One of the World's Best Pro-Life Apologists Had a Baby and it Changed Her Life
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Summary
Stephanie Gray has been one of the most successful apologetics workers in the pro-life movement that the movement has ever seen. In fact, she s been an inspiration to so many young people to take up the cause of arguing for life that she s pretty much a legend in the Pro-Life movement. She s got a new book right now which is coming at it from a different perspective, one that sings to my heart. My Body for You is the new book by Stephanie Gray.
Transcript
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In 2017, the start of that year, I get contacted by a staff member at Google, and that staff member was familiar with my work, and he said, we just brought in the head of Planned Parenthood.
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And so since Google tries to present itself as being inclusive and tolerant, I wanted to suggest they bring in the other side of the debate, and I wanted to suggest they bring in you.
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When we arrived in the room, there was a lighting issue, and there was a flickering of a light, and I remember the staff member saying to me, if that light doesn't get fixed, they won't put the recording online, because they want the top quality recording.
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And then the videographer didn't show up, and we delayed the talk, I think a solid hour, for it to make it on their YouTube platform and go viral, I mean, truly is a testament to the hand of God.
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There are very few people in the pro-life world who are able to speak to the issue of abortion like my next guest.
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Stephanie Gray has been in the movement for a long, long time.
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She's been one of the most successful apologetics workers in the pro-life movement that the movement's ever seen.
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In fact, she's been an inspiration to so many young people to take up the cause of arguing for life that she's pretty much legend in the pro-life movement.
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She's got a new book right now, which is coming at it from a different perspective, one that sings to my heart.
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My Body for You is the new book by Stephanie Gray.
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Stay tuned to this episode of The John Henry Weston Show.
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Stephanie is originally Canadian, as am I, and Canadian pro-lifers are super proud to have you on this side, or at least born on this side of the border.
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You know, it's funny, when I would do my speaking in the U.S., Americans would always say, when are you moving to the U.S.?
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And I would always say, find me an American husband.
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And so, Lila Rose took it upon herself to find me an American husband.
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So, Stephanie, tell us a little bit about yourself, because you're known as a great apologist.
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You've done all sorts of incredible things in the pro-life movement that people thought, oh, that's impossible.
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Who is Stephanie Gray, and where in the world did you get into this from?
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Yeah, well, I am born and raised in Canada, and I would say I'm a daughter of the King, our Heavenly Father.
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But in terms of how I got involved in the movement, really, it was my parents.
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I have to give great credit to them who raised me in the movement.
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So, I knew about, you know, CLC and LifeSite News and all of these things growing up.
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I have stacks of letters that I wrote to then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the Premier Mike Harcourt of British Columbia, where I was growing up when I was 12 and 13 and 14 years old.
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Because my parents were so involved in the movement, that's what I was always doing, even well before those teenage years.
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But I then became really activated at that age.
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I mean, I remember at one point writing a letter to the Prime Minister and getting the classic response from the assistants to the Prime Minister.
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And I was so ticked that I didn't hear directly from the Prime Minister himself, that I wrote a letter to the two assistants, saying, I did not ask to hear from you, I asked to hear from the Prime Minister, and he needs to listen to me and end abortion in Canada.
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So, you know, I was just deeply convicted as a young child, I loved babies, and I knew what abortion was from a very early age.
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And I knew there was a need to do something about it.
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Now, there's a beautiful thing, in your book, you begin with motherhood.
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That is something new for you, or relatively new anyway, in terms of your pro-life activism.
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Tell us how that sort of changed your approach to pro-life and what it's meant for you.
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So, yeah, I spent, so I was raised in the movement, and then I went full-time in pro-life apologetics when I was 21.
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And so I spent essentially two decades working full-time, traveling, speaking, debating, and so forth.
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And in my 40th year of life, I guess 40 plus nine months, if we count my womb time, I met and married my beloved, wonderful, St. Lee, St. Joseph husband.
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His name is Joe, and he's just like a St. Joseph.
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But, so we got married in 2020, and then we got pregnant almost right away, and then very sadly lost our first child, who we named Lele.
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Then we got pregnant again, and so that's our two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Violet.
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Then we had three more pregnancies that we lost through miscarriage, and then I'm pregnant right now.
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And so these experiences of life and loss, of pregnancy, of motherhood, both pregnant as well as post-birth motherhood,
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have really broadened my view on just the pro-life message.
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Not that it was, you know, I've learned things I per se didn't know before, but it was theory.
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And now it's living it out, realizing just how beautiful the call to motherhood is,
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how each of us at the heights of our maturity when we get to adulthood are actually called to either motherhood or fatherhood.
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That's either just going to be lived out spiritually or biologically, sometimes both.
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You know, I consider what I did for 20 years in the movement to be a type of spiritual motherhood,
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but now I'm living it out, you know, in that very biological way.
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It's very fulfilling and very rewarding, but also very challenging.
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You know, I write that candidly in the book, you know, the challenges of raising, you know,
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a toddler who does not think and behave like an adult.
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The challenges of birth, you know, that were just so brutal.
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I read at the very start of the book that I declared to my husband while in the throes of labor that I should have been a nun.
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Um, so, uh, you know, realizing that there's hardship that comes with the grand call that someone is, is meant for.
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That's not necessarily a bad thing, but therefore then realizing as a movement, when we tell people reject abortion,
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carry a pregnancy to term, either place a child for adoption or, or parent your child, um, that,
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that is calling people to challenges and to hardship.
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And it can be very real at times, which is why we need support, which the pro-life movement has always done an excellent job of, of doing.
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So since you've gone there, let me ask you, cause that makes it really hard.
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As you know, every time you get into the situation, talking about abortion, almost for everybody,
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it always comes back to rape and incest, already hard situations where women in, in pure cases,
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when they're a lot of falsehood is given around that, but when there is a real crisis,
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when there is something that's happened, that's unasked for and untoward and horrific,
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how are you asking them to take on more hardship?
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You know, to acknowledge that it is a profound hardship, uh, but to acknowledge that, unfortunately,
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I don't have a magic wand that can go back in history and undo things that never should have happened.
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So obviously sexual assault, rape, you know, incest, all of these things never should have happened.
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If we can undo them from happening, we should, but we are not capable of that.
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We live in the present moment towards a future.
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So at that point, then, if we're dealing with someone who's been victimized by sexual assault
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and has become pregnant, the child already exists and is in her body and must come out of her body.
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So at that point, we need to ask the question, what is the most ethical response to bring the child out
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dead as a result of an act we've intentionally inflicted through homicide or to bring out the
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child alive through, you know, a natural act of birth.
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So, you know, we, we need to acknowledge the hardship, but make the point that ending the
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child's life because of the sins of the father is not fair to the child.
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Just as the woman had an injustice inflicted upon her to commit an abortion on the child is
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to an inflict an injustice on, on another innocent party.
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You know, I think of two people you're familiar with.
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One is Leanna Rebellito, a pro-life speaker who was raped at the age of 12 and got pregnant.
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And she not only carried her child to term, but raised her daughter who became her best friend.
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And that's, uh, you know, a powerful testimony that's more powerful than even just my belief
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and statement that we ought not end the lives of these children.
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You know, you just need to look to the witness of someone like her and say, wow, if she could do that,
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And then I think of the pro-life speaker, Ryan Bomberger, who was conceived as a result
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of rape and, uh, his, uh, birth mom decided to place him for adoption, but he is so grateful
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to her for what he calls his gift of life and, you know, grateful to his adoptive parents
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And he has now paid the love of his birth mom and his adoptive parents forward by adopting
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So, so, you know, when, whatever we experience, you get more of it.
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And so this selfless act of a rape victim who carries her baby to term, essentially saying,
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That will breed more of that attitude of, this is my body given for you with Ryan, you
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know, using his life to speak for pre-born children, to adopt needy children and so forth.
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I, I remember, uh, speaking with Leanna one time, interviewing her and the line she told
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me and gang raped and brutally, it was horrible.
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She said, I'd go through it again for my daughter.
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So I need to ask you what I know everybody wants to know.
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And there's two big questions that you probably get all the time.
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What was that like going to make a presentation at Google?
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Um, you know, I, it was very interesting, just the timing of everything, because I actually
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in 2015 was engaged to someone else and had a broken engagement, never made it to the altar.
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And as I was working through healing from heartbreak, my spiritual director encouraged
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me to go to a place near to your heart and mind, which was Madonna house.
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You need to go there for 40 days because it's biblical.
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Uh, you need routine, you need community, you need prayer.
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And I said, but father, they use outhouses and he's like, you need to go there.
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And so I went to the Don house and that was a time of real spiritual growth of surrender
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And I remember, so it was the fall of, of 2015 that I went there and I remember saying
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to God, wow, I thought my life was just about to be changed.
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I thought I was about to get married and slow down, but that doesn't appear to be happening.
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You are now, even though he always was, but I really intentionally said it.
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You're my protector, producer, promoter, and provider.
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Uh, if you want me to keep doing this work and I thought I was slowing down and I'm not,
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And so God started opening door after door after I finished my time at the Don house.
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I continue my speaking 2017, the start of that year, I get contacted by a staff member at
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Google and that staff member was familiar with my work.
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And he said, look, uh, we run a series that's like Ted talks, but it's called toxic Google
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and it's for our staff, but we put it on our YouTube channel and it goes all around the
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And, uh, we just brought in the head of Planned Parenthood.
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And so since Google tries to present itself as being inclusive and tolerant, I wanted to
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suggest they bring in the other side of the debate.
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And I said, well, of course I would speak at Google, but what are the chances they're
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Um, but yeah, I really credit my time at Madonna house and the time of surrender and, uh, not
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long before that, my brother-in-law had given me a beautiful novena you're probably familiar
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with called the surrender novena, where you, you know, reflect on words of Christ calling
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And you say 10 times every day, I surrender myself to you, Jesus, take care of everything.
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And, um, so I was saying that and I was like, I actually really think God's going to
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So I'm just going to keep praying this surrender prayer.
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And then I really felt like God blinded the people that needed to be blinded and gave sight
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to the people that needed to have sight because the way the opportunity to get to their headquarters
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unfolded and to speak at their headquarters in the event, not be shut down.
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And then for it to make it on their YouTube platform and go viral.
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I mean, truly is, is a Testament to the hand of God.
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And that when we are open to his will, but at the same time, uh, letting things unfold
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as he wills in his timing, it's, it's really remarkable.
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And even down to the day itself, uh, when we arrived in the room, there were, there was
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a lighting issue and there was a flickering of a light.
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And I remember the staff member saying to me, if that light doesn't get fixed, they won't
00:13:50.000
put the recording online because they want the top quality recording.
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So then they were trying to scramble to get the light fixed.
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And then the videographer didn't show up and we delayed the talk, I think a solid hour,
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knowing that the ultimate power of it would be if it got recorded and then got put on
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And so it was, it was the spring of, it was Easter 2017.
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The event happened, I believe it was June, 2017.
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It was ultimately aired and then, and, and went viral after that.
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Now I have to ask you something because in terms of pro-life speaker, the ability to
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convey the pro-life argument, you are, and I'm not meaning to swell your head, but you
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are one of the most articulate, successful in that way of evangelizing the pro-life, uh,
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talking points, if you will, uh, one of the most successful people on earth yet you've
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You've, you've gone in a different direction and it, at least in terms of being more open
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about faith and things of that nature, you've been able to listen, as you were mentioning
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to the voice of the Lord is a very hard thing to do.
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So a two-part question, tell us about how to hear the voice of the Lord, um, how it works
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Cause I know it's different for other people, but, um, how that works, because it's very
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difficult for a lot of people, but also how that transformation or, or, or approach, different
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approach in your life worked and what you see coming of it.
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So, I mean, again, I, I really credit my parents, not only for raising me in the movement, but
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raising me in the faith and letting me know about Jesus and the Catholic church.
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And when I went to university, it was natural to get involved in the pro-life club and to find
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And so those two things just kept coming together.
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And so, um, I have found the sacraments and, uh, adoration to be two areas where I've really
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been able to hear the voice of the Lord and receive him as well as being obedient to trusted
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authorities, you know, seeking up spiritual direction very early on growing up, actually
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didn't, my parents never had spiritual directors.
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We went to confession, but I didn't know about spiritual direction.
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And then I noticed in university, some Catholic friends started doing that.
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It was like, I followed the crowd in a good way and, um, realize that when you find a holy
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wise person to entrust the deepest parts of your heart to that, you know, obviously you
00:16:46.880
need to continually use wisdom and discernment, but you generally should be able to trust in,
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So, um, I had a couple of spiritual directors early on and then a wonderful Byzantine Ukrainian
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Catholic priest monk, um, who was connected to Madonna house ultimately, but, um, who,
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who just, you know, formed me and helped me for years.
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And so continual seeking out of his wisdom, uh, helped, but, but certainly just times of
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prayer, times of adoration and times in the sacraments.
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And then I was very blessed through the movement, which again, you know, so well, I mean, there's
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just so many beautiful people in the movement that are on fire for the Lord.
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And so a lot of events that I would go to where there was a faith-based audience, because
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obviously at Google, there wasn't in college campuses, there isn't, but there were many
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venues that I went to, you know, I spoke at net trainings and I spoke, uh, at CCO and
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different events where there was a deeply spiritual group of people that, um, would give
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me opportunities at their events where I could have prayer time in, in the way they worshiped
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in the way they did praise and worship or mass or different things.
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And I knew had to be, you know, essential to, to any work that I did, um, years ago,
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I don't remember who recommended it, but someone told me to read the book, the soul of the
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apostolate and there's a beautiful illustration in this book where St.
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Bernard, um, talks about a channel versus a reservoir.
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And he said a channel, the water just flows through, but with a reservoir water fills up
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And he said, uh, souls that do ministry-based work without prayer are like channels.
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They're running, running, running, busy, busy, busy, doing, doing, doing, but by not taking
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time to pray, they run out of steam and they can be a threat to, to whatever ministry they're
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He goes, instead, we are to be like reservoirs.
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So we are to take time and be still and know that God is God, allow ourselves to be filled
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up with the Holy spirit, and then let that overflow into any apostolic ministry-based activity
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And so again, lots of counsel I've been given over the years, but being given that book and
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that counsel also was very formative and, and influential in, in helping me see, okay,
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So then I know to answer your question about this more like recent evolution, you know,
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for years I was, I was raised kind of in the movement to speak the language of my audience.
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So at Google, I spoke a non-sectarian language at an evangelical church.
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I'll use a lot of scripture passages at a Catholic church.
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I'll do that as well as maybe some catechism passages or whatever.
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Um, but I, I started to sense that the most powerful words we can use are the words of
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Christ, whether our audience knows that or not, um, he's God himself and he is the word
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and he gives us the word and we should be using his words.
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And I, at the end of my new book, I share a story, how I spoke in Mexico at an event similar
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And I prayed beforehand, God, what do you want me to share with this audience?
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And I really sensed that he wanted me to, to work with this message of the greatest love
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being, this is my body given for you, as opposed to the opposite of that, which abortion is,
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And I use that message and it went over really well.
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And then in the subsequent years, I got married, I had children and I also share in the book,
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but at the beginning of the book, how I was at mass one day with my daughter when she was
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six months old and she started fussing and my husband handed her to me and I began to
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breastfeed her and I sat down for her to latch.
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And as I was looking down at her little face feeding on me, we were at the exact moment of
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the mass of the consecration where the priest says, this is my body, uh, take and eat.
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I've heard my whole life as my daughter, my flesh and blood is literally consuming me.
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And it's just the Eucharist took on a whole new meaning.
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Christ's sacrifice took on a whole new meaning.
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And the pro-life message took on a whole new meaning.
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This realization that at the heart of the pro-life message is, is a call for everyone
00:21:05.320
And a mother has a very unique way of doing that by laying down her body physically, emotionally,
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spiritually, at every level and saying to our offspring, take and eat.
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And it starts in pregnancy, but it continues well beyond after that too.
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And a lot of people who, who will have trouble breastfeeding need to pay attention to that last
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part, because the last part is that happens from the get-go.
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The, the baby is literally eating from your body or eating your body, um, during the whole
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You very, you put in easy terms, concepts that could be described very loftily and, and
00:22:01.380
Um, you can do that too, but you choose to distill so much of your learning, hard fought learning,
00:22:09.920
I might add, um, into very understandable ways to communicate them to the people who
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need it, who aren't necessarily going to be so educated.
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You did that beautifully, um, with, uh, Viktor Frankl's work.
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Um, I love your distillation of his sort of end for depression.
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If you wouldn't mind, would you mind giving us that in a, in a neat nutshell?
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I absolutely love the insights of Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist, Dr.
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Viktor Frankl, who lived suffering and observed suffering.
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So both as a victim of the Holocaust, as well as, um, a psychiatrist who, you know, saw the
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intimate details of so many people's lives who were really languishing and in anguish
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at various times, both before and after the war.
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Um, and so one of the things he talks about and wrote about was this little mathematical
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And so what he came to realize is that we humans need to find meaning in whatever situation
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And the reality is because we live in a broken world, we cannot eliminate suffering from our
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lives, but he wanted to make the point that we could eliminate or at the very least decrease
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despair from our lives to the extent that we find meaning.
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And so that's where this D equals S minus M came from, where he said, look, if suffering
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that S is a constant thing, we all need to factor into our lives.
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Then how do we find meaning in direct relationship to the suffering we're experiencing?
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And to the extent we find meaning, our experience of despair will go down.
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But if we find no meaning in our suffering, then our experience of despair will go up.
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And so rather than eliminate suffering, he's like, we need to introduce meaning.
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And so he cites beautiful examples, you know, a girl who became a quadriplegic where she
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was paralyzed from the neck down, couldn't move her arms or legs.
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And he said she would spend her days watching the news and reading the news.
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And when she would come across a story of someone who was suffering, you know, maybe it was a
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story about a house fire and someone lost their home or someone was in a car accident, whatever
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She would call for an assistant to come and put a stick in her mouth.
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And she used that little stick to move her head to pound out letters on a keyboard in
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order to write notes of encouragement to people she'd just read about in the news.
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And so here's Dr. Frankel saying, look, this young woman is paralyzed.
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She has profound suffering in her life, but she's not despairing.
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Because she found meaning and the meaning is directly connected to her experience of suffering.
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And so his whole point is, to the extent each of us can do that, then we will find lives
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Technically he's not a doctor, I've discovered.
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Tell us about the debate and how that got set up and what you took away from it.
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And the Harvard pro-life students reached out to me and said, we want to do a debate on
00:26:02.500
So many people would be like, you want to debate at Harvard, Dr. Peter Singer?
00:26:15.340
Well, I will say, I don't know if they had Singer at the time.
00:26:18.180
And I can't remember if I recommended him or they found him.
00:26:22.220
But as you know, from the history of my pro-life career, it's often been difficult to get abortion
00:26:26.980
supporters willing to share a stage because they realize that they have the advantage
00:26:32.140
of widespread acceptance of abortion on demand.
00:26:34.760
And so when they share a stage with us, they jeopardize that.
00:26:38.960
So often debate opponents before they became opponents would decline debates.
00:26:42.940
And there was a select number of people that maybe had enough hubris that would say, oh,
00:26:49.900
So I wasn't sure if the club would get a debate off the ground, but they were able to secure
00:26:58.340
I have spent 20 years studying this man, you know, talking to my audiences about this man.
00:27:05.080
So, of course, COVID happened and he was in Australia and I was in the U.S.
00:27:12.260
But it was obviously through everything online these days, larger, more largely attended than
00:27:18.400
And there's been tons and tons of views of of the debate.
00:27:22.160
And and I would say it was it was a it was actually a challenging experience.
00:27:26.520
I found because I often will describe to people that he comes across as a really nice person
00:27:37.500
I always think someone with an accent just has an advantage in a debate.
00:27:41.160
I wish I had my dad's Scottish accent because it just would give me a leg up.
00:27:46.060
But so so here's Singer with this nice, soothing accent.
00:27:51.020
And, you know, he kind of has a grandfatherly charm to him and he does some very good things.
00:27:58.540
You know, he's known for what's described as something altruism.
00:28:04.640
Now I'm forgetting the exact phrase, but he encourages people to donate huge sums of their
00:28:09.980
He does that more than 10 percent of his income.
00:28:12.160
He donates to causes, you know, people who have heard his philosophy on on being generous
00:28:17.660
to others have been inspired to donate their kidneys to strangers.
00:28:21.020
So there is some good that this man has done, but there's also profound evil that he has
00:28:26.800
done through his teachings on abortion and on euthanasia and so forth.
00:28:32.100
And so I knew the challenge would be to expose his views on how we treat pre-born life as being
00:28:44.760
The challenge would be to really expose that in light of these other views that he holds that
00:28:52.240
So but it was it was a great experience because I think it's a great way of reaching a lot of
00:28:58.400
people who ordinarily would not listen to the pro-life message are now going to tune into
00:29:02.440
that debate and have online and and therefore going to hear a pro-life message in contrast
00:29:11.400
If you haven't seen that debate, go check it out.
00:29:17.200
You mentioned with regard to your husband, Joe, that he's a real St. Joseph.
00:29:22.440
Tell us about how married life and especially the example of St. Joseph have affected you and
00:29:34.800
So I actually have a whole chapter in my book called When Our Bodies Are Protected and I cite
00:29:40.960
one of my all time favorite men and spiritual fathers, which is Bishop Olmsted, who actually
00:29:49.060
I met him years ago at a pro-life event and I've just always found him to be so holy and
00:29:57.080
And what I cite in that chapter is he wrote a beautiful challenge and reflection for men called
00:30:02.300
Into the Breach, really challenging them to rise to their call to fatherhood.
00:30:08.700
Again, like the call to motherhood, whether it's spiritual or biological, and to remember
00:30:21.820
It's to do hard things when they're the right things.
00:30:24.140
And so I, you know, I write that over my years in the movement, I have met a lot of people
00:30:33.260
A lot of abortion supporters that I have met have showed profound hostility to men in general,
00:30:42.480
And I've never understood that because my experience of men has been very positive, you
00:30:47.940
know, from my own father to leaders in the movement to now my husband.
00:30:50.960
And I started to realize maybe that's because I've experienced the men in my life living
00:30:57.180
out into the breach, living out authentic masculinity and fatherhood.
00:31:01.440
And these other people have experienced men abandoning them or betraying them or using and
00:31:08.440
And that has, you know, changed their perception of men as a result of their own pain and their
00:31:15.520
So I think certainly then my, my positive experience and some of these people's negative
00:31:22.180
experiences have, have made me realize how important it is that men empower men to go
00:31:30.200
into the breach and, and to live that authentic masculinity, to be the protectors and providers
00:31:37.620
And I cite a story in my book of a friend of mine who tried to be that for his pregnant
00:31:45.840
And sadly in Canada, where men can't, in most parts of the world where abortion is legal,
00:31:51.620
can't ultimately decide whether an abortion happens.
00:31:54.460
You know, he tried valiantly to convince his girlfriend to carry the term, even if she
00:31:57.920
didn't want to be in relationship with him, he would raise the child and, and she, you
00:32:02.620
know, declined and ultimately had the abortion and killed his child.
00:32:05.700
And that just killed him in a sense, you know, is figuratively speaking.
00:32:09.340
And he had worked hard to be the man he ought to have been by trying to protect his child.
00:32:14.600
But then there are other men that will get behind the steering wheel and drive their girlfriends
00:32:21.020
And so, yeah, we need, we need the, the men who are, are giving virtuous examples to really
00:32:29.480
rise up and inspire other men to continue to do the same.
00:32:33.420
I mean, just even thinking, as I mentioned earlier, just the, the challenges and the
00:32:37.620
hard times of, of parenting and of being a mom, you know, you're exhausted.
00:32:41.580
I met, I went through a season of profound sleep deprivation when, when my daughter was
00:32:47.120
And I honestly felt like I was losing my mind at some points.
00:32:50.840
And, uh, besides God, you know, giving me grace in that season, uh, my husband was my
00:32:56.880
I mean, when I was yelling and losing my mind, he was peaceful and calm and, and so loving
00:33:02.980
and so tender and so gentle and taking on extra work and extra loads so that my load could
00:33:15.060
Um, since you're in America now, and, uh, we're obviously coming up to an election, a lot
00:33:21.720
of people post Roe, um, there's a different feel.
00:33:25.660
The, the, the, the want, particularly of the Republicans, or at least some of them to
00:33:31.680
still be pro-life, still fight for life seems to be on the wane.
00:33:37.880
What do we do as the pro-life movement, particularly in America, in a post Roe America?
00:33:43.540
I mean, we need to remember that we won a battle when Roe was overturned by the Supreme
00:33:49.780
Court and the Dobbs decision, but we didn't win the war and that the war is still raging
00:33:55.000
and that, uh, a moment of celebration is good to give us motivation to keep going and not
00:34:03.420
to pack it up and be like, okay, well, you know, now it's, it's a state by state level
00:34:08.260
because, well, first of all, if it's primarily being battled at a state level, then we need
00:34:12.660
to be battling at a state level and making sure that, that in states like Ohio, as we
00:34:17.520
recently saw where you unexpectedly, I would say, had this, this amendment to the state
00:34:23.560
constitution to broaden access to abortion in a state where generally you would have
00:34:33.080
But as, as I've said, um, abortion, because it is an act of homicide that directly and intentionally
00:34:41.900
And at the end of the day, we don't determine that state by state.
00:34:45.560
It would be like saying, well, rape is legal in this state, but it's illegal in that state.
00:34:52.760
And it's so evil that it shouldn't be legal at a national level.
00:34:56.760
And so we should work at a state level where there are state battles happening, but we really
00:35:01.880
need to remind people that the right to life is an inalienable right, which means it's
00:35:07.580
not something granted because if it's granted, it can be taken away.
00:35:13.940
And so since science has established pre-born children are members of the human family and
00:35:19.080
exist and begin their lives at fertilization, their inalienable right to life begins then.
00:35:24.220
And therefore they should be protected at a national level.
00:35:32.080
That's our, our church leaders, our school leaders, uh, into public places.
00:35:36.860
And we need to be making debate happen where people see we're not going away just because
00:35:44.680
Uh, we're celebrating that, but then we're saying there's more work to be done.
00:35:53.940
What's your vision of the end to abortion in America, in the world?
00:36:10.280
It's, it's not one solution is going to actually solve the problem.
00:36:17.060
We have to realize the movement I've, I've said this actually throughout my career has
00:36:27.560
Paul in the scriptures, a body has different parts, but all are needed to the greater functioning
00:36:35.080
We absolutely need good politicians who are dedicating their lives to look at a political
00:36:40.940
career, not as establishing a good retirement plan, but as making a positive difference in
00:36:47.940
the world and making their legacy, a legacy of affirming life.
00:36:53.140
Uh, so we need people called to the political field field.
00:36:57.100
We need to educate people so that when political debates especially are happening, which are often
00:37:01.360
what make the news that good education and formation is happening.
00:37:04.920
Hence my, my work over the years in, in apologetics.
00:37:08.020
Uh, but then again, my own experience of motherhood is very practically people need help.
00:37:14.180
And so, you know, I've, I've thought more of often, I mean, my mom volunteered at a pregnancy
00:37:19.520
So I saw a lot of single moms growing up, but now that I am a mom, I've just thought like,
00:37:26.500
Because I have faced challenging times with support.
00:37:31.040
So, so realizing, and I, again, I feature them in my book, having support networks, like the
00:37:35.860
sisters of life who literally open up one of their convents to pregnant women.
00:37:40.480
And then mom's postpartum as well, who, who live with them with their, their born children
00:37:44.600
to empower them in their motherhood, um, Mary's shelter.
00:37:49.240
I mean, there's places across Canada, really across the world that do the same type of thing.
00:37:53.240
We need to be offering that very practical hands-on support.
00:37:56.980
So we need to work in, I would say those three arms of the movement, but at the same time,
00:38:04.060
realizing, which again, you feature so well at LifeSite, uh, is, is there's a bigger cultural
00:38:12.400
And so even beyond abortion, there are so many threats and attacks on the dignity of the
00:38:18.640
And so, um, you know, there's a need to, to get to our roots, to get to the faith and,
00:38:24.840
and really be praying more for inspiration is how to spiritually convert our culture as
00:38:36.320
So people can go to stpaulcenter.com slash my body for you.
00:38:41.300
And if your listeners type in the coupon code for you 15, then they'll get a discount there.
00:38:46.380
So that's stpaulcenter.com slash my body for you.
00:38:49.940
And if people want to learn more about my blogging and day-to-day work, that's at love