Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 976 ｜ Birth Control： What the Media Won’t Tell You

00:00:00.000 The Washington Post wants you back on those birth control pills.

00:00:04.520 Also, a very disturbing story of two men buying a baby via surrogacy reminds us why this terrible

00:00:13.780 practice needs to be banned.

00:00:15.820 We've got all of that and more on today's episode of Relatable.

00:00:19.180 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.

00:00:30.420 Happy Thursday.

00:00:32.040 Hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far.

00:00:34.460 We are going into Easter weekend, Resurrection Sunday.

00:00:39.260 I was at In-N-Out the other day and they had these little signs saying,

00:00:44.660 Happy Resurrection Sunday.

00:00:46.760 Isn't that amazing?

00:00:48.140 I love In-N-Out.

00:00:49.940 You know, I've thought about this before with In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A and a few other businesses

00:00:54.580 that are Christian run, how they're not just outspoken about being Christian In-N-Out more 0.99

00:01:00.220 so than Chick-fil-A now, but they also just run better than everything else because Christians 1.00

00:01:06.960 do things well.

00:01:08.680 We do customer service well.

00:01:11.360 We make good products.

00:01:13.660 We are the hardest workers.

00:01:15.040 We should be, by the way.

00:01:16.340 We should be those things.

00:01:17.760 That's not always true across the board, but Christians have historically built really

00:01:23.140 good things and they cease to be good.

00:01:25.700 They cease to be excellent when they cease being Christian. 1.00

00:01:30.760 I mean, look at every university.

00:01:33.560 Look at a lot of the hospitals that started out Christian.

00:01:37.200 Then when they abandoned their original mission, it's interesting that the quality also fades.

00:01:42.060 So that's just a little random aside that I was thinking about.

00:01:44.520 But go In-N-Out.

00:01:46.440 Thank you for proclaiming the truth about Jesus that he was raised from the dead three days

00:01:53.080 after he was crucified on our behalf.

00:01:55.240 I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend this weekend as you are celebrating that reality

00:02:00.420 with your families.

00:02:02.840 On Monday, we've got a great episode coming out that's going to be a little bit about just

00:02:09.040 the truth of the resurrection and what that means, but also about apologetics and answering

00:02:13.380 some of your biggest apologetics questions, how to defend the faith.

00:02:17.380 It's going to be a great episode, so be on the lookout for that.

00:02:20.940 Unfortunately, today we've got to talk about a couple of dark things.

00:02:24.980 It's not going to be exclusively dark and depraved, but as you know, sometimes we have

00:02:29.660 to wade into the darkness and depravity, remind ourselves of the light and the truth and the

00:02:35.120 hope that's coming in Christ, but we have to realize the pain, the sorrow, and the sadness

00:02:41.060 and the sickness that's happening here because part of why we're here is to do something

00:02:45.740 about it, to actually shine light on it so that we can make sure that we are doing what

00:02:52.600 we are called to do and being an advocate and a refuge for the most vulnerable, namely

00:02:58.040 children.

00:02:58.900 So the theme of this episode, in some ways, the theme is really kind of like the consequences

00:03:04.920 of reproductive technology and messing with that, but also children are always what? 1.00

00:03:12.740 The unconsenting subjects of progressive social experiments.

00:03:18.000 That is true with reproductive technology. 0.98

00:03:20.500 It's true with abortion. 0.77

00:03:21.740 It's true with COVID policy.

00:03:24.320 It's true with gender transition. 1.00

00:03:26.880 Children are the unconsenting subjects of progressive social experiments, and we've talked most about

00:03:33.620 this in the past few years in relation to surrogacy, in relation to IVF, in relation to sperm

00:03:41.000 and egg selling, and I've got an especially egregious example of what baby selling in the United

00:03:48.420 States can look like and the repercussions of having basically a wild west of reproductive

00:03:55.360 technology in the United States where it's basically unregulated, where anyone, if they want to buy a

00:04:02.980 child via surrogacy, via sperm and egg selling, they can, without a background check.

00:04:09.200 If you've got the money for it, you can buy an egg, you can rent a womb, you can take that child 1.00

00:04:15.160 away both from her biological mother and the mother who gestated her for nine months, and you can raise 0.98

00:04:21.460 her as you wish.

00:04:22.760 It's really disturbing, really disgusting that that is legal at all in the United States.

00:04:27.960 It's also, as I said, very unregulated, and here's an example of the repercussions of that.

00:04:34.540 So this is according to CBS News.

00:04:37.100 Chicago-area veterinarian Adam Stafford King arrested Friday on child pornography charges

00:04:42.820 and accused of chatting about planning to sexually assault—this is dark, I'm just preparing you for it—sexually

00:04:51.120 assault his newborn son, federal prosecutors announced on Monday.

00:04:55.560 He's a veterinary ophthalmologist from Elburn who has also judged national dog shows, and he's not

00:05:02.780 just a judge of national dog shows.

00:05:05.400 He is specifically a judge for national dog shows where the owner, the trainer of the dogs,

00:05:12.140 are children, ages about 5 to 11 years old.

00:05:17.240 King is well-known in the dog-showing community.

00:05:19.920 He has also been featured on podcasts.

00:05:22.600 According to the charges against him, the FBI began investigating King in October as part of a

00:05:27.360 child pornography investigation in New York.

00:05:29.960 I typically say child sex abuse material because child pornography implies that there is

00:05:34.520 actual sex being had or there is consent there, and a child can never consent to sexual relations.

00:05:40.740 And so anytime there is a sexual interaction between an adult and a child, it is always abuse.

00:05:46.600 It is always rape. 1.00

00:05:47.720 It is always assault.

00:05:48.720 So agents learned a subject in the New York case had been chatting with King using the

00:05:53.780 dating app Scruff and the messaging app Telegram, and King had sent that person several videos

00:05:58.880 of child abuse.

00:06:00.580 After that person was arrested, the FBI agents posed as him online, so basically took on his

00:06:06.580 identity to continue to talk to King.

00:06:08.740 During those chats, King used the handle pervchiguy, so like Chicago, and wrote that he prefers children

00:06:18.340 under age 10.

00:06:19.700 In one message, King wrote, zero to nine years old, my fave, boy and girl, though prefer

00:06:25.960 boy.

00:06:27.840 Ugh! 0.97

00:06:28.880 King also claimed he had drugged and sexually abused his nieces and nephews using Benadryl.

00:06:36.540 He also claimed that he and his husband, so-called, were expecting the birth of a child by surrogate

00:06:44.080 on March 29, and that he planned to sexually assault the child after it is born.

00:06:51.240 In a message he thought was to another pedophile, he wrote,

00:06:55.300 This is really difficult to get through.

00:06:59.120 Maybe you'll get to meet my boy.

00:07:00.700 Crying laughing emoji.

00:07:02.120 Might have to come and visit my boy when he's born.

00:07:04.400 Winking tongue out emoji.

00:07:06.660 King was arrested on Friday, days before he was scheduled to fly to California to visit

00:07:10.580 the surrogate mother ahead of his son's expected birth.

00:07:13.760 Later this week at King's initial court appearance on Friday, prosecutors asked him to be held

00:07:19.020 in custody without bond, according to court records.

00:07:22.880 He had posted pictures of his future son's onesie on these chat rooms with people who ended

00:07:32.700 up being federal agents who he thought was pedophiles, and oh my gosh, I've got so much to say about this.

00:07:40.580 First of all, I am so thankful.

00:07:42.460 I know that we talk a lot about the corruption in the intelligence community and the FBI and the CIA.

00:07:48.820 That's absolutely there.

00:07:49.960 I am so thankful, though.

00:07:51.360 I am so thankful for them in this case.

00:07:53.320 I am so thankful they did what they had to do to ensure that this person was locked up and that

00:07:59.540 nothing happened to this poor baby that he was about to buy from this woman in California that

00:08:05.060 he had already promised to sexually assault.

00:08:07.320 This is not the first case like this.

00:08:09.120 This is not close to the only case like this.

00:08:11.120 We've talked about several cases of men buying babies, purchasing children, either via adoption

00:08:17.200 or surrogacy, and pimping them out in this way.

00:08:20.160 It's really disgusting, and it's really tough to even think about that this is happening,

00:08:26.980 but we have to think about it because if there are children that have to endure it,

00:08:31.860 there are adults that at least have to think about it and at least have to talk about it

00:08:35.520 because it is going to require our voices and our political power to ensure that baby buying 0.97

00:08:42.220 through surrogacy in the United States is illegal and that when it comes to adoption, there's

00:08:47.700 a lot of conversations that we can have about that, about who should be able to adopt, but

00:08:51.880 at the very least, there needs to be a lot more thorough investigations.

00:08:56.320 However, there's not because in the name of inclusion and love and empathy and tolerance,

00:09:02.360 no one dares question a man or two men purchasing children.

00:09:09.200 You're not allowed to do that because we're all inclusive, and we all have to just assume

00:09:13.580 that this is all normal and good, that children don't need a mother and father,

00:09:17.780 that there are no red flags here, so you're not allowed to ask questions.

00:09:21.140 You can't do background checks.

00:09:22.520 You can't dig into it.

00:09:23.940 Obviously, I know there are some background checks that come with adoption,

00:09:26.920 and that could be a difficult process for a lot of people, but there's not enough,

00:09:30.920 and there are no regulations when it comes to surrogacy.

00:09:35.520 So again, they bought the eggs from one woman.

00:09:38.560 They rented the womb of another woman. 1.00

00:09:40.200 That's how this process works.

00:09:41.980 They were going to forcibly take that child away both from the biological mother, which 0.90

00:09:46.740 is the egg seller, and this gestational carrier, the surrogate, with whom this boy had been 0.87

00:09:52.760 bonding for the last nine months, who smell and feel in heartbeat, he knows, rip him from her chest

00:10:01.100 at the point of birth, crueler treatment than we give to puppies and kittens, take him away,

00:10:07.240 only to sexually assault him and pimp him out to his friends.

00:10:11.820 That's what was going to happen in this case, and it almost happened.

00:10:16.160 If these FBI agents had not realized that this was happening in these chat rooms.

00:10:23.960 Now, let me be clear.

00:10:26.180 I am not saying that all men or all couples who use surrogacy are doing this.

00:10:36.180 I'm not saying that at all.

00:10:37.400 I am not making a blanket statement about gay couples.

00:10:43.460 I'm not making a blanket statement about everyone who uses surrogacy.

00:10:47.400 I'm not making a blanket statement about what their motives are and what they end up doing

00:10:52.740 with these children.

00:10:53.980 I'm saying that it is enough of a problem that we need to care about it.

00:11:01.500 I'm saying if it happens at all, then that should sound some alarms in our head, and

00:11:07.960 we should say, hmm, how are we going to stop this from happening?

00:11:11.160 And I think no matter who you are, no matter why you are using surrogacy or egg or sperm 0.50

00:11:18.100 selling, that it should be illegal.

00:11:20.520 I do.

00:11:21.180 I do.

00:11:21.680 I don't think that we should be buying children.

00:11:23.700 It's basically human trafficking.

00:11:26.120 I don't think that you should be able to take a child away from their biological 0.92

00:11:31.220 parents, the egg or sperm seller, and put them in an incubator that they will never know.

00:11:38.560 Again, that's worse treatment than we give puppies or kittens.

00:11:41.520 By law, we have to keep them with their mother for at least, what, six to 12 weeks? 0.97

00:11:46.900 And we don't do that with babies who are purchased in this way?

00:11:50.460 I mean, how many of these cases, these extreme awful cases, have actually come to fruition because

00:11:57.020 the person didn't get caught?

00:11:59.040 But this is a form of trafficking, of legalized trafficking in the United States that in some

00:12:06.540 cases, like in this one, can turn into sex trafficking.

00:12:09.740 And you're telling me there's nothing that we should do about it in the name of love,

00:12:13.740 inclusion, and empathy, and just, oh, well, they want to be a parent, so I guess that we

00:12:17.620 have to be okay with it.

00:12:18.880 I mean, this poor child.

00:12:20.660 Like, we should probably ask the question, what's going to happen to this child now?

00:12:23.620 What's going to happen to this child now that the father, or at least one of the men who

00:12:28.780 is going to raise him, is going to be in prison?

00:12:32.440 What's going to happen to this child?

00:12:34.420 Is this mother going to have to abort the baby? 1.00

00:12:37.140 Is the baby going to be able to live with the other man who probably might have the same 0.99

00:12:42.860 issues?

00:12:43.520 I don't know.

00:12:45.240 Or at least is married to someone who has those issues.

00:12:48.440 You're not, you can't tell me that that's a safe environment for that child.

00:12:52.740 So what's going to happen to this child?

00:12:54.960 And these are all the kinds of questions that should be asked before we say okay to legalizing

00:13:02.920 something like surrogacy.

00:13:05.240 I've talked to a woman before.

00:13:07.240 She was carrying a baby for two men, for two gay men, and it ended up that she was diagnosed

00:13:13.140 with cancer, and they were afraid that something was going to happen to the baby, and she was

00:13:21.000 going to have to deliver this baby early because of her diagnosis, but the baby was going to

00:13:25.520 be okay.

00:13:26.120 It was a healthy baby.

00:13:27.220 They were going to wait as long as they could to make sure that even though he was premature,

00:13:31.000 that he was going to be healthy and get all the medical care that he needed.

00:13:33.640 Well, this gay couple didn't want that. 0.99

00:13:35.840 They didn't want a baby who was preemie.

00:13:37.320 They didn't want a baby with special needs, and so they pressured this woman to abort. 1.00

00:13:40.680 That happens many times a year in this country, and it is perfectly, totally legal. 0.95

00:13:49.640 It's advocated for by the same people who say, my body, my choice.

00:13:53.800 So you believe in her body, her choice, unless she's a surrogate, then she has no rights over 0.98

00:13:58.040 her body at all?

00:13:59.580 It's really, really depraved.

00:14:02.580 I don't think that we have even begun to scratch the surface of the evil that is underneath

00:14:08.040 the surrogacy, the reproductive technology industry.

00:14:13.000 All of it requires the sacrifice of children, the literal sacrifice of children in their

00:14:19.720 lives.

00:14:20.200 Like when we talk about, or when we think about the embryos that are discarded, the millions

00:14:24.840 and millions of embryos that are discarded through a eugenics process every year in the 0.76

00:14:28.760 IVF industry.

00:14:29.660 And when we talk about the sacrifice of the rights of these children, the right of these

00:14:35.540 children to have a mother and a father, we have to start thinking about all reproductive

00:14:41.900 technology through the lens of the rights and the well-being and the needs of the child,

00:14:47.980 not the wants of the parent.

00:14:50.140 And that is not just true when it comes to a gay couple. 0.74

00:14:52.680 That's true of any couple.

00:14:54.020 We have to start thinking when we're talking about reproduction, about what is best for

00:15:00.920 the child, what is least risky for this child, not, well, what do the parents want?

00:15:08.180 And unfortunately, even Christians, I think, mess this up a lot. 1.00

00:15:10.940 Well, being a parent is a great desire, so we should just be able to fulfill it.

00:15:16.560 Well, something could be a great desire that doesn't justify an any means necessary approach

00:15:21.500 to fulfilling it.

00:15:24.160 So I know this story is especially disturbing.

00:15:27.260 I don't want to think about it either.

00:15:29.060 Thank God for law enforcement in this case.

00:15:31.800 And I just pray that law enforcement always catches evil people like this.

00:15:36.320 And I personally believe that the production of child sex abuse material should get you

00:15:41.400 the death penalty.

00:15:42.640 I do.

00:15:44.600 I mean, I think that the death penalty should only be reserved for the most heinous crimes.

00:15:49.780 And this is one of them.

00:15:52.100 That's why in the state of Florida, they passed the law that says that you can be eligible for

00:15:59.600 the death penalty if you raped a minor under the age of 12.

00:16:06.140 That's going to have to make its way to the Supreme Court because the Supreme Court has already

00:16:10.020 ruled that that's unconstitutional, which is ridiculous.

00:16:13.060 But if it does make its way to the Supreme Court and that case is overturned, well, then

00:16:19.980 that could open up the door to other states passing the same law that you should be eligible

00:16:25.000 for the death penalty if you commit that kind of crime against a minor.

00:16:29.520 I would say any minor.

00:16:31.300 And that would be a good thing.

00:16:32.660 That would be a just thing.

00:16:33.740 I promise you the prevalence of child sex abuse would go down if we consistently applied

00:16:42.120 the death penalty to child sex abusers.

00:16:45.100 Like, try to explain to me the downside of that.

00:16:49.100 I don't know of any.

00:16:50.820 So death penalty for child sex abusers, ban all surrogacy.

00:16:55.060 Oh, if those two, if those two things just happened, maybe that would be, if I were running

00:17:00.560 for president, those two things would be at the top of my list.

00:17:04.020 We would probably save a lot of children's lives, a lot of children's lives because of

00:17:09.440 that.

00:17:10.460 Church, we have always been a refuge for children.

00:17:13.600 We have always advocated on behalf of children.

00:17:17.660 We have always been the voice for the voiceless and the power for the powerless, especially

00:17:24.900 these adolescents who do not have the mental or the physical capacity to defend themselves.

00:17:32.060 That has been the history of the church, and it must still be our calling now.

00:17:37.360 It must still be our calling now.

00:17:40.220 And that includes not just speaking up for the orphan in the orphanage or the poor child

00:17:45.580 in Africa who is starving, but the fatherless and the motherless here who are forced into

00:17:51.500 a purposely fatherless home, forced into a purposely motherless home in the name of love

00:17:57.100 and inclusion and tolerance and LGBTQ equality.

00:18:01.860 These things still matter, even if they're unpopular and inconvenient.

00:18:06.440 All right.

00:18:07.220 Just wanted to give you another reminder of why surrogacy needs to go away forever and ever

00:18:12.360 and ever in all situations, no matter what.

00:18:16.360 You can go back and listen to some previous episodes we have on that.

00:18:18.980 If you're curious as to why I have such a hardline stance on that.

00:18:35.840 Okay.

00:18:36.520 I know that y'all probably saw this Washington Post story.

00:18:40.180 Women are getting off birth control amid misinformation explosion by Lauren Weber.

00:18:46.680 Weber, not sure how to pronounce her last name.

00:18:49.480 Birth control is something that we've been talking about on this show since 2019 or maybe

00:18:53.780 beginning of 2020.

00:18:55.480 What birth control is, hormonal birth control, what it does to your body, how there is an

00:19:01.400 abortifacient aspect to it.

00:19:05.580 There is the possibility always of birth control actually making your uterus inhospitable to an already

00:19:12.720 fertilized egg, which is ethically and morally problematic for those of us who believe that

00:19:18.820 life starts at conception.

00:19:21.080 Life starts at the point of fertilization.

00:19:23.180 And so I think a lot of women have started to think more thoroughly about hormonal birth

00:19:28.580 control, whether they ethically align with it and what it's actually been doing to their

00:19:34.360 bodies.

00:19:34.860 And the Washington Post, of course, is very upset about this.

00:19:38.300 So here's what they say.

00:19:39.520 A search for birth control on TikTok or Instagram and a cascade of misleading videos vilifying

00:19:44.480 hormonal contraception appear.

00:19:46.380 Young women blaming their weight gain on the pill.

00:19:48.720 Right-wing commentators claiming that some birth control can lead to infertility.

00:19:52.920 Testimonials complaining of depression and anxiety.

00:19:56.640 Physicians say they're seeing an explosion of birth control misinformation online targeting

00:20:00.840 a vulnerable demographic.

00:20:02.300 People in their teens and early 20s who are more likely to believe that what they see on

00:20:06.280 their phones because of algorithms that feed them a stream of videos reinforcing messages

00:20:10.140 often divorced from scientific evidence.

00:20:14.880 Of course, one of the doctors that they're talking about or that they're talking to about

00:20:20.600 all of this misinformation will put his picture up on YouTube.

00:20:24.060 And you can tell me, women, whether you would trust this person with your body.

00:20:27.980 Do you trust this person to tell you about birth control?

00:20:33.060 Well, he's got this little sign that says, facts are important.

00:20:37.160 Facts are important.

00:20:38.660 And I guarantee you, he probably has his pronouns in his profile.

00:20:41.780 He's got a little rainbow flag there waving behind him.

00:20:46.740 I mean, just stare deep into this person's soul and tell me whether or not you give a flying

00:20:52.780 rip about what he's got to say about what birth control does for your body.

00:20:58.820 He says, people are putting themselves out there as experts on birth control and speaking

00:21:02.900 on things that the science does not bear out.

00:21:06.360 I am seeing the direct failures of this misinformation.

00:21:10.560 Physicians and researchers say little data.

00:21:12.580 This is what the article says.

00:21:15.520 Say little data is available about the scale of this new phenomenon.

00:21:18.340 But anecdotally, more patients are coming in with misconceptions about birth control fueled

00:21:22.220 by influencers and conservative commentators.

00:21:24.940 I will just say, like, I was totally snubbed here.

00:21:30.160 I was totally snubbed that I was not included in this article because we were way ahead of

00:21:35.060 the curve when it talks when it's when it comes to who was talking about birth control and

00:21:39.700 the dangers of all of this stuff.

00:21:41.900 I will just say, but that's OK.

00:21:44.620 We'll keep going.

00:21:46.000 Prominent conservative commentators have seized upon mistrust of medical professionals.

00:21:50.080 So in misinformation as a way to discourage the use of use of birth control, Brett Cooper

00:21:55.680 gives an example of the Daily Wire, a media commentator says that argued in a viral TikTok

00:22:01.880 clip that birth control can impact fertility, cause women to gain weight and even alter whom

00:22:08.380 they are attracted to.

00:22:11.200 They list other people like Candace Owens, Brittany Martinez, founder of Evie magazine.

00:22:16.900 And Brittany said women have been silenced and shamed by legacy media, the pharmaceutical 1.00

00:22:21.860 industry, and in many cases by their own doctors who have gaslit them.

00:22:26.400 And so this person is discrediting all of this, saying that this is just viral misinformation.

00:22:31.840 This is all just manipulation tactics to I don't even know what the intent would be.

00:22:36.620 What would the intent behind this be to try to get women to accidentally get pregnant? 0.56

00:22:43.160 I guess they're trying to say that, I don't know, these influencers really believe what

00:22:48.060 they're saying, but it's just the wrong information.

00:22:50.580 And unfortunately, they're convincing other people of their lies.

00:22:55.380 All forms of medication, including hormonal birth control, can have side effects.

00:23:00.320 Of course, this is true.

00:23:01.480 This is exactly what these influencers are saying.

00:23:04.360 And this journalist is admitting that.

00:23:07.020 Some are rare but serious.

00:23:08.420 Birth control pills that contain estrogen can lead to blood clots and strokes.

00:23:11.700 IUDs can perforate the uterine wall.

00:23:16.620 And then the article described this 24-year-old who was surprisingly diagnosed with blood clots

00:23:20.980 in her leg and both lungs caused by her birth control.

00:23:25.500 The Food and Drug Administration points out that the risk of developing blood clots from

00:23:29.120 using birth control pills remains lower than the risk of developing blood clots in pregnancy

00:23:35.580 and in the postpartum period.

00:23:37.380 Okay.

00:23:38.540 What relation does that have?

00:23:40.580 I guess you're trying to say, look, this is better than getting pregnant because your 0.99

00:23:46.300 likelihood of having blood clots is actually lower than that.

00:23:52.480 But there are still risks there.

00:23:54.540 And many women are put on birth control not because they're having sex, not because they're 1.00

00:23:58.940 trying not to get pregnant. 0.65

00:24:00.660 Women are put on birth control basically like they're given Tic Tacs, told this will clear 0.99

00:24:06.540 up your acne.

00:24:07.180 This will regulate your period.

00:24:08.760 It doesn't regulate your period because you don't have a period on birth control.

00:24:11.960 There's not a period.

00:24:12.800 That's a withdrawal bleed.

00:24:14.100 It's not an actual period.

00:24:15.400 And so your body isn't going through the cycle that God made it to go through every month.

00:24:20.280 Of course, there are going to be effects on your mind, on your body when you mess with

00:24:26.700 that natural cycle.

00:24:27.900 Now, I understand there are also some benefits that some people say that they get from birth

00:24:32.760 control.

00:24:34.240 They say that it helps with your endometriosis symptoms.

00:24:37.840 I want to be clear about that.

00:24:39.240 Birth control doesn't fix anything.

00:24:41.520 It's not healing you.

00:24:43.620 It might manage your symptoms.

00:24:45.140 And that could be very helpful for people.

00:24:48.280 And I'm not denying that.

00:24:50.220 But it's not actually fixing anything.

00:24:52.100 And it can actually cause real problems.

00:24:54.940 But it is not going to get to the root cause of your pre-existing problems.

00:25:02.020 They talk about the effects that this has had via social media.

00:25:07.480 Talks about, you know, women who are having unplanned pregnancies because of this.

00:25:12.640 But they don't actually discredit anything that any of these commentators are saying.

00:25:18.500 In fact, they admit that some of these side effects are real.

00:25:22.520 They might say that they're rare, but they are, in fact, real.

00:25:26.300 This is a tactic that you see a lot in the media to say there's no evidence saying that.

00:25:32.160 But saying there's no evidence of something does not mean that there's evidence proving

00:25:37.200 that there's not.

00:25:38.560 So they might say there's no evidence to show that birth control can cause depression.

00:25:48.300 Okay, maybe there aren't studies done on that.

00:25:51.120 Although I believe that there are.

00:25:52.640 But say that there aren't studies done by that.

00:25:54.700 That just means that that study hasn't gotten the funding.

00:25:57.640 Big Pharma probably doesn't want a study like that being out there.

00:26:00.800 That doesn't mean that it's not true.

00:26:02.900 That doesn't mean that there is evidence discrediting that.

00:26:06.760 I mean, when enough women say this, and this was so common when I was in college, women 0.99

00:26:11.400 saying, oh, my birth control pill is making me crazy.

00:26:13.840 Or my dermatologist put me on a birth control pill and I'm just getting used to it.

00:26:17.820 Or, oh, my gosh, well, I can't lose weight right now because I just switched birth control

00:26:21.300 pills.

00:26:22.280 I mean, this happened to so many of my friends when a doctor in high school who probably just

00:26:28.140 assumed that everyone was having sex secretly and wanted to make sure that they didn't get

00:26:34.200 pregnant at 16, just put them on birth control, really for no health reasons. 0.99

00:26:39.460 She would say, oh, yeah, it's to regulate your period because, I don't know, at the age of 15,

00:26:44.400 someone missed their period for some reason.

00:26:47.300 So she would use that as an excuse to put people on the birth control pill. 1.00

00:26:51.280 And it caused, in some cases, years of problems for these girls who were still developing at this

00:26:59.820 time to mess with the natural cycle, to mess with hormones, especially when a young woman is still 1.00

00:27:07.420 developing just because you think that you're being a hero and possibly preventing an unwanted

00:27:14.180 pregnancy.

00:27:14.780 It is absolutely evil.

00:27:16.700 So it is a great thing that women are waking up to this, that women are realizing that what we put

00:27:23.640 in our bodies actually matters.

00:27:25.260 It actually makes a big difference and that it can be detrimental to us, even though we have been

00:27:31.980 gaslit by our doctors for so many years into believing that it has no negative effects whatsoever.

00:27:37.780 This is a good thing.

00:27:39.400 And the people at The Washington Post who probably have a pretty cozy relationship with the pharmaceutical

00:27:44.280 companies, they just don't like this.

00:27:48.600 So just some fact checking.

00:27:50.460 Studies have shown that the pill does, in fact, change the pheromones emitted by a woman's body. 0.89

00:27:55.620 It can influence how partners are chosen, according to a 2018 study published in the National Library

00:28:01.240 of Medicine.

00:28:02.420 So we've talked about this before.

00:28:04.260 We have talked about how women who are on the birth control pill are actually more likely

00:28:08.900 to have bisexual feelings and to be attracted to more effeminate men than women who are not

00:28:14.700 on the birth control pill.

00:28:16.740 That's pretty wild and kind of scary.

00:28:19.820 A 2008 study also found a correlation between birth control and women's taste in men.

00:28:24.060 A 2013 study from Psychoneuroendocrinology found initiation of birth control pill use significantly

00:28:30.580 decreased women's preferences for male facial masculinity, but did not influence preferences

00:28:35.060 for same-sex faces.

00:28:37.300 So the study says, interesting, interesting.

00:28:40.620 According to the Mayo Clinic, weight gain, breakthrough, bleeding, headaches, nausea, elevated

00:28:44.480 blood pressure, and bloating are common side effects of combination birth control pills,

00:28:48.860 which contain both estrogen and progestin.

00:28:52.400 The pill can also increase the risk of blood clots, heart attacks, and other health issues.

00:28:56.700 Of course, it increases, you can find this anywhere, increases the likelihood of breast cancer

00:29:01.400 as well.

00:29:02.320 And these are all things that most women are not told by their doctors.

00:29:06.980 They're not given a list of side effects.

00:29:08.940 They're not told, okay, you should be careful about this.

00:29:11.200 They're just given the pill saying, you know, this will clear up your acne.

00:29:15.660 So the Washington Post made no mention of the psychological effects on birth control that,

00:29:34.040 as I said, women have reported many times.

00:29:36.020 But a 2016 study published in JAMA Psychiatry looked at over a million Danish women over age

00:29:43.180 14 and found all forms of hormonal contraception were associated with an increased risk of developing

00:29:48.960 depression, with higher risks associated with the progesterone-only depression forms, including

00:29:54.600 the IUD.

00:29:55.160 This risk was higher in teens ages 15 to 19, and especially for non-oral forms of birth control,

00:30:01.120 such as the ring, patch, and the IUD.

00:30:04.540 Dr. Sarah Hill, a professor of social psychology at TCU, wrote a book,

00:30:08.760 How the Pill Changes Everything, Your Brain on Birth Control.

00:30:12.060 She said she's not against it, but that her research has shown that birth control has had a huge impact

00:30:17.100 on women's relationships and sexual affection, as well as stress responses.

00:30:21.480 She describes how the pill affects women's brains.

00:30:24.400 The pill works by mimicking the second half of a woman's monthly ovulatory cycle using artificial 0.98

00:30:30.020 progesterone, which shuts down the brain signal and prompts egg development.

00:30:35.220 This also means the ovaries aren't producing estrogen, the hormone that dominates the first

00:30:39.720 half of a woman's natural cycle and contributes to a woman's feeling of libido and energy. 1.00

00:30:45.840 While most pills use some synthetic estrogen primarily to offset progestin's unpleasant side

00:30:50.640 effects, women can still feel the lack. 1.00

00:30:53.920 She did an interview in 2019 on the Today Show where she said pill use prior to the finalization

00:30:59.740 of brain development influences women's brain health long-term.

00:31:03.400 So these doctors that are putting these teenagers on birth control pills because they think that

00:31:10.020 they're doing something valiant, you are actually messing them up for the rest of their lives.

00:31:14.960 Like I told you about my friends and I, who all happened to see the same doctor, none of

00:31:20.640 us were having sex. 0.58

00:31:22.180 And yet for all different reasons, for a missed period, for acne, for cramps, she would just

00:31:27.720 put us on Yaz. 0.58

00:31:29.140 And now you see the commercials.

00:31:30.920 Were you affected by Yaz? 0.57

00:31:32.120 Did you develop cancer?

00:31:33.180 I mean, it's crazy.

00:31:34.600 And were we told, were our parents told about any of these side effects?

00:31:38.020 No.

00:31:38.220 And that was back in the day where you just listened to your doctor and you kind of have

00:31:43.120 white coat syndrome and you just assume that they're always right.

00:31:47.380 Now, thank the Lord, I realized very early on that I didn't want to do this anymore, that

00:31:53.920 there was no reason for me to be on birth control.

00:31:56.440 And so after a few years, I stopped and I was like, I don't need that.

00:32:00.160 I remember being afraid that I was going to get acne, that like everything, I don't know.

00:32:05.140 I just thought that everything was going to be horrible, but I got off birth control and

00:32:08.460 I was fine.

00:32:09.400 Now, that's not the case for some women. 1.00

00:32:11.320 Some women get off birth control when they're married, they're ready to have kids, and then 1.00

00:32:14.840 it takes them forever to get pregnant or they can't get pregnant at all. 0.64

00:32:17.660 Their body doesn't even know how to have a natural cycle anymore.

00:32:20.240 And so it's got to learn for several months how to do that again.

00:32:23.480 And we're just told that this is all worth it.

00:32:26.080 It's all well and good.

00:32:27.280 It's all fine.

00:32:29.180 I remember also when I was in high school and I started this, I just remembered this.

00:32:35.140 And this is a very common story.

00:32:38.140 I remember I would wake up in the middle of the night so sad, scared, and it was just

00:32:43.840 random.

00:32:45.120 I'm remembering that because I remember talking to my mom about that.

00:32:48.920 And I remember this girl in college who was on my hall freshman year who told me, oh, I'm

00:32:54.180 on this new form of birth control and I just can't stop crying.

00:32:57.620 I keep getting in fights with my boyfriend about it, about her moodiness, her mood swings.

00:33:02.520 This is ruining people's lives, ruining people's lives.

00:33:06.880 And Washington Post is mad about this.

00:33:09.800 Of course they are.

00:33:10.720 Of course they are.

00:33:11.500 Because they're always on the side of pharma.

00:33:15.140 They're always on the side of less control.

00:33:17.040 It's so interesting that these same people who say my body, my choice and bodily autonomy

00:33:21.500 and women's rights and women taking charge, they are against women taking charge of their 0.96

00:33:28.080 bodies when it comes to understanding the negative effects of the hormonal birth control

00:33:33.780 pill.

00:33:34.840 What?

00:33:36.080 It's crazy.

00:33:37.320 It's crazy.

00:33:38.300 Get off the pill.

00:33:39.500 Get off the pill.

00:33:40.500 Now I know I'm going to hear from some of you who say it changed your life because you

00:33:44.820 had debilitating cramps or whatever.

00:33:46.220 Look, I'm not denying that.

00:33:48.880 I would just say, I would suggest as a non-medical professional that you go to a functional medicine

00:33:54.480 doctor and you get to the root cause of those issues.

00:33:57.840 What is causing those debilitating cramps?

00:33:59.920 What is causing the symptoms that you are having?

00:34:02.280 Because again, the birth control might be masking those symptoms, but they are not fixing

00:34:06.460 it.

00:34:07.640 They're not fixing it.

00:34:08.940 And so I know that we're not allowed to talk about root causes.

00:34:11.680 We're not allowed to talk about alternative medicine.

00:34:14.340 We're not allowed to talk about anything other than what the pharmaceutical companies

00:34:19.220 approve.

00:34:20.920 But if we care about our body, if we care about our long-term health, if we care about our

00:34:25.520 daughters, if we care about our ability to have children, all of those things that we 0.97

00:34:30.000 have to care, of course, with what is going into our bodies.

00:34:33.920 And of course, we didn't even discuss that much.

00:34:35.860 Again, that abortifacient aspect of it.

00:34:38.980 You really need to consider that.

00:34:40.420 If you are married and you're having regular sex and you're on this birth control pill,

00:34:44.920 there is a possibility that that birth control pill is causing an abortion.

00:34:49.660 And so it's just, it's something to, I think, correct in your life.

00:34:54.760 And I'm not saying it's going to be easy.

00:34:57.320 And there's lots of conversations I know that we haven't had yet really on this podcast about

00:35:01.980 other forms of birth control.

00:35:04.160 Like, when is that okay?

00:35:05.700 Biblically, when is it okay to stop having children?

00:35:08.380 I get this question a lot, what I think about vasectomies and all of that.

00:35:11.940 And we'll have to do an episode dedicated to that specifically, because that's a little

00:35:17.800 bit, I mean, it's a big topic.

00:35:20.000 It's a complex topic, but it's also a sensitive topic.

00:35:23.060 So I want to make sure that I approach that with care.

00:35:25.240 But yeah, get off the birth control pill. 0.99

00:35:27.660 All right.

00:35:27.920 We got one more story to get into.

00:35:31.300 And that also has to do with reproduction.

00:35:34.240 Politico, not surprisingly, wants to make sure that Christians no longer believe that

00:35:39.300 life begins at conception.

00:35:42.220 This is an article by Bradley Onishi.

00:35:45.480 He is an ex-evangelical, a former evangelical minister.

00:35:49.980 He is the author of Preparing for War, the Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism.

00:35:54.820 And what comes next?

00:35:55.840 He is the co-host of the Straight White American Jesus podcast.

00:35:59.300 Ooh, so edgy.

00:36:00.200 He teaches at the University of San Francisco.

00:36:04.820 In 2004, this article says he debated whether to vote for John Kerry or George W. Bush, but

00:36:10.820 he came back to the idea that had been ingrained in him as a youth pastor at a Southern California

00:36:15.580 megachurch.

00:36:16.220 Abortion is murder.

00:36:18.380 And so that's what was making him lean towards George W. Bush.

00:36:22.260 And he says the belief that abortion is murder founded on the premise that life begins at

00:36:26.200 conception.

00:36:26.680 The premise drove my evangelical politics as a zealous young convert, and it continues

00:36:32.200 to motivate millions of Americans when they go to vote in local, state, and national elections.

00:36:36.760 It's easy to think that the premise that life begins at conception is a timeless theological

00:36:40.180 component of Christian belief, but it's not.

00:36:42.880 He writes that the Protestant forefathers like Cotton Mather, John Wesley, and Jonathan Edwards

00:36:47.380 were more likely to believe that abortion, while inadvisable, was not murder until the quickening

00:36:51.380 of the child when the mother feels it move, somewhere near 18 weeks of pregnancy.

00:36:55.420 Well, that's because they didn't know.

00:36:57.540 They didn't know anything.

00:36:58.940 They didn't have ultrasounds. 0.98

00:37:01.360 So they weren't able to see that beating heart at six to eight weeks gestation.

00:37:06.020 They didn't have the textbooks that we have.

00:37:08.560 They didn't have the science that we have.

00:37:10.400 And by the way, they were against abortion.

00:37:12.280 This idea that we just became against abortion in the 1970s is just not true.

00:37:19.140 Look back to the 1500s, so the time of the Protestant Reformation, you did see the Reformers,

00:37:26.340 and of course many of the early church fathers too, but if we fast forward a bit to the Reformers,

00:37:31.620 we do see an absolute condemnation of abortion.

00:37:36.340 For example, Martin Luther, when he was talking about Genesis 25, 1 through 4, he said,

00:37:41.920 God wanted to teach in a task that the beginning of children is wonderfully pleasing to him,

00:37:46.660 in order that we might realize that he upholds and defends his word when he says,

00:37:50.540 be fruitful.

00:37:51.480 He is not hostile to children as we are.

00:37:53.840 How great, therefore, the wickedness of human nature is.

00:37:56.760 How many girls there are who prevent conception and kill and expel tender fetuses, 1.00

00:38:01.400 although procreation is the work of God.

00:38:05.300 In 1542, Luther wrote a pamphlet he distinguished between women who suffer miscarriages through 0.99

00:38:12.860 no fault of their own and those who, quote, females who resent being pregnant deliberately

00:38:18.240 neglect their child or go so far as to strangle or destroy it.

00:38:22.340 Also in a letter that he wrote in 1544, Luther strongly condemned a woman who had been a guest

00:38:28.180 in his house for asking his maid to jump on her body to kill the baby.

00:38:33.540 And so he was obviously condemning abortion from the very early stages.

00:38:37.600 We also have John Calvin.

00:38:39.080 He wrote a commentary on Exodus 21, 22.

00:38:41.820 He says, the fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being,

00:38:47.040 and it is almost a monstrous crime to rob it of the life that it has not yet begun to enjoy.

00:38:53.920 If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field because a man's house

00:38:59.460 is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy

00:39:04.760 a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.

00:39:08.460 And so what this author of the Politico article is trying to get you to think is that all throughout

00:39:14.640 church history that Christians really have thought about abortion being okay until about

00:39:22.600 18 weeks.

00:39:23.400 That's not true.

00:39:24.160 It does have a complex history within the church with some people believing that it's

00:39:29.860 not murder until that point of quickening.

00:39:32.100 But again, even then, they did not have the science to know what was really happening inside

00:39:36.680 the womb.

00:39:37.760 And even those who also didn't have that science in the 16th century, there were many of them

00:39:43.980 who did believe that abortion from any stage in pregnancy was murder and was wrong.

00:39:49.700 Of course, what he's trying to say, as he goes on to argue in this article, that in the

00:39:55.740 1960s and 70s, Southern Baptists and other historically conservative Protestant denominations held that

00:40:00.380 abortion was not only permissible, but also should be left to individual choice.

00:40:06.080 And then in 1968, a group of evangelical leaders wrote a Protestant affirmation on the control

00:40:12.420 of human reproduction.

00:40:13.860 But then, of course, he argues that all of that changed in the name of wanting political

00:40:17.540 power and Southern Baptists and evangelicals changed their position on abortion just in

00:40:22.500 order to secure their Republican vote for their own purposes.

00:40:29.240 He says,

00:40:29.940 There is a widespread and nuanced theological debate about the beginning of life in the

00:40:33.500 history of Christianity.

00:40:34.620 The idea that life begins at conception is far from a universally agreed upon matter of

00:40:38.440 historical Christian doctrine.

00:40:40.020 When viewed in the long history of the Christian tradition, it is actually a minority opinion.

00:40:45.380 He says,

00:40:45.700 Since the fall of Roe, it is clear that the logic of the movement is headed in a direction

00:40:50.000 that will cause problems both theologically and politically.

00:40:52.720 Once they understand the implications for IVF, birth control, and even on abortions and extenuating

00:40:57.700 circumstances, many Protestants, including evangelical and charismatics, might want to reconsider

00:41:03.560 whether they really want to make the theological case for extending personhood to embryos.

00:41:09.880 All right, we just have to think about it for a second.

00:41:11.840 If life doesn't start at conception, then when does it start?

00:41:15.720 If personhood isn't granted to a human when they become a human, then when is it granted

00:41:20.000 to them and why?

00:41:22.080 If you become a person any time after you become a human, then it becomes really arbitrary.

00:41:27.700 Like, shouldn't we be safe rather than sorry?

00:41:32.060 Shouldn't we make sure that we are advocating for the most life-saving position possible?

00:41:38.040 I don't really care what Jonathan Edwards has to say about abortion.

00:41:43.260 And when he thinks life begins, there are other things that I disagree with Jonathan Edwards

00:41:47.760 on when it comes to the value of human life, too.

00:41:50.200 Like, why is that going to make me take the completely incongruent position that some magical

00:41:57.800 time, arbitrary time after conception, suddenly that human being becomes a person with rights?

00:42:04.620 That doesn't make any sense.

00:42:06.460 I just, I can't comprehend that.

00:42:08.820 In my mind, the only logically and morally and theologically consistent place to say that

00:42:14.780 a human becomes a person is when a human becomes a human, which is the point of fertilization.

00:42:20.960 At that point, they've got their own unique DNA, their eye color, their hair color, everything

00:42:25.600 right then is determined.

00:42:27.580 That little person from the earliest stage of development is made in the image of God.

00:42:32.520 And therefore, of course, I believe that it is wrong to kill that person.

00:42:35.660 And yes, it has implications on IVF and on birth control.

00:42:40.580 Well, yes, it does.

00:42:42.240 I understand that.

00:42:43.640 Not everyone understands that, but we're getting there.

00:42:46.840 And just because it might be politically inconvenient to advocate for those little lives

00:42:51.280 doesn't mean that it's inconsistent.

00:42:53.100 Doesn't mean that we shouldn't do it.

00:42:54.680 Doesn't mean that it's theologically incorrect in any way.

00:42:57.760 Of course, this person is just pro-abortion.

00:43:00.740 And so they want Christians to vote Democrat.

00:43:02.860 They're not coming to a conclusion in this article except for, well, this is so nuanced.

00:43:07.040 It's really too complicated for you to have a firm position on.

00:43:09.980 And so you should just vote for the party that unapologetically celebrates abortion through 0.74

00:43:14.680 all nine months.

00:43:16.080 No, I'm sorry.

00:43:17.720 This is a stupid argument.

00:43:18.780 They've tried to do it so many times.

00:43:20.720 And we're smarter than this.

00:43:32.580 All right, y'all.

00:43:36.260 Thank y'all so much for listening.

00:43:38.080 It's been a jam-packed week.

00:43:39.260 Gosh, we've had so much to talk about.

00:43:40.880 And we still did not get through everything that we wanted to talk about.

00:43:43.960 I know that we didn't discuss Nickelodeon this week.

00:43:47.740 And I said that we would discuss the Nickelodeon documentary.

00:43:50.800 And we will.

00:43:51.800 I promise we just need a little bit more time.

00:43:54.400 We weren't foreseeing the whole Candace Owens, Christ is King subject,

00:43:59.080 taking up the entire episode on Tuesday.

00:44:02.000 But of course it did.

00:44:03.240 And so we'll try to get into that next week.

00:44:05.500 Although you just never know what's going to happen, the demands of the news cycle and

00:44:09.220 what goes on and what you guys want me to talk about.

00:44:11.420 They keep us really busy and keep the episodes really full.

00:44:15.940 So just remember, Monday we're having an apologetics conversation with Dr. Jeremiah Johnston.

00:44:21.900 If you've got any questions, any apologetics questions, like how do I answer this?

00:44:26.060 Or I've always had a question about this.

00:44:28.700 Send them my way.

00:44:29.620 You can DM me on Instagram and we will go through those on Monday.

00:44:33.720 It's going to be really, really good.

00:44:35.160 All right.

00:44:35.600 I'll see you guys then.

00:44:36.940 Happy Resurrection Day.

00:44:38.040 Happy Resurrection Day.

00:44:38.060 Happy Resurrection Day.

00:44:40.060 Happy Resurrection Day.

00:44:41.060 Happy Resurrection Day.

00:44:42.060 Happy Resurrection Day.

00:44:43.000 Happy Resurrection Day.

00:44:43.060 Happy Resurrection Day.

00:44:43.180 Happy Resurrection Day.

00:44:44.060 Happy Resurrection Day.

00:44:45.060 Happy Resurrection Day.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - March 28, 2024

Ep 976 ｜ Birth Control： What the Media Won’t Tell You

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