It's the question we're asked more often than any other, and we want to answer it carefully. The question is, "What should I do about the pro-life activist near me who is being difficult? Should I approach them differently than I do my dialogues with pro-choice people?"

Josh and Emily invited ERI Lead Editor Andrew Kaake and Secular Pro-Life's Executive Director Monica Snyder on the show for a two-part discussion on the way they think about responding to online comments, eight common types of difficult pro-life people, and how you can respond to them.

Note: Sorry for the occasional distortion with Josh and Emily's mics. They've had a good six-year run, but we're replacing them before the next time we record (the mics, not Josh and Emily).

We also had technical issues with Monica's video stream due to technical issues. All of her audio is there, but the video is missing sometimes.

Related Links:

Secular Pro-Life: https://secularprolife.org

Monica Snyder for Secular Pro-Life: "Nine months of inconvenience." https://bit.ly/3MvqDs4

First episode of our two-part podcast with Jonathon Van Maren on AHA: https://youtu.be/0SvNYXQqvuM

00:00 Introducing the guests and topic

02:49 Opening comments

09:28 ERI/SPL's policies on responding to comments

18:58 8 Types of Difficult Pro-Life People...

19:39 Type 1: The Ones With Only One (Unpersuasive) Argument...

26:08 Type 2: The Ones Who Need to Stop Saying This, Now!

38:20 Type 3: The Ones Who Are Very Out of Touch with Reality

47:20 Type 4: The Ones Who Really Frustrate Monica

Co-Hosts: Josh Brahm & Emily Albrecht

Guests: Monica Snyder & Andrew Kaake

Audio/Video Editor: Chapter One Films & Josh Brahm

Publisher: Jen Westmoreland

In this podcast, two authors discuss recent research regarding fetal pain: John Bockmann, co-author of "Reconsidering Fetal Pain" (2020) and Dr. Bridget Thill, MD, MS, author of "Fetal Pain in the First Trimester" (2021).

Bridget and John graciously typed out a full transcript of this episode that includes a ton of links to sources of the factual statements they made in this episode.

Here's a link to the five slides Bridget Thill discussed, including working links to the sources in the footnotes: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/equippedforlife/Thill_Fetal_Pain_PowerPoint_slides_PDF_3.pdf (Opens PDF)

Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:47 Background on fetal pain and "Reconsidering Fetal Pain" 10:47 Keys to this unlikely, productive collaboration 13:39 Fetal pain: Advances in understanding 16:30 Current science and treatment of fetal pain 19:47 Cortex needed for pain? 22:40 Are fetal responses to pain just reflexes? 27:10 How did we get fetal pain so wrong? 29:52 A lack of compassion or a lack of understanding? 33:30 Recognition of fetal pain 38:19 Correlation with behavior, not overreliance on hypotheses 41:02 Pain assessments are calibrated to patient response, not brain imaging 42:10 Correlation with clinical behavior 42:56 Specialized pain assessment tools for different stages of development 45:23 Fetal Pain 101 45:45 Slide 1: An Evolving Understanding of Pain 46:33 Slide 2: Development of Fetal Pain Pathways 47:36 Slide 3: Responses to Pain in Fetus & Extremely Preterm Infant 49:00 Slide 4: The Fetal Pain Paradox 49:37 Slide 5: Levels of Consciousness 50:50 Future fetal pain research 52:37 How to receive updates regarding fetal pain 53:22 Pro-choice response to "Reconsidering Fetal Pain" 55:34 How to talk–and not talk–about fetal pain 59:36 Summary on fetal pain

This is a continuation of Josh's conversation with Gary Freeman on crossing the racial divide in pro-life work. In this episode they discuss the high abortion rate in the African-American community and why that is, and how we should think about the debate over Planned Parenthood being an allegedly racist organization.

Learn more about Major League Dad here: https://www.MajorLeagueDad.org

Related Links:

Alan Guttmacher Institute article that Josh referenced: "Abortion and Women of Color: The Bigger Picture"

Audio recording of Josh's "Planned Parenthood Unveiled" presentation from before ERI, including his explanation of why Planned Parenthood is not a racist organization: https://bit.ly/3s2kjRb (Direct MP3 link)

Audio recording of a Q&A session from another recording of the "Planned Parenthood Unveiled" presentation with more discussion on the racism question: https://bit.ly/3vTS9Jb (Direct MP3 link)

Live Action's investigation on Planned Parenthood systematically covering up sexual abuse: https://bit.ly/38DBu4U

ERI's coverage of the Center for Medical Progress videos: https://bit.ly/3OISPKf

Live Action's investigation into "racially-motivated donations": https://bit.ly/3MIvyq3

Angela Franks' book "Margaret Sanger's Eugenic Legacy: The Control of Female Fertility": https://amzn.to/3FeSR8t (affiliate link)

Josh Chatraw's book "Telling a Better Story: How to Talk About God in a Skeptical Age": https://amzn.to/3snHjun (affiliate link)

Chapters:

00:00 The way pro-life people tend to talk about this statistical disparity

5:07 What is going on with the African-American abortion rate?

8:42 Is the Alan Guttmacher Institute right that the higher unintended pregnancy rate among African-Americans is part of the puzzle?

11:41 Is Walter Hoye right when he says that abortion is less stigmatized in the African-American community?

16:06 Why Gary doesn't use the word "privilege" in the way it often is used

17:03 Josh summarizes some of the reasons pro-lifers tend to call Planned Parenthood a "racist organization" and his take

22:58 Gary's response

26:40 Acknowledging examples of real racism in the abortion industry

27:45 How pro-life people could better help these people not choose abortion

29:37 Considering Live Action's racism investigation

34:15 Considering Margaret Sanger

45:19 Should pro-lifers talk about Margaret Sanger in order to get African-Americans to distrust Planned Parenthood?

48:41 Why pro-lifers should be careful how they talk about Planned Parenthood with pro-choice people

Host: Josh Brahm Guest: Gary Freeman Audio/Video Editor: Andrew Kaake & Josh Brahm Publisher: Jen Westmoreland

Disclosure: The books above are Amazon affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, ERI will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the links and finalize a purchase.

This is a continuation of Josh's conversation with Gary Freeman on crossing the racial divide in pro-life work. In this episode they contrast Gary's position with those who say that you can't be pro-life unless you agree with them on other social issues, why people in black churches are distrustful of Gary as soon as he calls himself "pro-life", and how the church could have possibly made Black Lives Matter irrelevant.

If you haven't listened to the first part of this conversation, do that first for this section to make sense in context.

Learn more about Major League Dad here: https://www.MajorLeagueDad.org

Chapters:

0:00: Contrasting what Gary's saying with the pro-choice people who say that you can't be pro-life unless you agree with them on the death penalty, animal cruelty, etc.

10:27: "Are you saying I have to become a Democrat in order to have pro-life views?"

16:00: Why people in black churches are distrustful of Gary as soon as he calls himself "pro-life".

20:53: How the old way of responding to "you're only pro-life if you do X" doesn't work anymore.

25:15: What should white conservatives take from Black Lives Matter and what should they not?

30:39: How the church could have possibly made Black Lives Matter irrelevant.

35:35: What could both the white church and black church have done better after George Floyd was killed?

Josh and Emily went live last Friday with Lauren Handy and Terrisa Bukovinac from Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) to discuss the story people around the world are talking about, and get answers to the questions everybody is asking.

Lauren and Terrisa were incredibly open and shared a lot of information that hasn't been released before. If you want the most extensive interview and discussion of this story, then this is where you can get it.

CONTENT WARNING: This is the most somber discussion we've ever put out. There is no way to talk about this situation without it being graphic and disturbing, and frankly, it would be inappropriate to try to gloss over the difficult parts of this story. Beyond descriptions of what was found, we played a four-minute video that PAAU created (with their permission) for the press conference. Josh broke down multiple times during this live stream, commenting that it's the worst video he's ever seen. If you have a personal history with abortion, please consider whether it would be healthy for you to watch or listen to this one.

Chapters:

00:00: Introduction

19:58: Lauren and Terrisa share their story

36:29: GRAPHIC video

42:00: Josh asks questions

1:44:13: Emily responds to other pro-choice assertions, five takeaways, and Q&A

This is the first of a three-part series of conversations with Josh and Gary Freeman, a former guest on our podcast. In this episode they discuss Gary's new ministry, on relationships being key to white and black people understanding each other better, as well as the need to serve people well in spite of cultural differences.

Learn more about Major League Dad here: https://www.MajorLeagueDad.org

Chapters:

05:02 Why Gary is choosing to focus his ministry on local needs, instead of national work

9:59 Setting the stage for this episode

13:07 Where Gary is politically

17:24 Where Josh is politically

20:55 Why does there have to be a "black church"?

33:12 On white and black people understanding each other more through relationship

48:04 On the need to serve people well in spite of cultural differences

Josh's speech on relational apologetics: https://youtu.be/ndO3nByqVrM

While at our AirBnb in Washington, D.C. we filmed a set of podcasts with Emily, Jacob, and Meredith Maloley. Meredith helped Emily run the pro-life club at St. Olaf, and now volunteers as an ERI Club Coach and works at a Pregnancy Resource Center.

In this episode they discuss the most common myths that organizations like NARAL and Planned Parenthood spread about pregnancy centers. They then finish by talking about the most helpful (and least helpful) things pro-lifers can do to help PRCs.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

2:02: Myth #1: Pregnancy centers are fake medical clinics

7:12: Myth #2: PRC's coerce or manipulate women into not having abortions

20:42: Myth #3: PRC's are only pro-birth

28:58: What is actually helpful for the average pro-lifer to do for a PRC, and what should they not do?

While at our AirBnb in Washington, D.C. we filmed a set of podcasts with Emily, Jacob, and Meredith Maloley. Meredith helped Emily run the pro-life club at St. Olaf, and now volunteers as an ERI Club Coach and works at a Pregnancy Resource Center.

In this episode they discuss what pro-life advocates ought to know about how PRC's work behind the scenes, Meredith's journey from ERI-style college dialogues to counseling at a PRC, and comparing and contrasting her methods with Jacobs.

Learn more about Jacob's techniques with the Sidewalk Counseling Masterclass!

Jacob interviews Missy Stone, CEO of Reprotection, a new organization that helps pro-life advocates protect women and children from harm by investigating and closing down dangerous abortion providers. In this interview you will learn about how Reprotection works, the many government agencies that regulate abortion facilities, a few crazy stories, and how to get information to Reprotection so they can do what they do best while you stay focused on sidewalk counseling.

Chapters:

00:00 Introducing Missy and Reprotection

14:52 Why clinics are often poorly maintained and run by sub-optimal doctors

17:42 What Reprotection does

21:57 The government agencies involved in regulating abortion facilities and why bad reports are sometimes ignored

30:49 A success story

38:00 A horror story from Florida

58:54 How you can send tips to Reprotection and what they're looking for

1:08:05 Why Reprotection was launched after initial testing

Learn more about Reprotection at: https://Reprotection.org

Contact Reprotection at [email protected]

Josh Brahm shares why the podcast was on hiatus for three months, our surprising success on TikTok, and the top 5 videos, podcasts, and articles of 2021.

Chapters:

00:00: Intro and why we haven't published podcasts lately 05:35: Surprisingly fast success on TikTok! 08:22: Top 5 videos of 2021 13:30: Top 5 podcasts of 2021 17:35: Top 5 articles of 2021 21:22: Top 3 legacy articles read during 2021 24:56: Equipped for Life Academy plans

Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@equalrightsinstitute

Top five videos of 2021:

1: Integrity, Hypocrisy, and Witness: Learning from the Failures of Ravi Zacharias: https://youtu.be/siCmqKtoR0o

2: Unpacking Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's Pro-Choice Arguments: https://youtu.be/Jut3puiZwCU

3: Pastors, You Can Reduce Abortions in Your Church | Pro-Life Theology in Practice: https://youtu.be/szw8ASoUZGw

4: The Supreme Court Abortion Case: Your Questions, Answered: https://youtu.be/Wxt4AhbUfjc

5: Sealioning: The Fastest Way to Shut Down Dialogue: https://youtu.be/BoZ3YYJryrQ

Top five podcasts of 2021

1: AHA: The Anti-Abortionists Who Fight Other Pro-Lifers (with Jonathon Van Maren - Part 1): https://youtu.be/0SvNYXQqvuM

2: REPLAY: The Supreme Court Abortion Case: Your Questions, Answered: https://youtu.be/Wxt4AhbUfjc

3: A Comedian Shares Tips for Using Humor in Dialogue: https://youtu.be/QVY-Fx8DTbM

4: AHA Fails to Understand Pro-Life History (with Jonathon Van Maren - Part 2): https://youtu.be/5BwphTDXnOk

5: Muslim Intellectual Debunks Pro-Choice Islamic Scholars (with Dr. Javad Hashmi): https://youtu.be/4DKXWOKhjeE

Top five articles of 2021:

1: Refuting Pro-Choice Memes (two new categories and some additional images): http://bit.ly/2K35CZJ

2: The Texas Heartbeat Law: An Overview: https://bit.ly/3zHhdUv

3: Abolitionists Are Going to Get People Killed, and the SBC Just Helped Them: https://bit.ly/3h8t6Lh

4: Fine-Tuning the Responsibility Objection: A Reply to David Boonin: https://bit.ly/3g1Sd33

5: Sealioning: The Fastest Way to Shut Down Dialogue https://bit.ly/3lQ7TYf

Top 3 legacy articles:

1: Is Abortion 14 Times Safer Than Childbirth? http://bit.ly/32AyyyC

2: Ben Shapiro's Response to Abortion in the Case of Rape: http://bit.ly/2r1zQzG

3: Our Experience at the OMSI Prenatal Exhibit Displaying Real Preserved Children: http://bit.ly/2rTRQw8

ERI's Mission, Vision, and Values: https://EqualRightsInstitute.com/mission-vision-values

Help make the Equipped for Life Academy possible: https://EqualRightsInstitute.com/donate