Abortion didn’t end when Roe v. Wade was overturned—it just got complicated. Trump didn’t “ban abortion,” he pushed it back to the states, and what followed is a patchwork of chaos.
*The views expressed in this episode are personal opinions intended for discussion and educational purposes.In this episode of Stay in the Fray Podcast, Ryan breaks down the messy aftermath: which states banned abortion outright, which ones created six-week or twelve-week limits, and what exceptions exist for rape, incest, or life of the mother. He digs into the horror stories of women forced into dangerous self-abortions, the mental health crisis behind it all, and the uncomfortable question at the root of the debate: when does life begin?
Christians say conception. Others point to heartbeat, brain activity, or viability. And late-term abortion? Should never be okay unless the mother’s life is at risk. Ryan doesn’t take a cheap “pro-life vs. pro-choice” stance—he calls out blind spots on both sides and demands mature, honest conversation.
👉 If you’re tired of slogans and ready for raw discussion, this one’s for you.
⚡ Stay sharp. Stay honest. Stay human. Stay in the Fray.
👉 Listen now only on Spotify. And if you value raw, unfiltered conversations—drop a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating. It helps more people find Stay in the Fray.
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Banning abortion did not make it vanish.
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It's not a shock. The total number of abortions in
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the US actually went up the year after Roe V Wade was overturned.
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Why? Because women are crossing state
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lines to get this. Some states had these creepy
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little things called trigger laws, basically abortion bans
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that are sitting on a shelf like canned beans and grandma's
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basement just waiting for Roe to die so they could pop the lid.
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Let's be honest, if you call yourself pro-life, you should be
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pro the whole life. That includes a woman's life,
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her mental health, and her chance at a future.
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Otherwise, you're not pro-life, you're pro birth.
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And you can be both. I am welcome to stay in the Fray
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podcast. I'm your host, Ryan.
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This is where headlines get hit hard.
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Hypocracy gets shredded and the absurd are laughed at.
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If you want comfort, this isn't your place.
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If you want blunt and unfiltered, I'm your guy.
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Join me in the fray. All you need to do is just
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listen up. All right, guys, good to be
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back. We're going to talk about
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abortion today. Heavy stuff, but we have to do
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it. I've been just constantly
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preaching to all of you about how we need to discuss, how we
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need to have a conversation, how Charlie Kirk represented what
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this country needs, which is people to calm the hell down and
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to talk. And as I started thinking about
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some of the most controversial issues that need to be
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discussed, you can't forget about abortion.
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So I want it to be looked at differently than than how it's
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been. I've been told 100 times that
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I'm not allowed to have an opinion on abortion because I
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have a penis and therefore not a uterus.
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Apparently the second you've got balls, you're automatically
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disqualified from thinking about life and death, and I think
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that's bullshit. We live in a Republic, not a
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uterus club. The last time I checked, it does
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take two people to make a baby. So yeah, father should have a
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say. Biology is not our fault so let
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me be clear right up front before we go any further.
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I am not here to give a cookie cutter pro-life or pro-choice
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rant. Don't come at me with your taken
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inside my fellow right wingers. Don't come at me and and say how
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dare you and and the left wingers just calm down you,
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you're all are a little wild these days.
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What I'm saying is that the issue is complicated as hell and
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it deserves real discussion. And that's what I'm going to try
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and do. Mature, messy, uncomfortable
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discussion. Pretending that one slogan
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solves it all is ridiculous. It's childish.
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It's lazy. I am allowed to align with the
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right and still want to talk about all of it.
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People who align with the left should also want to talk about
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all of it before the pro pro-choice crowd floods my inbox
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with my body. My choice.
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Hold on, that phrase changes when there's a second body
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involved. Hold on, some of you getting all
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perked up when there is a heartbeat or brain developing or
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whatever else you want to use for life begins, the debate gets
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real. If you actually care about
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women, children, families, society, they'll even logic, you
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should want to discuss it maturely.
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Right now, we're not discussing anything at all, much less
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maturely. We're screaming across the
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fucking aisle while nothing gets done.
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So here's what I'm going to do. Let's walk through how Trump's
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Supreme Court flipped Roe V. Wade on its head and handed
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power back to the states, and what those states did with that
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power. Total bans, half bans,
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exceptions here and there like it's abortion roulette depending
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on your zip code. I think it's also important to
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tell you about some of the horror stories as well.
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It's important that we talk about religious and scientific
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split between when life begins and some questions nobody on
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either side want to want to touch, like late term abortion.
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Why is a father's voice treated like background noise?
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Yeah, I'm going to go there. If you came for fluff, this
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isn't you. This is the wrong podcast.
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But if you came for raw, unfiltered honesty with research
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to receipts, welcome to Stay in the Fray podcast.
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It is October the 1st, 2025. Let's roll.
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So quick history lesson before the social media troll mob
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starts typing away. Roe V Wade wasn't some sacred
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stone tablet handed down from Mount Sinai.
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It was 1973 Supreme Court decision that basically said the
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Constitution's right to privacy covered abortion for almost 50
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years. It said a national baseline
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states couldn't ban abortion in early pregnancy and any
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restrictions had to pass a legal undue burden test.
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Meanwhile, states kept poking at it.
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Waiting periods, parental consent, mandatory ultrasounds.
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They chipped away at Roe, but it held.
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Then Trump came. Love him or hate him, his three
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Supreme Court picks shifted the court's balance and opened the
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door to Dobbs versus Jackson Women's Health Organization in
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2022. Dobbs didn't just tweak Roe and
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naked it. The court said there is no
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federal constitutional right to abortion translation.
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The feds are out. The states are it.
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This is the part that people forget or they choose to forget.
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Trump did not ban abortion people.
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He set the stage for the questions to go back to the
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states. That's what a Republic is
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supposed to be, especially with how they function on social
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issues. So the real question is, what
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have the states done with that power?
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It's a mess, not going to lie. So Roe.
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Roe falls, the court hands the ball to the states, and then
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comes the chaos. Some states had these creepy
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little things called trigger laws, basically abortion bans
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that are sitting on a shelf like canned beans and grandma's
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basement just waiting for Roe to die so they could pop the lid.
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Dobbs hits, boom, those laws snap into place overnight.
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Right now about a dozen states have total bands.
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Not kind of sort of bands, but flat out no abortions unless
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maybe the mother is about to die.
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Tennessee, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, where I am, these are not
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Gray area states. They've got flat out bands.
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It doesn't matter if you are a 10 year old girl and raped, good
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luck. Then you've got another two plus
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dozen states with restrictions based on weeks.
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Six weeks. Georgia and Florida, they say
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six weeks, 6. That's a lot of women don't even
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know that they're pregnant at six weeks.
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That could be the point. That could be their goal.
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Some are are set at 12 weeks, 20 weeks.
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It's like every state's running its own version of the Price is
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Right. Spin the wheel and find out what
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you get today. Don't think exceptions save the
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day. There are some states, like
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Idaho, for example, that say, well, we will allow it for rape
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or incest, and it sounds compassionate, right?
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But you've got to file a police report in that case is if
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there's one thing a traumatized teenage girl wants after being
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raped, it's to sit across from a detective and relive the details
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before a doctor will even touch her chart.
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Then there's the state line problem.
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Women in banned states are now flooding into states that kept
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abortion legal. Illinois is basically an
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abortion hub now. Women drive in from all the
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Midwestern states. Hell, half or they're just porn
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across the border. So yeah, again, Trump gave power
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back to the states, and what the states did with it is a
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patchwork nightmare. Your rights depend on zip code.
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It's like some weird sick geography quiz to know what
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rights you get. Let's get real for a second.
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Take away the legal options. Women don't suddenly stop
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wanting abortions. They get scared.
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They get desperate. And that combination leads to
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some horror stories. Just a couple.
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There's a case of a 24 year old pregnant woman with twins who
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tried a self abortion around 21 weeks.
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I don't like that it was five months in, and I definitely
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don't support an abortion at that point.
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But her attempt went sideways fast.
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She got sepsis, A brutal infection, and ended up not just
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losing pregnancy, but her uterus, ovaries, tubes, the
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works. So her shot at motherhood in the
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future gone forever. Why?
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Because she tried to do something that was dangerous
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because nobody was allowed to help her.
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Of course, that brings the whole argument to fruition.
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Should she have done it anyway? Is it?
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Is it a legal issue? Again, that's not the point.
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Let's go back a little further. Indiana, late 80s, a teenager
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named Becky Bell couldn't get a legal abortion without parental
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consent. She tried to handle it herself,
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ended up with sepsis and died. So her parents lost their
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daughter because the system decided it knew what was best.
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Here's the stat nobody wants to admit.
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A growing number of women today are reporting that they've tried
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to self induce an abortion. It's not fringe.
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It's happening in states where Access is basically 0.
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This is the ugly, very real fallout of the bans.
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And here's where I'm going to piss both sides off.
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If you actually care about women, the answer cannot be It
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cannot just be shouting ban abortions or shut the fuck up.
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It's my body, my choice. You can't just do that.
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We should also be pouring resources into mental health
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professionals, into organizations that walk scared,
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vulnerable women through their options.
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Food, housing, counseling, medical care, support that makes
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abortion feel like one option among many, if not a last
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resort, not the only escape hatch.
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So let's be honest. If you call yourself pro-life,
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you should be pro the whole life.
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That includes a woman's life, her mental health, and her
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chance at a future. Otherwise, you're not pro-life,
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you're pro birth. And you can be both.
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I am. So here's the heart of the
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fight, no pun intended. This is what it boils down to.
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When does life actually begin? That's of course the $1
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question, and it's why nobody can agree.
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Christians will say life begins at conception.
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Boom, fertilization. That zygote exists.
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It's a life. It has a soul.
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Period. A Gray area on the other side.
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Some folks lean on the science of the which science depends on
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who you ask. Some say it's when the embryo
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develops a heartbeat. Others argue it's brain activity
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or when the spinal cord connects.
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Some push it further to viability, when a baby could
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survive outside the womb with medical help.
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And depending on who you ask, viability could mean 22 weeks,
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24 weeks, or even later. So you see the problem?
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If you think life begins at conception, then every abortion
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is murder. If you think life begins at
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viability, then early abortion is acceptable.
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But late term? Horrifying.
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The same word life, but completely different
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definitions. That's why this debate turns
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into a screaming match. We're not even talking about the
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same thing. Now let me be crystal clear on
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one point. Late term abortion.
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No, unless the mother is going to die, it should never be OK.
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That's not women's rights. That's infanticide.
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The fact that anyone defends killing a fully developed baby
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blows my mind. That being said, hold on, almost
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hear you guys shuffling. You do have tough cases even
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with that. But if the baby has a condition
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incompatible with life, like no brain development or a genetic
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disease or survival outside the womb is impossible, should the
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mother be forced to carry to term knowing the baby will not
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take one breath before dying? That's a whole different level
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of health. These are the conversations we
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should be having. Real, mature conversations about
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thresholds, exceptions, edge cases.
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Instead, both sides just stick to slogans.
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The second someone tries to bring nuance, they get cancelled
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by their own team. I'd be lying if I didn't have
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some worry about my team and their response to this.
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So what's actually happened since Roe got Newt?
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Let's finish up with that. Let's get out.
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Get out of the slogans and look at some numbers.
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These are factual statistics. None of you blame the messenger,
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me, for what I'm going to tell you.
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First, as mentioned, dozen states now have total abortion
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bans. Another 20 plus states set
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different cut offs. Six weeks in places like Georgia
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and Florida. 12 weeks here, 20 weeks there.
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I've already given you those. Here's the shocker.
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Banning abortion did not make it vanish.
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It's not a shocker. The total number of abortions in
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the US actually went up the year after Roe V.
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Wade was overturned. Why?
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Because women are crossing state lines to get them.
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Illinois, for example, is basically Planned Parenthood's
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Ellis Island right about now. People pouring in from Missouri,
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Kentucky, Indiana, and so on. But here's the darker side.
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In the 14 states with bans, researchers estimate there were
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over 22 more births than expected.
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Sounds like a win if you're pro-life.
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Except that the same study showed 478 more infant deaths in
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those states. So let that sink in.
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So more babies are born, but also more babies are dying
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because the system wasn't ready to actually support them once
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they got there. pro-life can't just mean get the kid out of the
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womb, take care. pro-life can't just mean get the kid out of the
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womb, take care. Good luck.
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The legal fallout. Since Roe fell, 400 plus women
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across the 16 states have been criminally charged under
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pregnancy related laws. Miscarriages labeled as
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homicide, self induced attempts treated like murder.
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Some argue that it is. We've reached a point where a
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woman can lose a pregnancy and end up in court for it.
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Congratulations, we've criminalized biology.
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These types of cases have got to be fixed.
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So here's here's where we're at. A Republic that looks more like
00:15:08
a damn patchwork mess. If you live in California or New
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York, abortions protected. If you live in Texas or Alabama,
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it's basically a medieval law. And if you're poor, stuck or
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scared, you don't get to choose anything.
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So the big question is, should the federal government step back
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in? Should we have one national
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standard? Some people say yes.
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Otherwise your rights depend on your zip code.
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Others say absolutely not. This belongs at the state level,
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end of story. After all, certain regions have
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overwhelming amounts of shared opinions and morals.
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That's the whole idea. Guess what, both sides are
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hypocrites. Republicans scream about states
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rights until it's something that they want federally banned.
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Democrats scream about national protection until it's an issue
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they want left to local control. Nobody is consistent, they just
00:16:01
want power when it suits them. Personally, I think there's a
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case for at least some federal guardrails.
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If you're going to call yourself a civilized nation, you can't be
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jailing women for miscarriages and in other states you hand out
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abortion pills like tic tacs. There has to be a baseline of
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sanity, emergency care, protection for rape victims, and
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yes, clarity on when late term abortions cross the line into
00:16:26
killing a baby. Here is the truth.
00:16:29
Both sides can sit down. Until both sides can sit down
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and admit the other is not pure evil, nothing will change.
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We'll just keep screaming, throwing slogans and watching
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more women suffer in the middle. And the longer we pretend this
00:16:44
isn't a national issue, the more fractured the country will
00:16:48
become. So yeah, America, you wanted the
00:16:50
debate back with the states. We got it.
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And look at the mess it's made. I can be honest.
00:16:56
I don't want women having abortions.
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That's my opinion. I I don't like the thought of
00:17:00
it. I've been back and forth over it
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many times in my life. But I respect that there are
00:17:05
extenuating circumstances. I respect that people come from
00:17:09
different religious backgrounds, spiritual beliefs, and moral
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frameworks that lead them to different conclusion than me.
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The end of the day, it's not my place to judge every situation
00:17:20
in every circumstance that is between them, their conscience,
00:17:25
and God. Here's what is clear, both sides
00:17:29
have obvious points that deserve to be added to a foundation
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moving forward for life and step up for mental health, child
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support, adoption reform, and actually taking care of the damn
00:17:40
women who need help. pro-choice. Stop pretending late term
00:17:44
abortion isn't barbaric and start engaging with the hard
00:17:47
moral questions one step at a time.
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Let's build a foundation we can all stand on or we will all just
00:17:56
fall. Hit up the comments.
00:17:57
Let me know what you think about this.
00:17:59
Like I said, this is a very Gray area for me.
00:18:01
This as you saw this is this is not simple and it shouldn't be.
00:18:06
Drop all the the bipartisan stuff we got to meet in the
00:18:09
middle. We just you have to on something
00:18:11
like this. Let me know what you think.
00:18:12
Like you said, like and follow. Subscribe, stay sharp, stay
00:18:18
honest, stay human, stay in the fray.
00:18:22
Love you guys. All you need to do is just
00:18:27
listen up.