Pundits who place a high priority on guarding the pro-death agenda continually miss opportunities to have open and honest discussions about abortion.
Case in point: a recent podcast of Uncomfortable Conversations with Emmanuel Acho in which Emmanuel Acho in no way had to contend with any discomfort because the guest list consisted of four like-minded pro-abortion cohorts.
Even going further than support of abortion, the podcast served to justify abortion. So much for authentic discussion.
Taking this on in her own Relatable podcast, Christian commentator and Blaze TV podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey deconstructed the misnamed ‘uncomfortable conversation’ and defended life as she typically does.
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Acho is a former NFL player for the Cleveland Browns. His broadcast career began in 2016 and he has worked for ESPN and then Fox Sports. In 2020 Acho began a YouTube series entitled Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man.
Among Acho’s guests in the Uncomfortable episode were:
Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross, who had an abortion in 2008 because she felt she wasn’t ready to be a mom. Richards-Ross stated, “I was still passionately chasing my childhood dreams.”
MJ Acosta-Ruiz, who is a journalist, and had an abortion in 2004 because as she stated, “I did not have the financial means to support a child.”
Dr. Yeni Abraham, who is a doctor of pelvic physical therapy. Abraham founded Triggered Pelvic Physical Therapy in 2019 to address fertility concerns, pelvic pain, and pregnancy related conditions. Given the focus of her work, she should be well versed in the biological details of pregnancy.
The fourth guest, Pastor Chelsea Smith, was tasked by Acho in the podcast to present her approval of the pro-abortion agenda from a Christian perspective. Smith alongside her husband Judah, act as the lead pastoral team for Churchome out of Kirkland, Wash.
Acho’s segment opened with the intro of the three women who experienced abortions. From the outset Acho stated his intention, “Is to ease the tension.”
Stuckey noted that while the first two women who spoke gave many personal reasons for not wanting to continue their pregnancy, the key moral issue was not addressed: “When is it, why is it okay to end a human life?”
Finances, not wanting to disappoint parents, Olympic dreams, none of the arguments presented stack up morally against taking the life of an innocent unborn child.
Stuckey especially took issue with Acho’s response to Richards-Ross’ testimony as he concluded the abortion had “saved” her life.
“You literally end a life to save your figurative life,” observed Stuckey.
Richards-Ross identifies as a Christian and yet as Stuckey noted, her thoughts and actions demonstrated a “mistrust in God.”
To conclude one’s life has been “saved,” or as Stuckey pointed out, “figuratively saved” when choosing abortion has eliminated trusting God for future outcomes and is sadly to be greatly deceived.
The third abortion testimonial was by Dr. Abraham.
Abraham stated she had to have an abortion in 2021 to save her life. From the testimonial she gave on the Acho broadcast, both she and her doctor apparently misunderstand the definition of abortion, as her pregnancy was not implanted in her uterus but in her fallopian tubes, making it an ectopic pregnancy requiring medical attention, which both should clearly know differs from an abortion.
Most likely this is a bold-faced attempt to confuse the issue of life-saving medical care verses the reality of abortions the first two guests chose.
Dr. Brent Boles, a board-certified OB/GYN and Medical Director for Heartbeat International’s Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN), wrote about the use of narratives promoting provably false information in order to promote a pro-abortion agenda—noting how it is tragic because it can create confusion about important medical facts.
“As a pro-life OB/GYN, I can unequivocally state that I have no hesitation or reservation about treating a woman with an ectopic pregnancy,” Dr. Boles wrote.
“In no state is treatment for an ectopic pregnancy an abortion,” stated Stuckey. “It is dishonest to include this.”
If in fact it took Abraham’s doctor two additional weeks to treat her ectopic pregnancy because she was concerned about abortion law in Texas, it potentially becomes an issue of medical malpractice.
Stuckey expressed her suspicions over how such narratives about ectopic pregnancies are being used here and in social media now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned.
“It is this kind of propaganda that is going to hurt women,” she said.
Amazingly this “uncomfortable” conversation includes no discussion about what an abortion actually is and how it effects the unborn child. It was a missed opportunity for Pastor Smith who could have brought in the other side of this conversation which only talked about abortion from the view of why the pregnancy was unwanted.
Smith expressed concern over Christians being joyful over the Dobbs decision, seeing that as lacking compassion for women. As she quoted Scripture calling us to rejoice with those who rejoice it was clear to Stuckey this pastor has misunderstood the Bible tells us to rejoice in righteousness (see Psalm 33).
Stuckey raised concern over Smith’s tendency to excuse and attempt to make people feel better about sin, as if we can, “Out love and out compassion God.”
To think we can be more loving and kinder than God is beyond willful suppression of truth, it is idolatry.
Romans 2:4 instructs us that God’s kindness leads us to repentance. This was a missed opportunity on Smith’s part to share the Gospel. Stuckey was clearly saddened most about this and concluded this affirmation of sin is not love, but a reflection of being more concerned about how another person will perceive you.
It has become ingrained in the culture created by abortion advocates who have substituted any honest exchange of information with slogans and a focus on women as victims of pregnancy. At the same time, the rhetoric dehumanizes the unborn who are sacrificed in favor of abortion on demand.
Tweet This: Abortion advocates have subbed honest exchange of information with slogans & focus on women as victims of pregnancy, dehumanizing the unborn
Acho asked Smith what the church can do and how women can be “empowered,” which in this case means to choose to take their child’s life. Smith referenced John 8:1-11 and noted Jesus’ “silence” in the situation.
Stuckey dedicated some time to contextualizing the passage to demonstrate the illogic of connecting Jesus’ silence here to somehow showing us to not call out sin. Clear Biblical teaching consistently calls us to speak the truth in love.
Another missed opportunity by Smith was to note all the pro-life work that has been and continues to be done to help women through pregnancy centers.
In the Acho conversation, Richards-Ross called being pro-choice an expression of compassion. Stuckey confronted that assessment as she asked, “Is it ‘compassion’ to give the powerful the choice to kill the vulnerable and defenseless?”
To deny sin is to deny the opportunity for repentance - which leads to God’s forgiveness and grace.
“Suppressing the truth,” in Stuckey’s estimation is to, “make hearts callous.”
Indeed, a truly ‘uncomfortable conversation’ would be a great start toward a national reconciliation, but it takes a hunger to know truth that supersedes our selfish desires to get there.
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages the Abortion Pill Rescue® Network (APRN) and Pregnancy Help News. This article has been updated.
