We looked at our most-downloaded episodes of 2023 and compiled the highlights here. Listen for excerpts from five of listeners’ favorite episodes of the year, with selections from every Know Why Series series of 2023!
In this episode, you’ll hear snippets of the following interviews (click to listen to the full interviews or read more):
Can racial justice and pro-life activism go hand-in-hand? In this episode of the Know Why Podcast, the latest installment of our Know About Pro-Lifers Series, Cherilyn Holloway says they not only can, but should. Founder and president of Pro-Black Pro-Life, Cherilyn challenges listeners to think and step outside the box in order to understand the systemic factors driving African American women to abortion. She offers practical advice for pro-life activists and a hopeful call for people from all backgrounds to work together to build a better future.
The Numbers
Even though African Americans only make up around 12 percent of the American population, they make up about 40 percent of abortions in this nation.
“We are essentially aborting our future.”
Cherilyn Holloway, Pro-Black Pro-Life
“We are essentially aborting our future,” Cherilyn told Know Why.
The fact that African American women are overrepresented in abortion statistics is well-known, but the why behind that fact is often overlooked.
That’s part of what led Cherilyn to start Pro-Black Pro-Life. She said she didn’t fit neatly into boxes people assumed she would be in. For instance, participating in pro-life activism didn’t make her a Trump-supporter. But in pro-life circles, she found her concerns about racial justice misunderstood or ignored.
“I realized that my community immediately categorized ‘pro-life’ to mean ‘anti-Black,” Cherilyn said, “because people who were pro-life typically advocated and voted for policies that were against their best interest.”
“I need people to know that I’m pro-Black and pro-life,” she added. “One does not mean you’re not the other.”
The Drivers
So what is driving Black women to abortion? Cherilyn mentioned several “systemic” problems, the largest, she believes, being economic imbalance.
“Seventy percent of women who are Black single moms who find themselves in a position to choose abortion make $35,000 or less,” she said. “Single moms who are African American who make $40,000 or more are 70 percent more likely to actually have their child. So we’re talking about a $5,000 difference a year.”
“I need people to know that I’m pro-Black and pro-life. One does not mean you’re not the other.”
Cherilyn Holloway, Pro-Black Pro-Life
If pro-lifers want to help lower the abortion rate in the Black community, recognizing and working to close gaps like those is key.
“The only solution to a woman having economic issues when she’s pregnant is not abortion,” Cherilyn added. “Why is that the only choice she gets? It’s not choice.”
Nine Days
Sometimes closing a gap for a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy simply means walking with her through the initial crisis.
“Typically a crisis situation lasts nine days,” Cherilyn said. “And if you can intervene within that nine days with tangible solutions, you can help bring somebody out of that crisis mode and into a more cognitive thinking process.”
“The only solution to a woman having economic issues when she’s pregnant is not abortion. Why is that the only choice she gets? It’s not choice.”
Cherilyn Holloway, Pro-Black Pro-Life
How can you be there for women in you community during their days of crisis? It starts with knowing what resources are available in your community and state, so that you can equip women with what she needs. It’s also important to know your own gifts and find ways to help that are right for you.
Can you give women without transportation a ride to doctor appointments? Make yourself available. Do you like public speaking about pro-life matters or racial justice? Make sure you’re educated about what you want to discuss. Cherilyn recommends reading The New Fight for Life: Roe, Race, and a Pro-Life Commitment to Justice by Benjamin Watson for a “more of a nuanced view of the issue and what to do about it.” Cherilyn wrote the foreword.
Cherilyn left podcast listeners with these words of wisdom:
“I would just like to remind everyone not to put people in boxes, not to immediately put your defenses up. Pro-black does not mean anti-white, pro-life does not mean anti-Black. Understand that there are different organizations and people who are running this race, and even though we’re not in the exact same lane, we have a common goal that we are running to. Be open-minded, be humble, and receive things as they come.”
Monica Snyder from Secular Pro-Life is back! In Part 2 of her conversation with Know Why Podcast, Monica tackles tough questions, including… Do pro-lifers care about bodily autonomy? Do embryos really have heartbeats? Are women being denied life-saving treatment post-Roe?
Scroll to end for links to additional resources and information.
Bodily Autonomy
Supporters of abortion say women should not be forced to support a fetus via pregnancy, and remaining pregnant when one would rather not be may violate bodily rights. Do pro-lifers care about women’s bodily autonomy?
“We’re all humans and we should be trying to create a society where we’re taking care of each other.”
She also noted that most pro-choice people wouldn’t support a mother intentionally starving her child by denying to breastfeed, even though breastfeeding requires a woman to use her body for the sake of another.
The difference is that some pro-choice people may not consider a baby a person with human rights until they’re born. “Bodily rights … only work in the abortion debate if you assume first that the embryo or the fetus is not a person,” Monica said. For the full conversation on personhood, listen to Part 1 of Monica’s interview.
Monica and Liberty also discussed how all humans are dependent on each other at some point in their lives.
“Embryos and fetuses are our offspring,” Monica explained. “They are members of our species. We were them at one point. They will be us eventually, in the sense of life stages. I feel like the abortion debate makes it so ‘us versus them,’ and it’s not accurate.”
Women’s Wellbeing in the Post-Roe World
But pregnancy does take a toll on women’s bodies—even when a pregnancy isn’t considered especially dangerous. It doesn’t do pro-lifers any good to downplay the difficulty of pregnancy, Monica believes. “I think that sometimes our side is too glib about what pregnancy entails, even a healthy pregnancy that’s not dangerous,” she said.
And when a pregnancy is dangerous? This became a major concern of many Americans after Roe v. Wade was overturned at the Supreme Court in 2022. When abortion was outlawed or more severely restricted in several states, news stories told frightening tales of women not receiving care for conditions like ectopic pregnancy or miscarriage. Abortion advocates warned women they could be prosecuted for seeking emergency medical treatment for miscarriages or medical emergencies during pregnancy.
“I think that sometimes our side is too glib about what pregnancy entails.”
Monica Snyder, Secular Pro-Life
Were these stories an accurate depiction of the Post-Roe landscape? In the episode, Monica explains which stories were likely to be untrue based on the laws of the state where they allegedly took place, what many state laws actually say about receiving emergency medical care while pregnant, and in which cases states may need to add more clarity to ensure women do receive the care they need.
Pro-lifers need to say to pregnant women, “Listen, whatever procedures or medication, or whatever you need to make sure that you are safe, those should be accessible,” Monica told Know Why.
Does an Embryo Have a Heart?
Many pro-life laws were activated by the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned Roe, but other pro-life laws, like “heartbeat bills,” were growing in popularity around the nation even before the Supreme Court’s landmark decision. Heartbeat laws prohibit abortion after a heartbeat is detected via ultrasound. In response to these laws, abortion supporters began claiming that embryos don’t have heartbeats or even hearts yet—something that “astounded” Monica.
“Yes, there is a heart.”
Monica Snyder, Secular Pro-Life
“Yes, there is a heart,” she said, citing scientific information about the embryonic heart and using her biology background to explain its early development. “The heart is one of the first things to develop to get coordinated blood pumping.”
To learn more about the development of the embryonic heart, state laws regarding women’s health post-Roe, or any other topic covered in Know Why’s conversation with Monica Snyder, visit Secular Pro-Life’s website at one of the links below:
Religious. Fundamentalist. Republican. This stereotype is how many people imagine pro-lifers.
Monica Snyder, an atheist and Executive Director of Secular Pro-Life, busts that stereotype in a two-part interview with Know Why Podcast, part of our Know About Pro-Lifers series. In this episode, Monica talks about Secular Pro-Life and uses her background in biology to weigh in on the fascinating discussions surrounding the beginning of human life and personhood. Ready for shattered perceptions and a biology lesson? Start listening, or keep reading!
An Organization for Non-Religious Pro-Lifers…And Everyone Else
Create space for atheists, agnostics, and other secularists interested in anti-abortion work; and
Build interfaith coalitions of people interested in advancing secular arguments.
People of various beliefs work with the organization. “To be blunt, we don’t actually care what your religious beliefs are, or your political views,” Monica told Know Why. “We care, if you want to work with us, to advance arguments against abortion that are accessible to people broadly speaking—so non-sectarian, non-partisan arguments against abortion.”
“To be blunt, we don’t actually care what your religious beliefs are, or your political views.”
Monica Snyder Secular Pro-Life
Secular Pro-Life’s existence is a surprise to many people on both sides of the abortion debate. “One of the biggest stereotypes about pro-lifers is that they’re all religious fundamentalists, and so that’s what pro-choice people are expecting,” she said.
Other pro-lifers are sometimes surprised to find an organization dedicated to opposing abortion that is not faith-based, Monica explained. But she added that many religious pro-lifers have non-religious bases for their pro-life position, so aren’t as surprised to meet secular individuals who oppose abortion as well.
Life’s Beginning…Biologically Speaking
Science is what drew Monica to the pro-life argument. With an educational and professional background studying biology and working in a forensic lab, Monica said she enjoys “the scientific method—trying to come up with a question and test the hypothesis and figure out if it’s true or not.” She continued:
“What that means for the work I do with Secular Pro-Life, is a lot of times I will be looking at different factually verifiable claims having to do with the abortion debate, and trying to figure out what evidence there is or isn’t for them.”
One of the claims often made by pro-lifers is that life begins at conception, or fertilization.
“It is, yes, a biological fact that in terms of us as organisms, our life cycle begins at conception. That’s not a religious belief, that’s just straight biology,” Monica said, emphasizing that it’s important for everyone to understand this (and understand the difference between cells and organisms) before debating about abortion.
“It is, yes, a biological fact that in terms of us as organisms, our life cycle begins at conception. That’s not a religious belief, that’s just straight biology,”
Monica snyder Secular Pro-Life
But she also said the debate between pro-lifers and those who are pro-choice isn’t just about biology. “The philosophy comes in when we ask ourselves, ‘Ok, is that human organism morally valuable? Is that human organism a person? Does that humans organism have rights?”
These questions about whether and when a particular human organism has value and rights—personhood—is where most of the abortion debate rests.
The Making of a Person
“Pro-choice people have a lot of different ideas for when a human becomes a person, but we find that they all involve some major, very scary flaws in the argument,” Monica said.
For instance, many pro-choicers argue that a human organism in the womb isn’t a moral person until they have certain cognitive functions, such as perception of pain. But that logic implies that many people who are already born—whether premature infants in some cases, or people with certain disabilities—don’t qualify for personhood either.
“I take great issue with a philosophy that results in not only the dehumanization of embryos and fetuses to justify an abortion, but the dehumanization of groups of people that the person speaking wouldn’t even agree with.”
So when do human organisms gain personhood? Many people of faith, such as Christians, base personhood on the biblical belief that all human beings are created with inherent value, “in the image of God.” But what about for people who aren’t religious?
In Part 2 of this interview, Monica explains her take on more important topics often raised in the abortion debate, including bodily autonomy and more.
What would it take for churches to provide the love, support, and encouragement women need when they’re unexpectedly expecting? Amy Ford, President and Founder of Embrace Grace, has some ideas.
Amy launched Embrace Grace, Inc. in 2008 after experiencing her own unexpected pregnancy. Today Embrace Grace equips churches nationwide to do their part. Lives are being changed and saved as a result.
In this episode of the Know Why Podcast, a continuation of Know Why’s series Know About Pro-Lifers, Amy shares her powerful testimony. She also tells listeners about the ministry that is making churches a place more pregnant women want to run to instead of away from.
“It’s Just What You Did”
Raised in church, Amy became “unexpectedly expecting” at age 19 with her high school sweetheart. When her abortion appointment didn’t go as planned, they decided to get married—but the first pastor they asked refused to marry them.
(Hear the whole story of Amy’s unexpected pregnancy, marriage, and reconciliation with the pastor who refused to marry them on the podcast.)
“There are over 300,000 churches in America. If we all were doing our part, we could make abortion unthinkable.”
Amy Ford, President Embrace Grace, Inc.
Amy’s story wasn’t unique. Many other women have faced similar experiences in church, encountering judgment, shame, and loneliness at a time when they need love and guidance.
As one pastor told Amy, recalling a less-than-gracious response to a congregant’s unplanned pregnancy that he later repented for, “It’s just what you did.”
But is that the Christian way?
Pro-Love
Amy reminds listeners that it’s God’s kindness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). She also references the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) to illustrate how churches should respond to women with unplanned pregnancies. In the story the father throws a party for his son who returns after running away. That’s how God is, and how the church should be. Instead, we can often be like the other son in the parable, Amy said—envious of the celebration the father throws for his rebellious son.
Amy founded Embrace Grace, Inc. to equip churches to respond to women with unplanned pregnancies the right way—an approach she calls “pro-love.” While being pro-life is a political stance, “Pro-love is where the change happens. That’s the action,” she said.
“You can have your baby and your dreams too.”
Amy Ford, President embrace Grace, Inc.
If more churches were truly pro-love, offering the support and assistance women need when facing an unplanned pregnancy, the felt need for abortion would disappear, Amy argues.
The majority of women who have abortions are doing so because they feel they have no other choice due to finances and other responsibilities, one study found. Churches can alleviate these concerns for women, Amy says. They can offer spiritual, emotional, and practical support for a woman and her family not just during pregnancy—but for life.
Why do women seek abortion? Is abortion truly the best solution to her problems? Is the pro-life movement active in addressing those problems in helpful and empowering ways for women?
Bringing perspective to these difficult yet important questions in this episode of the Know Why Podcast is Chelsey Youman, the Texas State Director and National Legislative Advisor for Human Coalition. Human Coalition uses online marketing strategies to reach women who are considering abortion. When women come in contact with Human Coalition, they’re immediately connected with a licensed nurse who offers support and resources that address the root of the woman’s need.
In her interview with Know Why, Chelsey noted that 76 percent of surveyed women who are seeking an abortion say they would rather parent than if their circumstances were different. “And that’s where our organization began,” Chelsey said of Human Coalition, “helping to fix those circumstances so she could see hope.”
“Does she really want [an abortion], or does she feel like she doesn’t have any other choice?”
Know Why Podcast
While every woman’s set of circumstances is unique, Chelsey said they see some consistent themes among women who reach out to Human Coalition and are considering abortion. Those include the need for emotional support, pressure from others including male partners and even family members, the costs of childcare, and lack of housing.
There are over 2,400 pregnancy resource centers in the nation that are dedicated to helping pregnant women in need. Human Coalition connects women with local pregnancy centers. It also offers a Continuum of Care program with 7,000 resources available to create an individualized care plan for each woman that will help her gain stability and independence. Several states, including Texas, have also agreed to provide assistance programs for pregnant women and parents after their children’s birth or adoption.
“It is always the right thing to say that innocent human life is worthy of protection.”
Chelsey Youman
These charitable and government resources aren’t often covered in the media, Chelsey said. When asked what pro-lifers could do to better help women, she responded that the church could be more involved in helping pregnant women and offering support to post-abortive women.
If you want to learn more about Human Coalition, the resources available to pregnant women, and the resources available to parents through Human Coalition’s Continuum of Care, click on the links below.
The Pregnancy Network — If you are pregnant or parenting a child age 3 and under, find out if you are eligible for assistance with childcare costs, food assistance, healthcare, housing, and more.
Women want “half the pie,” and abortion doesn’t give it to them. That’s what Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa, founder and president of New Wave Feminists, asserts in this episode of the Know Why podcast.
Feminism is defined as “belief in and advocacy of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes expressed especially through organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”Today, however, it can seem like the word “feminism” has a lot more attached to it.
But that event also highlighted the growing number of women who consider themselves “pro-life feminists.” Like other feminists, they fight for equality of the sexes. But they argue abortion contributes more to women’s inequality than liberation.
“That’s why society as a whole thinks we need abortion, cause it’s a cop-out,” Destiny said. “It allows us to retain these patriarchal structures of a world that was built for men, by men, and doesn’t accommodate womanhood.”
“There is this level of underlying resentment towards women in corporate America and in Academica whenever they do continue a pregnancy,” Destiny told Know Why.
Bodily Autonomy From Existence?
But what about the argument that women have a right to bodily autonomy? Pro-life feminists agree, but point to scientific evidence that from fertilization, the fetus is a genetically unique human being, with a body distinct from its mother’s.
“When it comes to issues like bodily autonomy, I think you should have it the moment your body first exists,” Destiny said. “Women have been treated as property for most of millennia, and so you have this new kind of rise of rights and liberation, but are we becoming the patriarchy ourselves? Are we now treating another subset of the human family as property based on their vulnerabilities?”
Seeing Them Both
On its website, New Wave Feminists asserts that “no woman ever wants to have an abortion.” A study by the Guttmacher Institute found that most women abort because “having a baby would dramatically interfere with their education, work or ability to care for their dependents, or they could not afford a baby at the time.”
“The pro-life side, a lot of times they see one person; they see the unborn child. And the feminist side sees one person; they see the woman,” Destiny said in a documentary called “Pro-Life Feminist.” “But pro-life feminists see two people. We want to protect and support two people.”
