The ABS in my Jeep isn't working anymore (the pump failed and it's a $1,400 PART to get it working again) so now I have to go from ABS-equipped vehicle (my wife's van) to non-abs equipped vehicle (my Jeep). Kind of important to keep that straight.

Yes, you experienced an ABS activation. The system rapidly pumps the brakes for you, and your system is held active as long as you are stomping down. It feels like a vibration, the pedal drops down a bit and it's odd feeling.
If you're in an ABS activation, just stay stomped down until it deactivates or you regain control of the vehicle.

$1,400! Nice.

If it makes you feel any better my wife took her car in to the dealer for an oil change. ( I was too busy to get to it and we were going to take it out of town. )

Long story short, the dealer lost one of the nuts off the air filter assembly and sent her home with one bolt holding the assembly closed. You can't buy the nut alone so it's a $550 plastic box. The dealer is replacing it at their expense but this is the second and last time they will do any maintenance on my vehicles.

Did I mention that they broke the same part during that vehicles only other appearance in the dealer's service department?

And you want to be careful thinking ABS will decrease your stopping distance. Some really expensive cars in Europe it does and they advertise that but then everyone started thinking that every ABS system does that and the less expensive its simply preventing wheel skid to allow steering and most times actually increases stopping distance.
My old S10 I learned that they had a wire from the transfer case to the ABS to disable it in 4x4low since your going to be off road in in 4x4low and want the dirt/gravel/etc to pile up in front of a skidding tire so dig in in those situations. I thought about putting a switch in that wire to give myself some control.
New truck (2004) its all controlled via the data bus. So unless you can talk the Intel J8150 protocol your out of luck.

The ABS "pump back" WAS designed in, but has (like in the last 1-2 model years) been mostly eliminated because it was causing people to freak out! It was menat as a "Hey, you're breaking a bit hard here - that's OK, but slow down" kind of warning, but they found that people would panic, and take their foot off the brakes

Flashing lots of yellow triangles, exclamation points and snow symbols accompanied by buzzing sounds achieves the same effect, more or less. That has been standard practice of all vehicles with traction control or electronic stability control that I've ever been in. I think everyone will understand a visual "you'
re going to fast - it is slippery" warning from the control panel. Everyone is puzzled by the "foot massage" the first time they feel it.

Electronic stability control does a much better job than ABS alone (all ESC-equipped vehicles use ABS brakes, AFAIK). It takes the fun out of winter driving, but is a huge asset in emergencies. I consider myself an experienced winter driver, but I will NEVER do as good a job as a ESC keeping the vehicle stable in high speed emergency turning.

The most important thing is slowing down and give yourself a wider margin for braking and turning, trying to anticipate what happens next and possible hazards - such as the last 15 feet before a red light is always very slippery - it has been polished by all the vehicles before you braking at the same spot. This attitude is always good practice, but it is even more important when friction is limited.