The Born Alive Debate: A Cultural Crossroads

Welcome to our Best of Summer series, where we will be posting some of our favorite past episodes of the LoveX2 podcast as we prepare for the big launch of our brand new season in September. You don't want to miss a single episode, so be sure to subscribe to this podcast on whatever platform you're listening to.

In this episode, we tackle a tough and critical issue that has been at the forefront of the cultural debate in the United States: the fate of babies born alive after a failed abortion attempt.

We delve into the ethical, legal, and human implications of this debate, discussing how the status quo of abortion is being challenged and what it means for our society. The conversation covers the shocking reality of infanticide. We also explore the deep-seated ideological divides that influence this issue and the fundamental question of the humanity and intrinsic value of every human life.

This episode is a call to reflect on the broader implications of this debate for our culture and the intrinsic worth of every individual, created in the image of God. It's a must-listen for anyone interested in understanding the complexities and moral stakes of this crucial issue.

Make A Gift To The LoveX2 Project Music Title: Children of the Son Author: Pipe Choir Souce: www.pipechoir.com Licenses: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, this is Mike. I hope your summer is going really well. Welcome to our Best
of Summer series, where we will be posting some of our favorite past episodes
of the Love Times 2 podcast as we prepare for the big launch of our brand new season in September.
You don't want to miss a single episode, so be sure to subscribe to this podcast
on whatever platform you're listening to.

(00:22):
Music.
Welcome to the official podcast of the Love Times 2 Project.
Change the culture and the politics will follow.
Hey, welcome to the Love Times 2 Podcast. We've got a really tough issue to

(00:43):
discuss today, so I'm just going to jump straight into it.
If you've been paying attention at all to the news over the last six months
or so, you know the cultural debate over abortion is alive and well across the United States.
And that's a really good thing, because when everything is just quiet,
it, that means the status quo is safe and sound.
And for the U.S., let's face it, the status quo is abortion.

(01:05):
So when you hear a lot of discussion, that means the status quo is being challenged.
Now, a big part of this discussion centers on what happens to an unborn baby
who happens to be born alive after an abortion attempt fails to kill that baby.
And let's just stop and get our heads around this for a second.
These are babies that survive an abortion attempt.

(01:26):
They're literally born alive, and now we're actually debating whether these
babies should be allowed to live or whether they should be actively killed.
Or medical treatment completely refused so that they die.
In reality, this is a discussion about infanticide. There's no getting around
it. This is the killing of a fully alive baby.

(01:46):
Everybody gets that. I really believe everybody gets that.
But the waters are now muddied because the baby being born alive was never supposed
to be born alive in the first place.
It was supposed to be killed during the abortion.
And so there you go. The A word enters the debate.
Everything changes. And I do believe what I just said. I think everybody gets
the fact that this is the killing of a fully alive baby.

(02:08):
But again, when you put this whole A-word into it, it just changes the filter
so dramatically because now the filter has to line up with political ideologies.
And it changes the discussion so much that the United States Senate just last
week couldn't even get enough votes to advance legislation that simply says
if these babies are born alive, they should receive medical attention to try

(02:29):
and save their lives. That sounds pretty simple.
I mean, honestly, it sounds like, I don't know, basic humanity 101,
but there's no such thing when the A word gets mentioned and thrown into the debate.
Then the battle lines are drawn, everything gets weird, so weird that professional
people, intelligent people, throw aside basic it compassion because they feel
this need to build a wall around their ideology and to protect it.

(02:53):
The ideology being protected is that unborn babies have zero value.
Zero as in zero. And everyone who advocates that position knows that to grant
even the slightest hint of humanity to a baby born alive means that you have
to try and explain why that same baby had no value,
no right to life, literally one second before birth.

(03:14):
It's the same baby. It's the same human in life. It's just separated by a few
minutes, maybe a few seconds, a few inches from the time that that baby is unprotected
to the time when the baby is protected.
This is a critical debate in our culture right now for a wide variety of reasons.
Think about it. We are deciding if a fully born baby who's fully alive has the right to life.

(03:36):
Think about the implications of the entire discussion. It really will define
our culture to an even greater extent, either for better, should we protect
these babies, or for worse, should we decide these babies do not deserve any
type of protection at all.
Now, here are just a few thoughts of my own on this whole issue.
First, the debate shows the culture is still unsettled on this entire issue. It's still up in the air.

(03:59):
You don't have this kind of discussion when the culture has already reached
a tipping point in a certain direction on any issue. Let me give you some examples.
No one's advocating for the return of human slavery in America.
No one's pushing for the repeal of the Civil Rights Act. No one's trying to
remove the right for women to vote.
These issues and many, many others were the subject of ongoing debate and even

(04:19):
civil war in our past, but not today. Those issues have been settled.
Abortion and the issue of born alive babies has not been settled.
And this is exactly why this debate is continuing. Remember,
abortion is the status quo, so the debate means the status quo is being pushed
really, really hard. And as I said previously, that's good news.
Second, the discussion underscores the core issues that abortion supporters cringe at.

(04:45):
It's the great stumbling block that they simply can't get around,
and that is the humanity of the unborn baby.
Show the smallest child a 4D ultrasound.
And ask her what it is. And I guarantee she'll point to it and she'll say, baby, we can all see it.
The smallest child can see it. We can all see it. We know what is being destroyed in an abortion.
Use all the different terminology in the world that you want to.

(05:06):
And I've heard just about everything.
I can just tell you, hey, let's get real. We know a human life is being destroyed.
And again, this is why the born alive issue is so objectionable to abortion supporters.
There is no debate that what has been born alive is a baby.
The debate is simply over whether you can kill that baby or whether you can't.
Keep turning the clock backwards by seconds, minutes, hours, days, months.

(05:29):
There's the continuum in which the baby that has been born has always been a
baby. Or let's go the other way. Turn the clock forward on a baby that's been born alive.
Turn it forward seconds, minutes, hours, days, months. If you're going to camp
out on the position that we shouldn't care for a born alive infant,
my question to you is, when does the clock stop?
I mean, how far do you go? Because that's the road that takes us to the stuff

(05:50):
like what happened to Baby Doe in Bloomington, Indiana, who was starved to death
from lack of treatment back in 1982.
You want to read a story that will break your heart and just make you really
think in more detail about what's at stake here?
Google Baby Doe Bloomington, Indiana, 1982, and you'll see stuff that will just horrify you.
Third, the door of opportunity remains wide open to persuade the culture on

(06:14):
the intrinsic value of every single human life.
That value rests in the unshakable truth that every human life is created in
the image of God. We're not cosmic mistakes.
We're not valuable because some other person or some politician says we're valuable.
We're valuable because God made every single one of us. And if we miss that
part of the discussion, we miss this huge opportunity to affirm that all human

(06:38):
dignity rests in the God in whose image we are all made.
Made rich, poor, black, white men, women, disabled, disfigured,
disowned by the world, fill in the blank.
We are made in his image. We are miracles. And that's why we're valuable.
Hey, that's it for this episode of the podcast. Be sure to keep track of this
debate as it unfolds, because it's really a hot issue right now,

(06:59):
and there's much, much more coming down the pike.
You can also share this episode with your friends as a way to start your own
discussion within your network.
And don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts so that you never miss an episode.
And always remember, change the culture and the politics will follow.
Music.

(07:23):
Thanks for listening to the official podcast of the Love Times 2 Project.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode.
And never forget, change the culture and the politics will follow.
Music.
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(07:44):
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Our speakers are ready to unleash their expertise and make your event a resounding
success. Scheduling a pro-life speaker has never been easier.

(08:05):
Visit lovetimes2.org and schedule a pro-life speaker.
Music.