When “Abolition” Becomes the Enemy of Saving Lives

Newsflash: We all went to save babies and end all abortion.

Recently, I had a conversation with a Students for Life alum who now leads a newer pro-life organization advocating for so-called “abolition” bills, laws that would immediately make abortion illegal and attach criminal penalties for everyone involved, including mothers.

During that call, he said something that surprised me…in a good way.

He described his organization as “incrementalists toward abolition.”

I told him, honestly, that I loved that phrase….and that I was going to steal it.

Because that is exactly what we do every day at Students for Life of America (SFLA) and Students for Life Action (SFLAction).

On college campuses, we don’t expect a pro-abortion student to wake up one day fully pro-life.

If a student moves from “all abortions should be legal” to “maybe abortion should be limited to the first trimester,” we count that as a win. Not total victory…but progress. Minds moved closer to the truth.

The same logic applies in legislatures.

When we pass laws that:

• allow Attorneys General to prosecute illegal Chemical Abortion Pill traffickers, or

• give citizens civil remedies against abortionists shipping pills into pro-life states

…we call that a win.

Not because abortion is over. But because some babies will live who otherwise would not.

That is what incrementalism toward abolition actually means.

Today, in South Carolina, the House is considering a bill based on Students for Life Action’s “Anti-Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking Act.”

The bill was introduced by Rep. Wes Newton, the same legislator who last session killed our “Life at Conception Act” in committee, likely at the request of House leadership.

Last year, we applied intense grassroots pressure to Newton:

• I personally delivered a plastic spine to his office

• We held a press conference at the Capitol

• Student leaders door-knocked his district relentlessly

We were told we were “too mean.”
That we were “hurting relationships.”
That this wasn’t how pro-lifers should act. Literally, we got a nasty letter from other legislators…apparently putting flyers on cars on a Sunday morning went too far.

This year, that same dude introduced a version of our model legislation.

Do I trust him? No.
Am I thrilled the bill is moving? Absolutely.

Because some babies will be saved.

So, were’s where the problem arises.

So-called “abolitionist” legislators in South Carolina TODAY are actively trying to kill this bill. See this X video from one of them…

Rob Harris@HarrisForSC

Bad Bill Alert! H.4760 Chemical Abortion! On the House calendar today! Tell your representative to Vote 'No' on this unconstitutional bill. scstatehouse.gov/legislatorssea…

1:49 PM · Feb 3, 2026 · 1.79K Views

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6 Reposts · 17 Likes

They are trying to kill it not because it expands abortion, but because it doesn’t go far enough.

So, a bill that would save lives. A bill that attacks illegal Abortion Pill trafficking. A bill that actually has the votes to pass.

And they want it defeated.

That is not “incrementalism toward abolition.”

That is ideological arson.

And it hands the already weak GOP leadership in SC the perfect excuse to advance nothing.

I’ve seen this strategy before.

Another national pro-life organization (a group you have heard of) who is against the “abolition” approach has spent decades calling for the defeat of bills they didn’t personally write, regardless of whether it saved lives or not.

That’s not moral clarity. That’s ego (on both sides). And it has us cost lives.

This morning, new data (https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2026/02/04/florida-abortions-down-by-half-since-roe-more-women-travel-procedure) showed that abortions in Florida are down by nearly half since Roe fell and the state’s “Heartbeat Abortion Protection Law: went into effect, a law SFLAction proudly helped advance and stood behind Gov. DeSanstis as he signed it.

Are abortions truly down by half? Nope.

Some women travel to other states. Some order illegal pills.

But I believe with my whole heart that some babies are alive today who would not be otherwise.

I’ll take that over moral purity that produces nothing…any day.

I’ve debated abolitionists publicly who claim incremental laws save zero lives. (See 1:04ish on this video:

Some have even argued that God hates such laws and they should be repealed.

There is no data supporting that claim.

There is, however, plenty of evidence that restricting abortion access does reduce abortions. See all of the research that Catholic University of America professor, Dr. Michael New has produced over the last two decades.

Perfect justice delayed until the culture magically converts is not justice. It’s abdication.

I understand the desire for unity.

My friend Ryan at Liberty University recently wrote about incrementalists and abolitionists working together, and I hear that sentiment constantly from grassroots pro-lifers. His piece is here: https://christoverall.com/article/longform/incrementalists-and-abolitionists-together/

But here’s the hard question no one wants to answer:

How do you work together when one side says God hates every bill but their own?

At SFLAction, we made a strategic decision after the Dobbs decision:

We don’t oppose spend time or support money opposing “pro-prosecution”bill in state legisatures when they are being brought up for a vote.

I understand these bills can shift the Overton Window. Here’s what the Overton Window means, btw: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

If abolitionists want to push bills that have no chance of passage, fine. That’s between them, God, and their supporters who fund it. And, honestly, it makes our “Life at Conception Act” (which bans all abortion and has criminal penalties for abortionists) look “moderate” by comparison.

But trying to kill every other bill is not strategy. It’s sabotage.

And it’s not what the majority of pro-life activists, regardless of whether they believe we must attach criminal penalties for mother or not, want.

Most want progress. The slow, steady march toward the complete end of abortion.

Abolition is the goal.
Saving lives is our daily mission towards that goal.

If your strategy results in fewer laws, fewer protections, and fewer babies saved, then whatever else it is, it isn’t to end abortion.

Incrementalism toward abolition is honest.
Blow-it-all-up abolition is not.

And history is very clear about which approach actually changes the world.