Being in discussion with someone who believes they only have to focus on one issue and only their own views on that issue is very, very difficult. Allie Beth Stuckey is making the case that it is okay to only focus on abortion at the expense of everything else, and she makes her case as to why that is okay. As hard as it is to read this, I am glad she wrote it down. This helps me understand why so many of my loved ones refuse to engage beyond the preborn baby when talking about other serious issues.
Before I discuss her book, I want to make some observations I have noticed about people who only focus on this issue. Some of the people I have encountered like this struggle to face pain in real life. Their worldview has protected them and made them feel in control. Facing atrocities and things they cannot fix is way too hard. And they don’t want to deal with sins from the past. They believe the Left wants to take on issues like racism because we feel guilty about the past. As if racism is not continuing right now and what we are pointing out. They make it about emotions on our side. They have been systematically taught not to feel discomfort and, if they do, to not let it interfere with their understanding of absolute truth. Being on the side of the unborn makes them feel like they are taking on a social issue that is being overlooked, but it is also a way to do it without standing on the side of anybody at all. Since they can’t see them, they can create this image of a vulnerable population under siege—perfect beings under attack. But to the people who are living and breathing, they do not extend this same compassion, not even to kids (they advocate against providing school lunches). This movement really is not about life. I believe they think it is, but they can only think that by avoiding all the issues surrounding it or other issues harming our children. But adults matter, too. They want the benefits of life—like protection from harm and the ability to eat, sleep, and enjoy life in the community. By ignoring the issues of adults, this is how they ignore the mother’s needs.
Now to discuss Stuckey’s arguments.
Stuckey talks about the “Holistically Pro-Life” Lie. This lie says that pro-life people lack empathy for the mother and the difficult circumstances that led her to need or want an abortion. She says Christians are vulnerable to this lie because of their desire to care for so many other people than the baby. She says it is admirable to care about the mother, the situation, the community, etc., and it is also necessary; however, the Christians falling for this lie of “holistically pro-life”—she names Lecrae and Jamie Ivey— also tend to be against a legal ban. They would rather address social ills than make abortion illegal. Because Stuckey believes the fetus is fully human at conception, she sees a major flaw in our system: not giving the fetus all the same rights all humans have. She believes caring for others is taking away from the baby and believes her point is made because the people who say they are pro-life for all life are against a legal ban on abortion. They are not really pro-life, according to Stuckey.
I want to talk about her belief that the baby has been denied rights. That is at the root of her argument. She is making a claim the baby is already fully human, but that is not societally agreed upon. The best response to this idea of when life begins or ends has come from the grandfather of one of my dearest friends, who just recently lost his beloved wife. When he was looking at his wife’s body, not yet dead but not really alive either, he made this observation: to make a claim on whether his wife was alive anymore or not at that moment could only be made philosophically. There was no way to prove her soul was still there, even though she was still breathing and her heart was beating. Who she was wasn’t there anymore. He compared this to abortion. We cannot give an absolute answer to these questions. Science cannot prove it. As he said, these are philosophical questions, and we need to remember that.
Stuckey never talks about the reasons why people believe differently than she does. Not in good faith, at least. She is making it absolutely true that life begins at conception, and to abort for any reason—even if the person does not get resources from the church or the state, is still murdering the baby. So many angles to take about the responsibility of the community to mother and child, but let’s just talk about the mother’s needs for now. Even if it were true, what about the mother? There are at least two people involved, and that cannot be ignored. What if the mom would die? Is that not murder to allow her to die to save the baby? If you say allowing the fetus to die is murder, then why is this not also extended to the mother so that this conversation can be more complicated? What about the family of the mother who still needs her? What if she was raped? Are you saying the parents in the example she gave at the beginning of the chapter who wanted an abortion because their baby was not going to live beyond the womb would have been murderers if Texas had granted the abortion as they should have? Does Allie Beth understand how personal this issue is to people? She is calling people murderers going through something so tragic, and there are a million different hard and personal reasons that led them there. She also thinks she knows more than doctors. I wish I heard from more doctors on this breach of trust. The church is taking over their work as well.
I also do not understand why solving social ills and knowing abortions are decreasing that way was not satisfying her at all. Making anything illegal—even things we might agree should be illegal—is not pro-life. The criminal system is not a pro-life system, so her argument is bad. Even on things we all agree should be illegal, we still work to solve societal issues to hopefully reduce the criminal activity that may be rooted in that gap. Now that it is illegal again, they are going up. She gave a stat on how many abortions decreased after overturning Roe, but she did not talk about that holistically. She did not talk about women like Kate Cox having to flee the state for healthcare. She did not talk about poverty increasing. She did not talk about the added stress on an already broken foster system. This issue is so deep and complex. The issues around abortion are way more important. But for them to believe that, that means they would have to adjust their worldview, and that is just too much to ask. So she calls it toxic empathy if you make a case for helping the vulnerable who are already among us. The Bible has way more verses on that.
Stuckey then gives an example of a woman who was helped because of a pregnancy center. It is Prestonwood Pregnancy Center. Ironically, I did an op-ed on this center because I knew they gave bad biblical counseling to women who have been raped. They tell women who have been raped that God wants them to have their babies. They say this without any trauma-informed therapists present. This center wants to take out the largest Planned Parenthood in the nation, too. When I called Prestonwood Pregnancy Center a few years ago, I asked about the education they provide to help prevent unwanted pregnancies. They don’t provide it. They also do not provide contraceptives or fully qualified and licensed therapists. They told me all they provide are sonograms and pregnancy tests. Stuckey’s story says they now provide prenatal vitamins, parenting classes, education courses, adoption classes, and pregnancy and baby items—but most importantly, genuine love. Spare me, Allie. You can’t say what love is or isn’t. Stick to the facts. If it is true that they provide all those services now, that is more than what the center told me they had a few years ago. But still, none of it is about pregnancy prevention. There is no rape-crisis counseling or anything else to address some of the severe crises the women show up in. Also, these conservative agencies are going to side with men in abusive relationships most of the time. I would never send a woman to a conservative space for any kind of care b/c I know what they think of women. Planned Parenthood has better resources with access to medical care for low-income women. They also know the signs of women who are abused and how to get them care without putting their lives in danger. I know a lot of women who use PP, and it is not for abortion services. Actually, most of what PP does is NOT abortion-related. I have a friend who wrote about it a few years ago, and I would be happy to contact her again to share her story.
Stuckey goes on to talk about a quite awful interview she had with someone associated with PP and how abortions are revenue generators for them. I want receipts on that interview. Not on the interview itself, I want the person she interviewed to provide the receipts that Planned Parenthood turns women away if they do not need an abortion because that does not make them money. Planned Parenthood is not a revenue-generating agency. That is absurd. Allie’s examples are all so superficial. They are also apathetic. She is taking women’s lives at their most vulnerable and judging them. What the Trump administration has done to us emotionally is violent. He is hitting us where we are most vulnerable and challenging everyone’s core belief system, and it is causing horrible behavior to come to the surface because people are having their worldviews turned upside down. I am now living in a worldview I vehemently oppose. This is difficult to work through.
There are several more things I could bring up about her argument on abortion, but I will end with this one. She talks about anti-pregnancy center propaganda violence. She says some of their centers have been targeted violently by pro-abortion terrorists. Listen, I do not know how accurate her examples are. She does have them cited, at least, but I am sorry, there are way more acts of terror against abortion clinics than pregnancy centers. Women are having to walk in the centers with armed guards b/c of anti-abortion terrorists. If we are going to start labeling like that, Allie, we can both play that game. Why not just say violence breeds more violence? Address all violence against any center, Allie. I do not condone Pregnancy Centers being targeted, and I hope you feel the same way about Planned Parenthood. These are women in need, and the Far-Right extremists have made it a war zone. Unacceptable. They also protest at public schools, and I will be talking about that really soon. With all the school shootings and lack of care from the Right on that, I worry about violence on that one, too. But I never hear you talk about that, Allie.
I will end with this. I know people like Allie need to cling to a worldview to cope in a world they cannot control. She is also profiting big time from this as well. Sometimes, I do not know who is actually a true believer or who is the conflict-entrepreneur who is profiting. There is a good chance Stuckey is the latter, but I will be generous and say it is possible she really believes what she wrote. She did a great job of explaining how my friends come to their conclusions and why they do not care when anything else is brought up. It is helpful reading this book, even if it is sucking the life out of me too.
I will end with something Pete Enns wrote in his book The Sin of Certainty.
Our beliefs about God—which is to say our thoughts about God—are precious to us because they give us a sense of who we are and our place in this chaotic world. And we often can’t imagine any other way of being “us.” And so when our beliefs are threatened, the instinct, understandably is to guard them fiercely, to resist any move as long as possible, to make the stress go away, and to stay in the comfort of our familiar spiritual homes.
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