben Zeisloft • Longform Essay • Many pro-life organizations are failing in their mission to save babies. But why? Ben Zeisloft sees not only a problem with the execution of pro-life bills and strategies, but understands them to be anemic half measures. Read on as Ben presents a case for abortion abolitionism as the answer to our nation’s abortion epidemic.
- 5.03 “A Case for Abolitionism: The Only Way to End Abortion in America” by Ben Zeisloft • Podcast Reading • Many pro-life organizations are failing in their mission to save babies. But why? Ben Zeisloft sees not only a problem with the execution of pro-life bills and strategies, but understands them to be anemic half measures. Read on as Ben presents a case for abortion abolitionism as the answer to our nation’s abortion epidemic.
- Eugenics Reborn: How Prenatal Testing Targets Children With Down Syndrome (Part 1) by Garrhett Hurst • Concise Article • Prenatal genetic screening is a form of modern eugenics that has given birth to a type of genocide for those with unfavorable genes.
- Is Every Woman Who Pursues Abortion a Victim? The Feminist Capture of the Pro-Life Movement by Ginna Cross • Concise Article • The greatest threat to the fight to end abortion isn’t external hostility, political opposition, or legal setbacks. It is internal compromise. Over the past several decades, a feminist framework: one that redefines freedom, elevates victimhood, and rejects moral accountability, has steadily embedded itself into the language and logic of pro-life advocacy.
- Eugenics Reborn: How Prenatal Testing Targets Children With Down Syndrome (Part Two) by Garrhett Hurst • Concise Article • Prenatal screening often results in murder—but it can also save lives. Should Christian parents even get it? And what is the church’s prophetic call in an age of eugenics?
- Equal Protection or Bust: Why Abolitionists Have the Only Answer to the Abortion Pill Crisis by Dusty Deevers • Longform Essay • What is more sterilizing and depersonalizing than a simple pill? Sadly, in a post-Dobbs world, the abortion pill has been used to perpetuate the slaughter of children in states that have supposedly strict restrictions on the practice. Read as Senator Dusty Deevers explains how the Pro-life movement has been unable to answer the question of “abortion pills.”
- 5.04 “Equal Protection or Bust: Why Abolitionists Have the Only Answer to the Abortion Pill Crisis” by Dusty Deevers • Podcast Reading • What is more sterilizing and depersonalizing than a simple pill? Sadly, in a post-Dobbs world, the abortion pill as been used to perpetuate the slaughter of children in states that have supposedly strict restrictions on the practice. Read as Senator Dusty Deevers explains how the Pro-life movement has been unable to answer the question of “abortion pills.”
- The 2026 Virginia Abortion Amendment by Bruce Schlesman • Concise Article • Virginia is about to enshrine a constitutional right to abortion into law. Most Virginians don’t even know it’s happening. We must take a stand.
- 5.05 “What’s Best Next: Abortion, Abolitionism, and Strategizing Ways to Save Lives and Change Laws” by Steve Deace, David Schrock, & Stephen Wellum • Podcast Interview • Listen in to a special interview as COA’s David Schrock and Stephen Wellum are joined by Steve Deace to talk about the best way to strategize and save lives, including a breakdown of the state of the Pro-Life and Abolitionist movements.
- 5.06 “Is Every Woman Who Pursues Abortion a Victim?: The Feminist Capture of the Pro-Life Movement” by Ginna Cross, David Schrock, & Stephen Wellum • Podcast Interview • Listen in as David Schrock and Stephen Wellum interview Ginna Cross on her COA Article “Is Every Woman Who Pursues Abortion a Victim?: The Feminist Capture of the Pro-Life Movement”
- Unsafe and Ineffective: Reconsidering the Safety of the Abortion Pill Mifepristone by Jeff Beaupre • Concise Article • Abortion pills don’t just kill children. They kill women too.
- Incrementalists and Abolitionists Together? by Ryan Helfenbein • Longform Essay • We want to abolish abortion. And we can do that better when we are united in making incremental political victories.
- Protestors are Coming to Your Church Are You Ready? Twenty-Five Action Steps Before the Day Comes by Charles Lyons • Concise article • What will you do when protestors show up at your church? That day’s happening sooner than you realize.
The God Who Is There: Contemplating the Doctrine of God
After a month addressing some of the most challenging and hostile questions of our day, it is good to slow down and reflect on the God Who Is There. For those who are familiar with Francis Schaeffer, you should immediately be able to hear in our title a tip of the hat to his book by the same title (The God Who Is There). In this month, we are not arguing for the existence of God or making a case for how we might know God. We are beginning with the self-evident truth that God Is. And from that point of reference, we are going to devote most of our time to the attributes of God.
Yet, we will also revisit a debate that came to the forefront in 2016. Ten years ago, a major skirmish emerged as some evangelical theologians argued that the Son was eternally, functionally subordinate to the Father. This came to be known as EFS (Eternal Functional Subordination), and it was closely related to another acronym ERAS (eternal relations of authority and submission). Affirmed in various ways by Wayne Grudem, Bruce Ware, Owen Strachan, and others, this debate connected questions about theological language, complementarianism, classical theism, and a host of related issues.
For those around Southern Seminary, this teaching was a local matter. And it was one that many students imbibed and embraced, before they saw the errors of its teaching. In this month, Steve Wellum will give us a sympathetic reading of that debate, along with a careful explanation of why classical theism, analogical language, and the confessions of the early church best serve our understanding of the Trinity today. So, don’t miss that essay and the podcasts that will go with it.
In addition to that big discussion, we will have a host of concise essays tackling God’s incommunicable and communicable attributes. These essays will focus on God’s holiness, love, sovereignty, aseity, and so much more. So be sure to tune in and grow in your understanding of God as we spend the month contemplating the doctrine of our triune God.
News and Notes
First, we now have PDFs available online—half off!
Half our themes are now available for download. You can find them in the Store Tab. As you will see, every theme is formatted and organized for easy printing. For a sample, you can go to September 2022 or October 2022, where both of those months are free for download. For the rest, the regular price will be $15. But for now, we have them marked off by half.
These PDFs, which have a book’s worth of material in each volume, are intended to help you better read a large section of given subject and to share them in your church as needed. Once you download a PDF, they are there for your use for ministry, teaching, and training. We would ask that you don’t republish them online, but please make use of them freely in your ministries.
Second, be aware of our upcoming months.
If you have interest in one of the following topics in bold and are interested in writing for us (in line with our doctrinal distinctives), feel free to shoot us an e-mail to tell us what you are thinking.
February: God Is . . . Engaging the Doctrine of God
March: Can the Center Hold? The SBC in the Twenty-First Century
April: The Resurrection in the Old Testament
May: Critiquing Eastern Orthodoxy
June: Opposing Islam
July: Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary
August: A Sabbath Rest: A Collection of COA’s Best Essays . . . So Far
September: The Ten Commandments
October: Pastor, Be Political: A Guide to Glorifying God in the Midterms
November: Economics 101
December: Christmas Carols to the Glory of God
December is a short story (5000 words) contest. Submit a Christmas themed story, and enter a chance to win a cash prize.
That’s all for this month. Until next time, let’s remember that because Christ is Lord over all, we ought exalt Christ in all things.
