Photos by Tom Price

Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, Chino, CA, and three other churches prevailed in their lawsuits challenging the California Department of Managed Health Care’s (DMHC) unconstitutional policy forcing religious organizations to include abortion coverage as part of their health care insurance.

Sanctity of Life

Senior Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills (CCCH), an outspoken advocate for the sanctity of life, stated, “Nobody should be forced to do anything against their convictions or religious beliefs. This decision by the California courts is a great victory in support of the United States Constitution and our religious freedoms.”

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13

As a survivor of a failed coat-hanger abortion, this issue is very near to Pastor Jack. “In the early part of the summer in 1957, my father left California to go to Alaska to work. He left behind my mother, pregnant with me, and my two older siblings. He was frustrated that my mom was pregnant again and wanted to get away. He told her that when he returned, he didn’t want to see a third child in the home. My mother was fearful and didn’t know what to do, as she had no one to turn to,” he described.

Jack continued his miraculous story, “In December of 1957, my mother, feeling more and more desperate, put my older brother and sister to bed, boiled a metal clothes hanger, and proceeded to lie down on a blanket on the kitchen floor. Fortunately, someone came to her rescue, and the abortion failed; but that act put her in the hospital. Twenty-one days later, on January 15, 1958, God saw fit to let me come into a world where I wasn’t wanted.”

Choose Life and Live

Understanding the fear and pressure his mother experienced with no one to turn to, Jack sympathizes with the fear women may have with an unplanned pregnancy. As a result, CCCH has committed to come alongside women, offering them life-saving options instead. In his Sanctity of Life sermon on January 22, 2023, he encouraged, "God says, choose life and live. If you find yourself pregnant, let us know. We'll keep it quiet; we'll find a family, we'll take care of it—and we'll take care of you. We will not be a church that says, ‘Don't do that,' and then not supply the needs by which you can obey.”

Offering hope to women as well as men, Jack encouraged, “There is a remarkable, haunting verse found in Micah 6:7, which says, Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Don’t sacrifice your own child. Let your child live, and watch what God will do. In my family, we have biological and adopted grandchildren, and we love them all the same because we are one family. Someone out there wants your child, even if you don’t or are unable to provide for him/her. Choose life, and see the blessings that await you in return.

Rulings and Award

In February, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California issued a permanent injunction for three churches, ruling that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment protects their right to decline elective abortions.

On May 11, in a separate lawsuit, the U.S. District for the Southern District of California ruled in favor of the fourth church, bringing the eight-year battle to a close after courts awarded $1.4 million to cover churches’ attorneys’ fees.

Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9

In a quote from Alliance Defending Freedom’s (ADF) website, ADF senior counsel Jeremiah Galus said, "This is a significant victory for the churches we represent, the conscience rights of their members, and other religious organizations that shouldn’t be ordered by the government to violate some of their deepest faith convictions.” In addition to Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Chino, CA, ADF attorneys represented three other California churches: Skyline in La Mesa, Foothill in Glendora, and The Shepherd of the Hills in Porter Ranch.

During the legal proceedings, ADF attorneys discovered emails from Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) pressuring DMHC to issue the mandate in 2014. According to the ADF website, California officials, in collaboration with Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, have unconstitutionally targeted faith-based organizations for years. Galus concluded, “The government can’t force a church or any other religious employer to violate their faith and conscience by participating in funding abortion.”

Learn more about Alliance Defending Freedom at adflegal.org and CC Chino Hills at calvarycch.org.

Abortion Survivor, Pastor Jack Hibbs’ Testimony

“I am an abortion survivor” said Pastor Jack Hibbs.

In the early part of the summer in 1957, my father left California to go to Alaska to work. He left behind my mother, pregnant with me, and my two older siblings. He was frustrated that my mom was pregnant again and wanted to get away. He told her that when he returned, he didn’t want to see a third child in the home. My mother was fearful and didn’t know what to do, as she had no one to turn to. She had been raised in a Catholic orphanage in Hawaii for most of her life and hadn’t received the nurture and love that a young child so desperately needs. She married my father at a young age thinking it would be a way out for her and the life she had lived.

He told her that when he returned, he didn’t want to see a third child in the home.

In December of 1957, my mother, feeling more and more desperate, put my older brother and sister to bed, boiled a metal clothes hanger, and proceeded to lie down on a blanket on the kitchen floor. Fortunately, someone came to her rescue, and the abortion failed; but that act put her in the hospital. Twenty-one days later, on January 15, 1958, God saw fit to let me come into a world where I wasn’t wanted.

Rejection and Salvation

My childhood may sound like a sad story, but it’s not. God was at work, even in the midst of difficulty. I was a severe stutterer from a very young age. I didn’t blend in with other kids because I stuttered so much and therefore was teased, mistreated, and abused. Growing up, I never felt close to my dad. I could tell that he didn’t really like me, and I felt rejected and hurt. I grew up an angry child and later, as a teen, became violent. One day, I accidently overheard my mother telling someone on the phone about the abortion attempt. At the time, I was a junior in high school and didn’t really care, although I never forgot about it.

Growing up, I never felt close to my dad. I could tell that he didn’t really like me, and I felt rejected and hurt.

A few years later, on June 20, 1977, I saw many young people going into a building, and I decided to follow them in. I had inadvertently stumbled into Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. I had never been to church, and I was curious and excited to see a young hippie pastor named Greg Laurie teaching the Word of God. I remember him sharing John 3:3, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Hearing the Gospel for the first time, I was so convicted and sick to my stomach, as I knew it was true. I went forward that evening and gave my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and God began to work in my life.

God Has a Plan

I share all of this because so many women are told today that, if they are pregnant and their child is unwanted, they should just have an abortion. I am living proof that this is not the answer. There are many ways to let that child live. Even if you don’t want the baby, someone else does, and God has a plan for that child.

Even if you don’t want the baby, someone else does, and God has a plan for that child.

Psalm 139:13-14 says, You have formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and the same is true for every child! We know from science that at the moment of conception, their DNA already contains their gender, how tall they will be, certain birthmarks, hair and eye color, etc. It’s all written down in that moment, for every person!

God knows you, and He created you. Yes, things in our lives shape who we are, and each one of us has scars and issues from our past. Perhaps you were emotionally abused, molested, or physically beaten. These are scars in our lives, but there is always hope! Those scars can heal over time with the right understanding of who you are in Christ. Even if your story is hurtful and painful—if you are willing to take all of that and put it into the hands of Almighty God—He will take all of it, deal with it, and heal your soul. He takes the things we are ashamed of and hurt by, and He uses them—changing them into strengths.

Even if your story is hurtful and painful—if you are willing to take all of that and put it into the hands of Almighty God—He will take all of it, deal with it, and heal your soul.

When I became a Christian, suddenly God brought meaning and purpose to what had happened to me. He spoke to me through Jeremiah 1:5, which says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” This became a verse of my life—that God chose me to be His messenger. I didn’t know it at the time, but as the years went by, it became obvious. One of the first things He did was to heal my stuttering. He knew me from the womb, and He wanted me to live because He had a plan. You, too, are alive right now because God has a plan. Take everything that has happened in your life and give it to Him. He will take those things and galvanize you, and you will be victorious because God takes the evil and destructive things in our lives and uses them for good. The Bible says He makes beauty from ashes. If you are pregnant, allow the child within you the same privilege to live as you were given, and ask the Lord to show you what to do.

Hope

There is a remarkable, haunting verse found in Micah 6:7, which says, Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Don’t sacrifice your own child. Let your child live, and watch what God will do. In my family, we have biological and adopted grandchildren, and we love them all the same because we are one family. Someone out there wants your child, even if you don’t or are unable to provide for him/her. Choose life, and see the blessings that await you in return.

© 2023 Calvary Chapel Magazine (CCM). All rights reserved. Articles or photographs may not be reproduced without the written permission of CCM. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.® Used by permission.