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):
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.
