“Morality cannot be legislated.” I am a 65-year old Black woman with a third generation college-educated daughter in the 24- percent federal income tax bracket who is childless because she cannot afford $2k per month for childcare, plus an additional $500 per month for health insurance, plus formula, diapers, clothing, etc. As a result, she is an exceptional parent to a dog that goes to daycare. This Supreme Court decision will have minimal, if any, effect on women of means. However, it will result in more 25-year olds with 5-7 kids that they do not have the skill set to properly raise and nurture. Many of these children will die at the hands of a stressed, unstable parent. This is tragic!
This astounds me that a woman would need 5-7 abortions in a lifetime. Why don’t we compromise on abortion for rape and insest and free or low cost birth control for low income women?
@@lindah.1104 The government could dictate exceptions and price limits but these get complicated because everyone circumstances are different, and things change. Hence, the logic that the women can best decide for herself what is feasible. Roe was a compromise. Without it, it truly is legislating moral reasoning, values and ethics, life trajectory, gender relations, professional health decisions, financial planning, and even national population demographics. Consider this: Forced productive labour is not permitted, and even voluntary, is compensated with a wage, but forced reproductive labour or making human life is now coerced by threat, and uncompensated.
So true. I was around before RVW and saw the chaos and suffering. Too many girls had to drop out of high school and college and end up on welfare living a life that wasn't in their hopes or dreams. My mother's best friend ended up in the hospital twice with hemorrhaging from self-induced abortions. She already had a bunch of kids with her husband and they wanted a cap on the numbers.
@@lindah.1104 the problem with your argument is 'WE'. That's a personal, private decision. Planned Parenthood provides all kinds of birth control and other services. Let's keep the 'WE' out of it
What a powerful story. Many don’t have the moral strength to reevaluate and realize they’ve been wrong, and admit it so openly. Thank you Reverend Schenck.
And so how many of these forced pregnancies did he help with financially after the baby was born? And also how many of these kids has he adopted and supported?
I’ve never heard anyone express so succinctly everything that felt wrong to me about the pro-life movement. I’m going to stop saying I’m pro-choice and start saying I’m pro-dignity. Dignity is what’s been missing from the debate.
@@annakatariina1276 That's because the SCOTUS was deciding if _Roe v Wade_ was properly decided. It was not. It was a travesty railroaded so hard by Justice Blackmun that clerks of the court called the case, 'Harry's Abortion.' It invented whole concepts and read them into the Constitution, calling them 'penumbra' i the opinion which was an admission that they were never there. Overturning _Roe_ was correct. Now it's up to the states, where it belongs.
Also you’re not pro-life if you support capital punishment or sending people off to war including drone pilots who drop bombs on other people…..and then there are the pro-life issues that have to do with quality of life, health care, food programs, etc.
@@craigsmith1443 Who sees the mother as not human? Is that what you’re asking? Seriously, rhetorically, or facetiously? The answer is that the judgmental zealots, against women’s right to choose, demonize their “enemies,” especially women who want or need an abortion, and they no longer see the women as human. They’ve lost their compassion and do exactly what their “Lord Jesus” stood against. Does this answer your question?
I was once a pro lifer. I have met and become friends with some women who have had an abortion. Each of their circumstances were different. I have learned that it is not my position to judge them, nor choose which road to take. Whatever choice is made, she will live with it for a lifetime. I respect the right to choose.
@@rlabarbera see comment above. Most ppl are pro life, they just want policies that support life so the tragedy of abortion is less carried out, less of the best option because the society supports young girls and women with unplanned pregnancies and support those children with the necessities of life once they’re here. That’s what the interviewee is saying. The billions given to fund the politics of anti-abortion and none given to support life.
@@andreac6024 If you want to take about "billions" funneled into an organization, one only has to look at Planned Parenthood which is the most fraudulent organization on earth with a history rooted in racism. I worked with at risk teens and would send them to that factory....another one of my regrets. I don't subscribe to your propaganda or that of this phony clergy man..
@@youreaquickone What part of profound regret are you not getting here? I would not wish my choice on my worst enemy. I have to take that to my grave and so will many who make this choice. Does the baby get a choice? What if your mother made that choice? You would not be tsk tsk-ing if she had, now, would you?...
I detest these SOB politicians who say EVERY LIFE IS PRECIOUS, SAVE EVERY LIFE. Then as soon as the child is born wash their hands & say, GOOD LUCK WITH HOUSING, FEEDING, AND SCHOOLING THAT CHILD. The hypocrisy is through the (glass) roof!!
So true. But their disregard starts well before the child is born. They don’t care about or support the mothers before or during their pregnancies either.
Use federal lands as safe havens in every state. Sounds different but maybe it could work? Especially safe havens for victims of incest and rape, because that cruelty is indefensible.
You forget the hypocrisy of all the pro life pastors, politicians and businessmen who will fly their own relations to the ends of the earth to get them an abortion.
If only more people would listen to him! It’s not just “one size fits all”! There are medical procedures that will be denied until a woman is on her death bed! So much for pro-life!
It is utterly baffling how much "pro-life" actually means the exact opposite, at every moment in time, other than when a person is pregnant. Once that kid pops out, screw them, screw the parent, get yourself a better life I don't owe you nuthin.
My comment has apparently been previously censured by RUclips as I declare that the purpose of the abortion ban ruling is to prepare the way for convincing minor girls to consent to surrogate parenting for hire. Thus a technical rape can be gotten away with by promising before and after payments to young women who will never see the second payment. Whether or not they get the consent of a legal guardian or parent. thus the working class young women will be duped into getting impregnated with a turkey baster; and ruining their lives, while providing the Ruling Class with a source of laborers AKA financially shackled slaves. RUclips is immoral for censuring this.
A husband will be forced to decide between his wife's or his baby's life (if something life threatening goes wrong - she ruptures internally, etc). The mother will under this law be guilty of manslaughter and the husband an accomplice after the fact. So the husband MUST kill his wife or risk a lengthy jail sentence.
Powerful. So glad he is speaking out. His description of "contempt" for pregnant women + their eventual children was eye-opening. It's not just a lack of imagining possible dire outcomes if women are forced to give birth but that the pro-life group really doesn't respect or care at all for the individuals or circumstances. Their political will is all that matters. Frightening warning.
I hate abortion. I am pro choice. My older sister was a foster Mom for many decades, and adopted many kids. Most were physically or mentally handicapped. Parents caused it or could not cope. I am pro choice because I'm pro child.
So very true. There is no sympathy for the woman or the child; they are framed as a slut and her little burden on society. There is no recognition of her humanity, of the circumstances which may have led to her situation, whether she is in a loving relationship where a mutual decision has been made or a victim of abuse trying to avoid the worst fate for a future child, or even the children she already has.
For over 200 years before the Roe v Wade decision our country made great strides without barbaric abortions. Many countries around the world make great strides without abortion. Many families within the United States even during the time at which abortion was legal have done fantastic without an abortion in their lives. Many people who have had abortions have not necessarily feared much better in life because of their abortion. Many parents who were against abortion and didn't feel that they could take care of the child made a tough decision to give the child up for adoption many of those children have experienced what some may feel is a far better life than they would have experienced with their biological parents and some far worse but the fact of the matter is they experienced life beyond the wound which gave them a chance at life.
Her interview style is incredible. Fierce. No smiling over polite stuff, but not being agressive or cold either. Just straight to the point with excellently prepared questions, to get the other person talking on the most important things. It makes me realize how little this approach to interviews you actually see.
Yet she asks no questions on the other side. Everyone wanted it to be safe, legal and rare- but now we average 1 million abortions a year since Roe. I’m firmly in the middle, but I’m tired of hearing only 1 side. Ask the hard questions
@@natalieanderson3951 what does being in the middle mean for you, do you mean it like, you don't have a strong opinion on the topics, or more like you kindof agree with both sides?
Who wants to reduce contraception? It is about power over people and the evil that they want to commit. I also want power over people to not murder 10 year old children in play grounds or anywhere else.
@@firepower7654 195 House Republicans Voted Against Birth Control Protections The House passed the Right to Contraception Act, which would codify the right to birth control amid fears that conservatives are coming for that next. And they won't stop until they do. They (repubs) want to cut SS, medicaid, want no part of parental leave, child care. Did you even listen to this broadcast??
A lot of us have been saying for decades that if they were really pro-life, they would be doing the rational things that could make abortion less needed. Sex education, resources for young mothers to be able to financially afford to raise a child like free childcare and pre-school at least. But they never had any interest in such things. Ergo, they never were pro-life, just using the issue as a political wedge. The reality of women and girls lives has never entered their minds because it was never of interest to them. Votes from the unthinking gullible was what they were after.
Please be careful not to lump "them" all together. For both scientific and social reasons I am pro-life. But I am also a strong supporter of a strong social net, services like you list above etc., etc. So while, yes, many Republican pro-lifers surely fit the stereotype above, not all pro-lifers fit it. Stereotypes are unfair wherever they are applied.
I worked at a Buffalo hospital next to one of the clinics where "Operation Rescue" zealots, including the Schenk Brothers wreaked havoc regularly during the late 1980s/early 90s. I worked as an ob/gyn Social Worker & heard many grim accounts from patients...incest, rape, abuse, mental illness, addictions,etc. As Rev. Schenk said, these are unique situations...as unique as the girls & women. I am glad he experienced his epiphany & redemption. I would ask him to speak up, speak out all over, to all outlets as we are faced with this devastating travesty of so-called "justice". We are so tired of marching, yelling, for the same fight again & again. When was the last time any (white) men had to march in the streets for THEIR rights over their bodies!
2 wrongs don't make a right. Better to find a solution that does not require killing an innocent. I feel for these terrible situations but cannot give in to the tearing a child from the womb. That action is just as ugly as the situation that got it there.
@@liljade53 Your answer is part of the problem as it helps no one. We can dream of all the perfect solutions we want but that doesn’t change reality. The only moral solution is to leave women to make these deeply personal decisions at their own discretion. No human being should have the government regulating their body or potentially criminalizing it against them, period.
@@megansullivan9377 "No human being should have the government regulating their body or potentially criminalizing it against them, period." except when it involves the harming of another, then it's up to the government to protect all of it's citizens.
This is a man who seems to have never been interested in carving out a position of ever growing personal power in an ever more increasingly authoritarian government. For thirty years he has been unscrupulously used as a useful idiot by those who have and are seeking that power.
Agreed. I have pastored two conservative churches and been in ministry many years. I have been aware of the politization of the abortion issue. Rob's is one of most remarkable and moving testimonies I've recently heard.
No, he spoke to nothing in the pro-life movement at all. He spoke about straw men, but he didn't address the real issue, the life and humanity of the unborn child. What did John Stuart Mill say in _On Liberty_ : _He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion…He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them…he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form_ Sorry, but Bob Schenck doesn't know or do that. Killing is never an answer to changed plans.
@@rev.johnpate3231 does God not love all its children uniquely identified by a complex DNA code? If so and the unborn has its own unique DNA code does God love these children? How would God look at a women who let her baby starve to death before giving the child her nipple?
@@craigsmith1443I am curious. Robert Schenck has been active in the pro-life movement for decades, and has moved away from it. That seems to me to be the epitome of a man who knows multiple sides of the case. So why did you quote John Stuart Mill's "He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that."? It genuinely feels as if John Stuart Mill's argument supports Robert Schenck's position as a witness.
@@terraincognita3749 And I once was pro-choice and am now pro-life. Am I not also equally authoritative as Robert Schenck? Schenck is wrong. Humans will do that. Killing a child is never the answer.
This man has been on quite the spiritual journey. I appreciate his point of view. Having been forced to give birth in Texas in 1968, then being shamed and receiving no support, I can see that he has true empathy for my plight and the plight of so many.
@@MrMcgooOG I'm thankful that if my mom had needed to have an abortion it was legal for her during her child bearing years. I however will not have that right.
But no empathy for the child, the father of the child, or the society built to support its citizens. I'm willing to bet he didn't pray on it and get that message from God.
@@MrMcgooOG That is nonsensical. If my mother had had an abortion I wouldn't exist so I couldn't think of such a thing. My mother did have an abortion and that fetus was lucky not to have been born to an incestous father.
Wow. Just wow. Hearing about how he changed his mind really shook me. His description, his emotion, his truth. This is change. I appreciate that he had the courage to come on here and speak. I appreciate him very much. More people should watch this interview!
WOW! Never have I seen any such political operator declare such contrition, absolutely refute his prior standing with such empathy. Fantastic interview by Michel, as always.
I don't agree with the pro life position. But people like Reverend Schenk I can thoroughly respect. This interview should be heard by everyone on both sides of the debate.
I'm not buying Schenck's dramatic display of contrition. The guy was a fame-hungry publicity hound back in the day, and such dogs don't change their spots. He lied and manipulated people back then, and he may well be doing that now. I can just about accept that he's shifted his position on abortion, but he still calls himself an evangelical preacher, and that job comes with all sorts of nasty baggage.
One of the most illuminating, heartfelt and important, brave discussions I've ever heard on this controversy. This man, one of great conviction and conscience needs a much wider audience than this platform alone provides.
I'm a man, and I'm also old enough to recall a time in America before the abortion debate became toxic and violent. I remember Schenck: his egregious publicity stunts, his holier-than-thou pontificating, the obvious thrill he got from his fame, and how his concern for women always struck me as phoney. I also remember how it always seemed that men made up the vast majority of those at anti-choice protests, and they were always the loudest. I was apolitical in my youth and I knew nothing about the challenges faced by women who have to deal with an unplanned pregnancy, but even then I thought there was something very peculiar going on with all those men standing around ringleaders like Schenck and bellowing about baby-killers with hatred on their faces. Schenck had an epiphany and realised that the anti-choice portion of his worldview was blinkered, unrealistic and uncaring. So fricking what? He's still an evangelical minister, so he's still stuck in his religious delusions and he still has influence to screw up people's lives in various ways, even if he scrupulously avoids ever telling any woman what she should do about what's going on in her uterus. Schenck may wish to believe that his god will forgive him for his choice to be blind to the realities of the world, his need to manipulate others into believing the things he does, his hunger for fame and all the misery he helped to create. But as far as I'm concerned, no matter what Schenck does, he's never going to balance all that wickedness with good works of greater value to society.
Look up Frank Schaeffer. He was involved in the Moral Majority and abortion movement (late 70's to early 80's) along with his dad Francis Schaeffer, Jerry Falwell, Dobson, et al. But he finally saw the light too, and left more than the MM behind. His reading is perceptive and introspective.
I grew up and went to college in buffalo. I remember this guy and his followers. I actually have an uncle who would be with him at the clinics. An uncle who was radicalized by Schenk. My uncle was a cool nice Catholic guy who almost overnight became a hateful screaming misogynist judgmental bigot. To this day I still don't really talk to him to this day though he seems to have settled down a little.. Schenk was brutal and cruel and was always looking for the cameras. He had a look of hate on his face all the time. His followers were perfectly ready to be violent and no less judgmental. Fuck this guy. I do not forgive him. A doctor was shot and killed in front of his children as he was serving them breakfast because of Schenk. May Schenk never have a moment's peace.
I applaud Rev. Schenck for evolving, and for telling his story. It shows that most conservatives simply have not imagined being in someone else's shoes, and just need a dose of empathy.
His story is proof that you have to walk in someone else's shoes to fully understand their life choices. It's not a matter of being pro life or religious. This is a deeply, deeply personal matter that involves someone's health, life circumstances, socio economic conditions and women should be given the rights to choose what is best for them.
Plus medical privacy. What other medical decisions can now be made for us? Are our medical records no longer private? It's not about the right to abortion, it's also about the right to privacy.
What about putting ourselves "in the shoes" of the unborn child that will never have a chance to live? But that human is very, very small, and doesn't look like us, so it is easy to ignore its needs. The life of grown woman is not more valuable than that small child's, just because she is the bigger of the two.
@@pegsiciliano8858 If someone needed a blood transfusion to live, and I was the only one who could donate blood to save him, NO ONE CAN FORCE ME TO GIVE BLOOD. Even to save the life of a fully-grown person. It is ILLEGAL to FORCE me to donate blood if I don't want to. We have this concept called BODILY AUTONOMY. It means that a person's control over their own body is an absolute. It's generally considered a human right and why you can't be forced to donate blood, tissue, or organs. We can't even take LIFE SAVING ORGANS from CORPSES unless that person gave consent before their death. Even if those body parts would save or improve 20 lives. Even corpses get Bodily Autonomy. To tell women they MUST sacrifice their bodily autonomy for nine months, against their will, in an incredibly expensive and invasive process to save what the pro-lifer views as another human life is DESPERATELY UNETHICAL; remember, you can't even force people to sacrifice Bodily Autonomy after they died! A fetus is using someone else's body parts. Therefore, under Bodily Autonomy, it's there by permission, not by right. It needs a woman's continuous consent. If the pregnant woman denies or withdraws consent, she has every right to remove the fetus. A fetus is equal to a person in that regard, since if I need someone else's body parts to live, that person can deny me their use. Pro-Lifers are: (1) Demanding people who can become pregnant to accept less bodily autonomy than we grant to dead bodies. (2) Granting a fetus more rights to another people's body than we grant any born person. It's also worth noting that granting a fetus "person-hood" doesn't help the pro-lifer's position, since no person can make a demand on another person's body to survive.
I was living in London in 1999 at 22 yrs of age and found myself pregnant a few months before I was due to fly back home to Sydney to go back to university. I was over here alone didn't tell my mother I was pregnant, made the appointment for the termination which was scary as hell but knew I had no option. My mother had me at 16, she and my dad worked hard to put me through private education and pay for university and the only way I could have the baby meant getting them to help me whilst raising my siblings. I ended up having a miscarriage had to go to hospital it was horrific. Any man or even woman that thinks terminating a pregnancy is a flippant decision clearly has zero clue. I'm 44 now, what i went through has never left me to the point with one ex in my late 20s I said I'll give one pregnancy a go if it doesn't work no more because the trauma never leaves you. We don't become sub human if we become pregnant and should never be treated as human incubators because some religious gop politician doesn't understand basic science.
Thank you, sincerely, for being a genuinely pro life person who is concerned for others. The movement that calls itself "pro life" is really just anti choice.
No one is for abortion. All can agree that the tragedy is the perpetuation of cruel policies that make motherhood so precarious. I'm glad I took the time to hear this courageous persons words.
I’m for abortion. Don’t say no one is for it, m not a believer in the Christian theology .I believe in rebirth, if the soul is in the fetus after 5 or 6 months it will leave the body if the fetus dies ,miscarries or is aborted , the soul will come into another body, most Hindu and Buddhist and sects of other like mystical Jews and sufis believe this. I can’t stand that crazy Christian fanatics are leading USA.
@@radhikaschwartz3499 perhaps I was unclear. Abortion is a tragedy and a trauma I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy but a woman’s right to choose should be absolute. I’m a veterinarian of many 10 day Vipassana courses and it is my practice so I definitely align with your view. Apologies for the lack of clarity.
I completely agree. I’m pro choice and I want there to be a world with as few abortions as possible. We achieve this by investing in our fellow citizens through universal healthcare for all, including mothers and children, easily available contraception, comprehensive sex ed, universal child care, paid family leave for both parents, $15 minimum wage, expanded housing assistance, improving quality of public schools, affordable college; all policies that will help men and women raise healthy families. This, to me, is what it means to be pro life, pro family, pro people, and pro choice.
This is a good man, who found his movement had been hijacked by people who truthfully didn't care about (or even secretly despised) those they purported to defend, all motivated by the quest for political power. I can feel his sorrow.
Hats off to him (Rev. Rob Schenck) ; the first time I learned about him was in separation of Church and State newsletter. I was encouraged to hear someone like him. Unfortunately, we are now experiencing abusive and spiteful conservative US Supreme Court Justices against minorities (though one them is): women for now; who is the next target of group we can never know; keep guessing and be uncertain , that is the goal!
We will not lose our young women because we will fight this with the ballot. November is close upon us. Time to check the ID, find extra bottles of water and folding chairs. Vote blue in all primaries, all state offices. This cannot be allowed to stand. Legislation to support the use of federal lands as safe havens in each state, why not? We must think outside the box. Pro bono lawyers, please get ready. Maternal injury, wrongful death, lost wages, etc etc.
This was a well thought out balanced argument. Abortion is a failure of many systems and groups creating the inevitable unwanted child. This was the first such pro-life position that I have come across. Many couples are now refusing to ever conceive and raise a family at all. This is further examples of how society is not taking care of its mothers. Great interview
Great reporting! This was so emotional and spoke to my feelings exactly. I used to be 'pro-life' until I matured and realized that 'pro-life' had no thought or concerns for 'life' except for those that seek political power.
I'm so thankful to hear Rob's story in these times. I needed to hear this to add clarity to the disquiet in my own journey - why the overturning of Roe is troubling me. Thank you Michel for your perceptive journalism.
Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. The places where abortion is no longer accessible will see guaranteed spikes in infant mortality rates, crime, and poverty, along with a decrease in average life span for women. Good job, you did it. Congratulations.
This man had a true epiphany. I'm impressed w his open heart, his willing spirit, his personal capacity to not judge, or having judged, felt authentic forgiveness. I don't have words to express my soul's warmth in hearing him. Thank you for this, all who contributed to bring it about, including, of course, the Rev.
Thank you for this candid and compassionate interview. Never in my wildest imagination would I have expected a former Operation Rescue leader admit the contempt pro-lifers have for women and their children.
Wow. At about 6:30 he says the problem is, this group who successfully overturned roe v wade, is not motivated by compassion for pregnant women who seek abortions, but contempt. That’s so real and disturbing. I sincerely respect him for seeing it and calling it out.
_is not motivated by compassion for pregnant women who seek abortions, but contempt. That’s so real and disturbing._ No, it's a lie. 'This group' as you put it with careless bigotry, has compassion for mother and child. Ask any mother who has raised a child that she at first wanted to abort, and hear her speak of the love they now share, and realize what you advocate without a single thought. You have contempt for children and for women, for you apparently believe that women cannot learn to love instead of fear.
@@craigsmith1443: yes, mothers who at first wanted to end their pregnancy then decided to bring their pregnancy to term, give birth, and raise their child often speak of the love they discovered that made all the difference. Certainly! The point Rev. Schenck makes, though, isn't about those women; it's about THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT itself, which he now sees is not motivated by compassion for pregnant women who seek abortions. Why? Because Schenck says the pro-life Movement isn't interested in ending abortion through arguing in favor of providing access to the practicalities of bringing their pregnancy to term (psychological care), giving birth (neonatal assistance), and raising the child (in the case of people not financially equipped to foot the bill for it; it's expensive)-- the support and care ethic. Schenck is saying that the pro-life Movement is only interested in making abortion illegal, which is strictly a law-and-order orientation to the issue. Of course, there's nothing wrong, as such, with having law and order in society, but if the pro-life Movement argues that (1) abortion is an emotionally difficult life decision as women contemplate everything they will need to undergo and everything they will need and what support they actually have, and (2) women and their doctors simply need to go to jail if they choose abortion, then the Movement is not motivated by compassion but rather by contempt (that women put themselves in that situation, that they aren't able to afford raising a family, etc.). The interviewer, Michelle Martin, indirectly alludes to this in min. 4:10 - 4:51 of the video when she asks rhetorically about who are the people most interested in this law-and-order orientation to dealing with the abortion issue.
While I'm angry that this man had the privilege to be so cocooned and naive in his philosophy for 30 years, while working against people who had far less power than him, at least he has the courage to come forward and state what he has. I'm gratified that he admits what this is really about, and that he calls out the extremist Catholics on the Supreme Court who are abusing the power given to them.
Well said and I totally agree. The Catholics on the court are trying to control all of us. They won't be satisfied with abortion bans, but on contraception, too. It's unbelievable and unacceptable.
Kiska Kuznetsova, I’m not pro abortion but I never understood a church that was allegedly pro life yet had a problem with contraception. Shalom Aleichem
The so-called anti-abortion stand of most republicans is about the money that states had to pay planned parenthood' for women's healthcare, many will realize and be just like this guy. The rest do not have a clue!
What an extraordinary interview. Michel Martin's ability to sit still and give him the space to fully explain his role, his reassessment, and his rejection of his earlier work was inspiring. More than skillful journalism, it was compassionate humanity.
There is a slogan that women chant during right to choose rallies: "Right to life is a lie, they don't care if women die". Pro-lifers never seen to campaign for better maternity care, or better childcare provision, or for greater responsibility on the part of the father. They would be campaigning for universal healthcare, for children if not for adults. Its nothing less than an assault on women's freedom to choose what to do with their own bodies. I'm glad this man has changed his mind. I just wish he'd done it sooner. how many women's lives has this man destroyed before he finally got his act together?
Even the preborn aren't going to be fine in the 12 red states that still reject the Medicaid expansion of Obamacare. The health of their pregnancies will go unmonitored by ob/gyns, so any fetal health problems won't be detected, or even things that could make a home delivery deadly, like breach positioning, twins, etc.
I disagree that this isn’t your father’s evangelical church. This IS our father’s evangelical church after the GOP spent 50 years maneuvering in secret to destroy the rights of everyone who doesn’t agree with them. This is the result of the destruction of the separation of church and state, the destruction of the SCOTUS, and the literal destruction of our democratic republic and it’s constitution. Americans are either too stupid to understand the danger, too brainwashed to not agree with the idiots running the county, too rich from the process to care, or too powerless or cowardly to stop it. We are seeing the end of the Great Experiment and I’m embarrassed that my parents were a part of that.
This reverend is, perhaps, the most compassionate human being I have listened to in a long time. He knows and understands that he doesn’t know and understand every complex nuance of the decisions to keep or terminate. As a man, I will never understand what a woman feels or faces. As much as I dislike the concept of abortion, I feel deeply that I will never know enough to tell women what the right choice is. Bravo Rev. Schenk!
As a man, I believe I have no right to tell any woman what she should do about a pregnancy, so I think you and I will agree on that point. But I find it impossible to be impressed with Schenck. Call me a horrible old cynic if you will, but he still bills himself as an evangelical preacher. Evangelical preachers are either complete fruitcakes, stupid and actually believe the crap they spew, or they have a natural talent for manipulating and exploiting people, and they chose the religious con game as an easy, legal way to make a nice living. I have no idea what Schenck is up to with this new, supposedly enlightened position of his, but I strongly suspect he's getting _something_ tangible out of it.
What a critical interview. Thank you for this interview. Thanks Rev for being so honest. I would like you to go on every network to tell your story. People need to watch this video.
Men making laws on womens bodies. How is that not a return to SLAVERY?!!!! You know. People as property ( objects) vs people as human beings with a heart, mind & soul of their own. Sad days ahead.
Also truly uncomfortable that women are less free in some states. Very Jim Crowe, very Mason Dixon line antebellum, very disgusting. And there actually is a part of the constitution that mentions that no one may be less free in one area of the nation. (Don't quiz me on this, I think it's something like article four? Maybe is it the equal protection clause?). Scary times, let's vote harder!!
That view is as old as time...but I can do without the hypocrisy of claiming it's all about helping the women and their child. IT"S ABOUT CONTROLLING WOMEN AND POLITICAL POWER.
When living outside the DisUnited States and looking in, the social domination and control of women by the white male and their religious rigidity is evident and disturbing. Residing in a country where abortion is a decision for the woman and perhaps her partner, alone - my body, my choice - the regulation of abortion by the state is bizarre and medieval. I saw a cartoon recently where one woman is saying she wants to visit a primitive society and her friend replies, "Well, buy a ticket to the United States". Sadly, this is how the DisUnIted States are viewed by many other countries.
We are heading towards autocracy. We are not a nation divided. We are in a war. Consider recently the Trumpist Supreme Justices with other Republican Justices voted to: 1) overturn RvW; 2) removal of separation of church and state by allowing Christian prayer in public schools; 3) to remove the EPA's power to pass regulations regarding climate change. This last one is not getting the attention deserved in the media. This precedent means agencies can be 100% controlled by our government.
Forcing birth by rape victims is exercising sexualized control of a female. 10 states have no exceptions for abortions, including rape, incest, age, or viability of the fetus. We are sanctioning child sexual abuse by forcing children to give birth. In a state such as this, a gang raped or sex trafficked child would be forced to carry a fetus...then, if the fetus dies in utero, would be forced by induced labor to give birth. Let that sink in a minute! *Edit: this the Law for 10 states.*
@@mtaylor7307 2) allowing prayer.... Is ironically in my mind a repudiation of Christianity as the recorded words of Jesus say be not as the hypocrites.... So exactly what theocracy are our politicians (or judges if you wish to call them that) aiming for? They seem to be muddling around in the dark, trampling as many of our sacred rights and precepts as possible.
@@mtaylor7307 sorry, you did say autocracy. I guess they can decide for themselves what to save or cut without reference to any religion. But the climate is even more important. The banning of abortion is an abominable act. What would the judgement be against any civilian practicing medicine without a license? Like someone who performs back alley abortions. Preventing the correct and adequate care of pregnant women is likely to be no better. We have highly placed powerful judges engaging in medical malpractice without ever having mastered medicine. Will they eventually be sentenced for the lives they butcher? And again, the climate is even more important than abortion which is critical. If one is born into a world unfit to sustain life, birth is a cruelty that should not be inflicted on anyone. God it is said made us stewards of the earth. I think we are on the verge of being fired.
I'm "on your side," but unfortunately it's not that simple, because as "they" see it, Roe forced some "persons" to die (against their will.) That's why this issue isn't so easy to settle: It involves fundamentally-different, possibly-irreconcilable worldviews.
@Lesley T I noticed Clarence didn't mention interracial marriage in his list of rights that need to be addressed. It's almost like he thinks he's not black. If he keeps this sh*t up, ole Clarence will have that realization, but it'll be too late by then for even him to be safe.
@Lesley T Exactly. If Thomas pulls down marriage equality, and he already wrote as much directly into his grotesque opinion that no other justice signed, then he is pulling down Loving as well, because both cases are built around privacy, and Loving was used as the foundation for the marriage equality case. This is an unkind thought, I try not to think that way, but I now find happiness in the thought that Thomas is the oldest justice, and Alito isn't so young either. That would leave us with Kavanaugh, Barrett and Gorsuch, and now that bunch doesn't look so scary. Plus Justice Brown Jackson is likely to bring a new energy. We must vote democratic for a while, so that future justices will restore balance and give chief justice Roberts his court back.
Well. That was an extraordinary interview. I was expecting an opportunity to breathe easily because the anti-choice movement may be losing a bit of its steam & inspiration. Instead, I was introduced to a deep-thinking & deep-feeling man who freely admits his wrongs, freely admits he lost his way, & is working now to ensure his version of pro-life is both pro-'the life & future of the woman' & pro-'recognizing a woman's right to make her own choice'. Robert Schenck's version of pro-life is about a very moral, compassionate & educated connection to the women making difficult choices. Great interview.
Fantastic interview. I am Catholic, mother of six, but truly belief that each person should have the right to make her own decisions in regards to own body. Various reasons as he pointed out are to be taken into consideration. Surely wish more people could come to this realization. Thank you Reverend.
I'm without words. Pro-Life..should never be pro-birth. I have absolutely no confidence that my state and many others will pass any kind of law to help to these women qnd any children to survive in a healthy, mentally stable way. They will always be looked at as takers, lazy, should pick themselves up by their own bootstraps, get a job, too bad about you..but.. I agree with this gentleman in so many ways. The GOP should pay dearly at the polls.
@@cheriremily9360 Me too but with the economy in shambles and Democrats not providing meaningful material relief, I doubt it. The “relief” that Republicans will provide-austerity on steroids- is too sickening to imagine, but angry voters will definitely give them their turn anyway.
600, 000 humans are sacrificed every year to satisfy the will of the abortionists. The multi-billion dollar abortion industry has told you that you have a right to choose whether or not you want to be pregnant what they don't tell you is that if you do it you'll likely regret it for the rest of your life. The abortion industry doesn't tell you that you have options other than abortion. After you have an abortion you can't change your mind.
ShouId we mention that these are poor states (except Texas) that don't puII themseIves up by their own bootstraps and have their hand out to the Fed to pay for their needs?
@@MrMcgooOG My father is Dr. Richard T Quick MD, the criminally insane psychiatrist. He is also a die-hard Trump supporter. He is online because of this.
Very powerful! Because of my upbringing in this minister’s same original religious and moral environment I opted not to have an abortion and stayed in a miserable marriage trying to survive my spouse’s disregard and disrespect for me as the very young woman he heedlessly impregnated because he, and not me, was drunk and uncaring. In counseling under even those precarious circumstances my religious faith was never supportive or sustaining of my efforts to do right for my child or for a marriage I committed to in a Biblical sense.
Something that is not enough mentioned is that there are laws prohibiting access to abortion even in the case of rape or incest, these can happen to children or teens who are not even adults with no understanding of what is happening to them nor knowing where to turn to for resources. This is a tragedy and will lead to devastating consequences.
Implicit in the “rape and incest” argument is that women who are not victims of these crimes do not “ deserve” to make critical choices about their lives. A woman having sex is not a crime and a child is not righteous punishment for any crime. One in four women in the United States has at least one abortion. Most of them became pregnant through a failure of contraception. Most have children with their husband or partner. Becoming pregnant in the course of normal family life is not a crime. They don’t have to prove their innocence. They are entitled to decide whether to continue the pregnancy. End of story.
My cousin who is an evangelical Christian bragged to me that she counseled an 11 year old who was the victim of incest to continue her pregnancy. This showed me she cared nothing for this child’s health and well-being. She had been totally brainwashed by her church elders to place their doctrine over love and caring. Fortunately the child had the abortion.
And your solution for that is to tell those same vulnerable and ignorant children to kill their own child? You can't see a better solution? Tell me something, how many of the 650,000 abortions that occurred in 2021 were a result of rape and or incest, and of that number how many of them were children? Now since you said is not an adult and not good decision making age who should make the decision for her? Should she make her own decision as the mother, or should the mother's mother make the decision, or perhaps the mother's father, or the mother's doctor? And if the child doesn't want an abortion but everyone else does, what should happen?
@@TruckTaxiMoveIt your reasoning is proof that abortion is a private matter that should be decided between a woman or her doctor. It shouldn't be a matter of public discussion nor should statistics be available. Besides, most people who have abortions have children already.
Thank you for acknowledging the truth - this choice belongs to the woman, period. I applaud your appearance here, and hope you will continue to fight for women's bodily autonomy.
Judicial Activism, like the violation of Constitution, including taking away enough, of a policy, as to neutralize the whole meaning of a Text. Liberty, being changed to allow moralizer rules, is to mean to Government, as Superior Entity, acting as a Religion, violating Right to Religion, and no Government Established Religion "Church of England' Types. The Full correction, for Racism, in #WaronDavid, for full correction, of restraints on Military, that doesn't have authority to make any American an Enemy of the Government, without Due Process, or Make anyone Guilty of a Crime; as to touch Slavery without Cause. The claim the Police have no duty keep Advertising: "Protect and Serve", is malicious Judicial Activism. The breakdown of society, into a Confederate Secret Court, for Hate Crimes, for infinite actions, for infinite justifications, without limitations, for full definition of Hate Crimes. Supporting Hate Group, vs. Legal Government projected for voter fraud; if that's not Judicial Activism, then it doesn't exist, at any level. California Secret Slave Raids to overthrow other States, is Infinite crime. Targeted Statelessness, to David Boles, is an Infinite Threat, to America, and All Crimes are Secret, which Confederates want criminalized! It doesn't matter who started it, foreign governments, or not, is a public threat, and California, would have had David's Party in it, as to make him, apart of their legal government. California has jurisdiction over its self, but voter fraud, isn't a states right! LEGAL Roe vs. Wade is Distraction: All Channels video's Important, with support Texts. ruclips.net/video/igeOWEH7Obo/видео.html ruclips.net/video/sZ51BPD3Its/видео.html ruclips.net/video/-vmQ6jel1f8/видео.html ruclips.net/video/HtUe3z_NDmQ/видео.html ruclips.net/video/ZEpAU1gXfdY/видео.html ruclips.net/video/d_zcpKXKw9U/видео.html Fall of Italian mafia ruclips.net/video/1_C564zTxTE/видео.html A) Uvalde Cops Harass Mother Who saved Her Kids ruclips.net/video/eRzRjcFlon8/видео.html a) Admitted it ruclips.net/video/hQdik4bUZ6Q/видео.html Truth about January 6 ruclips.net/video/5bzek2l19Cs/видео.html POLITICAL Not-So-Supreme Court ruclips.net/video/eRAXatAbsLg/видео.html ruclips.net/video/GrAfPmFvudE/видео.html GOP Hates Women, and Children ruclips.net/video/YkM_O-7A4R4/видео.html The Irony is, their "Humor" isn't a joke, and historical verdicts, means all of it, including prohibition of Inter Racial Marriage, like David, and projected romantic interests. Clarence Thomas Supported Segregation, as States Rights, including School, for Racism, so White Nationalist Hate Groups overthrowing the Law, and its Government, isn't ridiculous to them. The Secret Slave Raids, are real, and are illegally being protected, by obstruction from Judicial Activists, claiming Secrets shouldn't be on Public Record, for Recovery vs. crime, as to functional codify it. Plausible Deniability Secret crime system, requires sacrifices of self, to the whole Magic System, and through loyalties, serve the trades of the Black Market Permits. ruclips.net/video/eoHfLKr7R5c/видео.html ruclips.net/video/owLy4PTLSz8/видео.html ruclips.net/video/Q3rZknW5gAk/видео.html ruclips.net/video/sFSeW6cJX-0/видео.html ruclips.net/video/ZPNkkUJtjo8/видео.html ruclips.net/video/tX_4KMLJgPs/видео.html Dems Fund MAGA GOP ruclips.net/video/mYANvG4Rl3s/видео.html Doubting Election results: #WaronDavid censored Public Records, to substantively change Results ruclips.net/video/jzRVm7hFGXc/видео.html Truth on Biden ruclips.net/video/WpNgUzD9nmg/видео.html A) SCOTUS Reforms ruclips.net/video/53FMIRYPHl0/видео.html a) Breyer to Step Down ruclips.net/video/fSTSmHX07s0/видео.html b) Alito claiming Most GOP Justices "Wrong: Except Him ruclips.net/video/l7GfuT42Zak/видео.html 1) Fmr. Pro-Life Leader on Abortion Ruling ruclips.net/video/di4TySxfZ7E/видео.html SOCIAL Feminism vs. Womanism ruclips.net/video/zGToXvvkKgA/видео.html Voices from 3rd Reich ruclips.net/video/81DUh-DOW24/видео.html LaMDA Sentient? ruclips.net/video/mIZLGBD99iU/видео.html ECONOMIC Funeral Industry ruclips.net/video/6fBHBxlRuRk/видео.html FOREIGN Europe in #WaronDavid ruclips.net/video/AkIX5yHF1dU/видео.html
While I appreciate the Reverend's road to Damascus experience in jail, seriously, how did he not see this earlier? It's not like the abusiveness and misogyny of the anti-abortion movement was ever hidden. It's not like it was ever anything other than a tool to create grievance to the purpose of political power. They were always intending to sow the wind.
Cognitive dissonace is a hell of a drug, and probably groomed and encouraged in some circles. The mind is slippery and has blind spots and short cuts. Some people learned well how to exploit them
I really appreciate this man's honesty about the reality & support that women in crisis face and require. Walk a mile in someone else's shoes before you criticise or condemn them to a fate most pro-life advocates couldn't be bothered to research & find out about. There is most definitely a hostility towards these women in a 'why should we pay for you or your child?' logic. Pro-life advocates want to bring the babies to term, but couldn't care to simultaneously lobby for appropriate social welfare, psychological & financial support. He mentioned skills training for these women to be able to work & provide whilst being pregnant/a single Mom. A baby is expensive & childcare while single mothers work is heinously expensive. Yet we take away these women's rights, they are forced to bring the baby to full term and we abandon them at every phase of the process FOR LIFE. That is unusually cruel and despicable.
While I appreciate the quote, it's really a quote from the CDC which he pasted into his brief, that was discussing the demographic rate of adoptions....which of course have been declining for years. It's a terrible quote, which was incorrectly reported on more than one MSNBC program, but wasn't meant to be as sinister as it sounds. Also, Alito is an egotistical lunatic.
Suddenly, God comes suddenly! The cruelty is the point for many in the movement. Thank you so much for interviewing this humble man. Thank you, for liking the truth. I believe when people know and understand the truth then think for themselves, the truth will set them free to a more authentic life. An abundant life which is one of the reasons Jesus Christ came. Great conversation I am grateful. 🕊
Amazing to hear so clearly one man's process of self-reflection and being able to finally empathise with those in different circumstances to himself. I hope he can help others to come to this compassionate truth. The overturning of Roe vs Wade must not prevail.
That's exactly the point isn't it. Nobody can walk in your shoes. I'm Catholic, and I have always believed it is a woman's choice. Thanks for sharing your change of heart
There are several videos of Reverend Schenk available on the internet. I urge all of you to watch them. This is what humility and Christ like love & behavior looks like. His transformation has been interesting to see. The term "pro-life", being bantied about currently, is anything but that. Thank-you Rev. Schenk for finding your way, in a confusing landscape, that many Christians are confused about.
What I love about his story is that not once did he say he thought abortion is a good thing, he still thinks it would be best if that was never the choice a woman made, but he now understands why it's a choice some women have to make. We don't live in a utopia where asking for help will solve all the problems, or where people who mean well can save thousands of women from having to make that choice. So many pro-life advocates seem to think that being pro-choice means we don't see how terrible abortions are. In news reports on pro-life movements they often say "come to us, we can help you" and I'm sure they could help a few of them, but how can they help all of them? They imagine a young woman holding a plumped cheeked baby without thinking that in many of those cases that baby will grow knowing nothing but abject poverty and hunger, with a mother who in the best case scenario will never be home because she's working three jobs to make ends meet and in the worst case scenario will have her child taken into the system because she can't keep a roof other their heads even if she is a good mother. And I'm not even getting into the more extreme cases where assault and terrible health risks are involved, or women who aren't interested in mothering an unwanted child. Banning abortions serves no purpose save to create more misery for all involved. What we need is to reduce the number of women who would find themselves facing that choice in the first place, more affordable health care with better coverage, job security for pregnant women, affordable childcare, better sex ed so unwanted pregnancies don't happen in the first place... but these are pro-choice policies. I've always found it ironic that so many pro-lifers are also against the policies that would reduce the need for abortions the most.
Abortion is painful and expensive, but what it isn't is "terrible." When every form of birth control is 100% effective, when every zygote is welcomed by the woman who carries it, when every pregnant woman's personal life and health and womb remain wonderful, safe and hospitable till fetal viability at 20 weeks, abortion after that point still won't be terrible. When done to preserve the life of the mother or spare the fetus intolerable suffering, abortion, much like miscarriage, is surely tragic but not terrible. Forced gestation and birth of an unwanted baby? Now THAT is truly terrible.
@@mizaucontraire9224 I shouldn't have generalised. I was trying to keep breaching the wall that stops pro-choice and pro-life from having a conversation where we hear each other instead of seeing the other side as monsters for what they advocate. However my language further served to stigmatise abortion negatively, in a culture that already does that strongly. Nonetheless I, myself, do think it's terrible, as in a serious and distressing choice/event/bad situation to be in. Because it is painful and expensive, and leaves many women in distress even if they know it was the right choice for them. Because I think it's terribly sad to have to chose to give up a potential child, because of health reasons, or financial reasons, or because the woman is too young to have to be a mother, or any number of other reasons that lead women to choose abortion. No women makes that choice lightly, and the very weight of it makes it terrible in my view. Especially when there are plenty of effective solutions in existence that would stop women from having to be in the position of having to make that choice (proper sex ed for men and women, and encouraged use of contraceptives being at the top of that list). And yes all you've said is worse, and often leads to more terrible situations. It's why so many women do make that choice, why they have to be allowed to judge their own situation, and why taking the initiative from them is a violation of human rights.
If you grow up in a conservative culture in a conservative religion, it's easy to fall for that notion, since so much of that sort of culture is very "life affirming", it even refuses to understand pain and suffering at times. I think Rev. Shenck is learning what it means to carry a cross in a broken world. His move towards Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a sign he's on the right track. Bonhoeffer understood the temptations of political power and how it could lead an entire nation astray spiritually.
'Pregnancy may not be a trip to Disneyland' however in the coming weeks you will be able to get take a trip to California to get your abortion and then visit Disney all paid for by your employer.
Michel Martin, thank you for your grace and compassion and self control. I wanted to wring this guy's neck! I am constantly flummoxed by the level of ignorance and lack of compassion of 'educated' men leading the 'pro-life' movement. The reverend is right on one point, though. The decision whether to abort an unwanted/unexpected/unplanned pregnancy is very personal. It belongs solely to the woman and her support system (partner, health care practitioner, pastor, family, if she is lucky enough to have such support).
Every child deserves to arrive in loving secure home. Our failure to insure this as far as humanly possible is a condemnation of us as a people and a country. To force birth on anyone who is unwilling or unable to provide for the needs of a child is child abuse. People who think death is the worst thing that can happen are naive in the extreme.
Should the child have a say in if they are born or not? Are poor children not worthy? Should abused children just be euthanized? What do you think poor abused children would choose if offered life vs a quick needle exit? Such arrogance on your part of who is worthy to live or die.
this is why i laugh at the ridiculousness of people who celebrate that roe v wade is overturned, while not having to deal with the ramifications of it while total strangers that they don't have to care about, see, or even know about their existence have to suffer all the consequences for the rest of their lives.. oh what joy celebrating in your idealistic world.
And on top of that, the mostly wealthy GOP politics will always have the option of traveling where ever they need to for the option of abortion and they know it.
I wish everyone, pro-life and pro-choice, would watch this and use this as a starting point for an open and honest discussion about abortion. The Reverend touched on all of the points that bother me the most about the pro-life movement.
This was an incredible interview, thank you. Thank you for always bringing such amazing news stories that are insightful, eye opening and heart opening on this channel. My husband and I talk about these issues all the time. And I rarely hear anyone explaining them so eloquently and with such compassion and kindness. Perhaps the consequences of this forceful decision will actually force our politicians and our society to face something they've conveniently ignored for decades.
I have had contempt for the Evangelion movement for many of the reasons you described. Thank you for sharing and bearing your soul. You have redeemed yourself in my eyes.
I m 64. I am grateful that abortion was available to me when I was a young woman of 23. I fear for the young women today who have to navigate in this uncertain and treacherous landscape.
@@Ellecram yes. I agree ☝️ We need to vote as many Democrats in the office as we can and then we need to make them codify abortion as law. And birth control. And marriage equality. Can you imagine that they’re talking about birth control! Did you hear that many women are on birth control to ease their period symptoms and for other medical reasons besides not wanting to get pregnant. But not wanting to get pregnant is also a fine and IMPORTANT reason to be on birth control. I swear. This country is just unbelievable today. Nice chatting with you. ✌🏻
@@Nan-59 It is beyond insane that they are actually talking about restrictions on birth control. I feel like we have been bludgeoned with a pick axe full of crazy! I hope that enough people turn out to vote so we can at least stem this avalanche. Good luck in the coming days with the unraveling shitshow we find ourselves swimming in!
Well if your going to be pro-life America should have universal health care to take care of the babies if they are born sick, have disabilities etc. But after birth these people wouldn’t care if they died a horrible death. Money is what matters to them not life.
We’re living in a country of extremes. No longer is compassionate, objective, fact-based, respectful consideration part of our country’s rhetoric. Sad, scary times…..
It's all well and good to have deeply-held religious convictions; foisting them off on others who don't share your views approaches criminality, in my opinion.
My deeply held, Catholic religious convictions lead me to support increased and sped-up immigration; to protect the environment, to strengthen the social safety net, to treat all people of any ethnicity. skin color, and (admittedly in opposition to much of the Catholic hierarchy) to support the acceptance of gender diversity. All of these beliefs are based in part in my religious beliefs and belief in an all-loving God. I suspect you would be perfectly comfortable for me to continue fighting on behalf of those issues. I propose it is not my religiosity that concerns you, but the fact that some of what comes from my spiritual beliefs does not fit with your stand on things. For a deeply religious person everything they do is based in their spirituality.
@@pegsiciliano8858 Ex-Catholic here. Went to Catholic school from Kindergarten thru high school. I don't care what motivates you to be a decent person; if you need your religious doctrine and dogma to do it for you, then by all means fill your chalice. Just realise that there are other ways to achieve high ethical standards and moral decency without relying on religion. It's the secular way that has led humans toward real progress; religiosity actually gets in the way. History has more examples of the latter than the former, unfortunately.
@@billmcdonald4335 I totally agree with part of your point (I think it's part of your point) that one does not have to adhere to a particular religion, or any religion to be a good and ethical person. But please do not assume that I "need" my religion to make me a good person. If I were only listening to "my religion," I would not be for acceptance of full gender diversity. Rather I listen to educated, thoughtful people of religion, and I research elsewhere, and then I use my intellect and prayer to consider an issue, then make up my own mind. And I am not pro-life because I am Catholic. I am pro-life because it appears to me that scientifically speaking once the sperm joins the egg a unique human being is created. We have no right to end that life based on the fact that it is very, very small and doesn't "look" like us, and/or because we have the power to do so. A truly caring society will care for its weakest members, and the unborn fit that definition. Besides religion is about far more than social issues. It is about belief in a higher power that created us to bring love and caring to others, and to care for the world. That power, whatever it is called, also gave us freedom and free will. So unfortunately, many religious people have done horrible things in the name of religion - and also many atheists have done horrible things in the name of whatever. All people are human, so all (including the religious) make bad, and sometimes horrible choices. Many atheists seem to think that the evil done by people who claim a religion is done because they are religious. They may use their religion as an excuse, but they do evil because they are human and humans are far from perfect. If they weren't religious they would find some other excuse. Other wise there would never be atheists who do evil things. But there are. It's not religion that's the problem.
I do love that he reevaluated his views and he is very honest. I hope he speaks up all around the country to try to reach people. But I also cannot believe that an adult man who was a pastor was so clueless of people's situations !!!! No wonder we are where we are, so much narcissism and power hungry adults. Unbelievable
Wow - I can't tell you how much I appreciate this interview and what he said. He is a deep thinker and truly wants to do the right thing. He recognizes "winning" is not necessarily the right thing because it has been co-opted by others and turned into an egocentric argument. That is so very true and I commend him on his willingness to see deeply - to recognize that woman's cries and realize nobody in the pro life movement would come to help her. To stand up and tell the truth despite his wish. The dream that his fight would have resulted in the birth of beautiful baby that would have a happy life dissolved when reality showed him that would not be the case. Even now while abortion was legal, we hear of women dumping babies in the trash and toilets - it will only get worse. And those righteous Republicans that care so much about these babies will offer no relief to these women. And when more children are murdered in school, they will only offer thoughts and prayers because guns are valued much more, and guns do not ask for social services.
I listened to this video in its entirety. And I keep looking at the person being interviewed. He is a man. What right does he have in deciding on my health decisions. He was nowhere when I was pregnant. Neither was the father of the unborn child. Suddenly, everything got real quiet. The only sound I could hear was “No. You cannot have this”. It took his being locked up to notice the pain and suffering cause by loss of motherhood. He was an influencer building his following. And now he has backed down. There is something very unpleasant and amoral about abortion. But it serves a simple purpose. It allows someone to avoid parenting a child with someone who truthfully does not care or want children. And every woman should be allowed to make that decision for herself and her own future. Relationships last. And, then, some relationships don’t. I am ready to see to it that Roe vs Wade becomes law. Let no one think they can misuse someone’s spread legs for their own purposes. Damn them.
4:45 His analysis about how things are really about control and how they really have contempt for the very people the movement is theoretically about is spot on.
“Morality cannot be legislated.” I am a 65-year old Black woman with a third generation college-educated daughter in the 24- percent federal income tax bracket who is childless because she cannot afford $2k per month for childcare, plus an additional $500 per month for health insurance, plus formula, diapers, clothing, etc. As a result, she is an exceptional parent to a dog that goes to daycare. This Supreme Court decision will have minimal, if any, effect on women of means. However, it will result in more 25-year olds with 5-7 kids that they do not have the skill set to properly raise and nurture. Many of these children will die at the hands of a stressed, unstable parent. This is tragic!
I completely agree.
This astounds me that a woman would need 5-7 abortions in a lifetime. Why don’t we compromise on abortion for rape and insest and free or low cost birth control for low income women?
@@lindah.1104 The government could dictate exceptions and price limits but these get complicated because everyone circumstances are different, and things change. Hence, the logic that the women can best decide for herself what is feasible. Roe was a compromise. Without it, it truly is legislating moral reasoning, values and ethics, life trajectory, gender relations, professional health decisions, financial planning, and even national population demographics. Consider this: Forced productive labour is not permitted, and even voluntary, is compensated with a wage, but forced reproductive labour or making human life is now coerced by threat, and uncompensated.
So true. I was around before RVW and saw the chaos and suffering. Too many girls had to drop out of high school and college and end up on welfare living a life that wasn't in their hopes or dreams. My mother's best friend ended up in the hospital twice with hemorrhaging from self-induced abortions. She already had a bunch of kids with her husband and they wanted a cap on the numbers.
@@lindah.1104 the problem with your argument is 'WE'. That's a personal, private decision. Planned Parenthood provides all kinds of birth control and other services. Let's keep the 'WE' out of it
What a powerful story. Many don’t have the moral strength to reevaluate and realize they’ve been wrong, and admit it so openly. Thank you Reverend Schenck.
👍👍👍
One of the hardest, riskiest, and therefore bravest things to do.
Yes, despite his previous, awful actions, he did have the intelligence and strength to change and share that publicly.
agree. He really woke up !
And so how many of these forced pregnancies did he help with financially after the baby was born? And also how many of these kids has he adopted and supported?
I’ve never heard anyone express so succinctly everything that felt wrong to me about the pro-life movement. I’m going to stop saying I’m pro-choice and start saying I’m pro-dignity. Dignity is what’s been missing from the debate.
Dignity is shunned on the Farcical Opinionated Xenophobic noise cable channels. They never even give dignity to those that quit to pursue journalism.
Please don’t stop saying “Pro-Choice”! Why? Because we can’t say this nation is based on “Freedom” is 1/2 of its citizens can’t choose to be free.
So true, women were for example not mentioned by Alito. Like they don´t exist in this at all.
@@annakatariina1276 That's because the SCOTUS was deciding if _Roe v Wade_ was properly decided. It was not. It was a travesty railroaded so hard by Justice Blackmun that clerks of the court called the case, 'Harry's Abortion.' It invented whole concepts and read them into the Constitution, calling them 'penumbra' i the opinion which was an admission that they were never there. Overturning _Roe_ was correct. Now it's up to the states, where it belongs.
Being pro-choice IS being pro-dignity. Don't believe anything this man says. He is still the enemy of women! ~ Anastacia in Cleveland
When you don't see the mother as human, you're no longer pro-life. That was profoundly true.
And it's exactly what we see in the pro-life mob of today.
Also you’re not pro-life if you support capital punishment or sending people off to war including drone pilots who drop bombs on other people…..and then there are the pro-life issues that have to do with quality of life, health care, food programs, etc.
_When you don't see the mother as human, you're no longer pro-life._
Who on earth does that?
@@craigsmith1443 Who sees the mother as not human? Is that what you’re asking? Seriously, rhetorically, or facetiously?
The answer is that the judgmental zealots, against women’s right to choose, demonize their “enemies,” especially women who want or need an abortion, and they no longer see the women as human. They’ve lost their compassion and do exactly what their “Lord Jesus” stood against.
Does this answer your question?
@@missingcasey Pro-birth people. They don't care that a woman can die giving birth, they just want to force her to give birth, even if it kills her.
I was once a pro lifer. I have met and become friends with some women who have had an abortion. Each of their circumstances were different. I have learned that it is not my position to judge them, nor choose which road to take. Whatever choice is made, she will live with it for a lifetime. I respect the right to choose.
Thank you for just being open enough to change and humble enough to admit it.
Unfortunately I had an abortion and I'm now Pro Life. I've had to live with that profound regret my whole life. No one ever talks about that.
@@rlabarbera see comment above. Most ppl are pro life, they just want policies that support life so the tragedy of abortion is less carried out, less of the best option because the society supports young girls and women with unplanned pregnancies and support those children with the necessities of life once they’re here. That’s what the interviewee is saying. The billions given to fund the politics of anti-abortion and none given to support life.
@@andreac6024 If you want to take about "billions" funneled into an organization, one only has to look at Planned Parenthood which is the most fraudulent organization on earth with a history rooted in racism. I worked with at risk teens and would send them to that factory....another one of my regrets. I don't subscribe to your propaganda or that of this phony clergy man..
@@youreaquickone What part of profound regret are you not getting here? I would not wish my choice on my worst enemy. I have to take that to my grave and so will many who make this choice. Does the baby get a choice? What if your mother made that choice? You would not be tsk tsk-ing if she had, now, would you?...
I detest these SOB politicians who say EVERY LIFE IS PRECIOUS, SAVE EVERY LIFE. Then as soon as the child is born wash their hands & say, GOOD LUCK WITH HOUSING, FEEDING, AND SCHOOLING THAT CHILD. The hypocrisy is through the (glass) roof!!
DITTO!!!!!
So true. But their disregard starts well before the child is born. They don’t care about or support the mothers before or during their pregnancies either.
You are absolutely right and correct about this.
Use federal lands as safe havens in every state. Sounds different but maybe it could work? Especially safe havens for victims of incest and rape, because that cruelty is indefensible.
You forget the hypocrisy of all the pro life pastors, politicians and businessmen who will fly their own relations to the ends of the earth to get them an abortion.
If only more people would listen to him! It’s not just “one size fits all”! There are medical procedures that will be denied until a woman is on her death bed! So much for pro-life!
You are absolutely right.
It is utterly baffling how much "pro-life" actually means the exact opposite, at every moment in time, other than when a person is pregnant. Once that kid pops out, screw them, screw the parent, get yourself a better life I don't owe you nuthin.
My comment has apparently been previously censured by RUclips as I declare that the purpose of the abortion ban ruling is to prepare the way for convincing minor girls to consent to surrogate parenting for hire. Thus a technical rape can be gotten away with by promising before and after payments to young women who will never see the second payment. Whether or not they get the consent of a legal guardian or parent. thus the working class young women will be duped into getting impregnated with a turkey baster; and ruining their lives, while providing the Ruling Class with a source of laborers AKA financially shackled slaves. RUclips is immoral for censuring this.
That’s because it is more about control and misogyny than being pro-life.
A husband will be forced to decide between his wife's or his baby's life (if something life threatening goes wrong - she ruptures internally, etc). The mother will under this law be guilty of manslaughter and the husband an accomplice after the fact.
So the husband MUST kill his wife or risk a lengthy jail sentence.
Powerful. So glad he is speaking out. His description of "contempt" for pregnant women + their eventual children was eye-opening. It's not just a lack of imagining possible dire outcomes if women are forced to give birth but that the pro-life group really doesn't respect or care at all for the individuals or circumstances. Their political will is all that matters. Frightening warning.
👍👍
I hate abortion.
I am pro choice.
My older sister was a foster Mom for many decades, and adopted many kids. Most were physically or mentally handicapped. Parents caused it or could not cope.
I am pro choice because I'm pro child.
So very true. There is no sympathy for the woman or the child; they are framed as a slut and her little burden on society. There is no recognition of her humanity, of the circumstances which may have led to her situation, whether she is in a loving relationship where a mutual decision has been made or a victim of abuse trying to avoid the worst fate for a future child, or even the children she already has.
Cross your legs and act like a lady if you don't want a child
For over 200 years before the Roe v Wade decision our country made great strides without barbaric abortions.
Many countries around the world make great strides without abortion.
Many families within the United States even during the time at which abortion was legal have done fantastic without an abortion in their lives.
Many people who have had abortions have not necessarily feared much better in life because of their abortion.
Many parents who were against abortion and didn't feel that they could take care of the child made a tough decision to give the child up for adoption many of those children have experienced what some may feel is a far better life than they would have experienced with their biological parents and some far worse but the fact of the matter is they experienced life beyond the wound which gave them a chance at life.
Her interview style is incredible. Fierce. No smiling over polite stuff, but not being agressive or cold either. Just straight to the point with excellently prepared questions, to get the other person talking on the most important things. It makes me realize how little this approach to interviews you actually see.
She is an accomplished interviewer.
@@peggystoutemorin4529 it certainly shows. I hope others are watching and learning, because.. wow.
Let’s subject do talking
Yet she asks no questions on the other side. Everyone wanted it to be safe, legal and rare- but now we average 1 million abortions a year since Roe. I’m firmly in the middle, but I’m tired of hearing only 1 side. Ask the hard questions
@@natalieanderson3951 what does being in the middle mean for you, do you mean it like, you don't have a strong opinion on the topics, or more like you kindof agree with both sides?
Contraception reduces abortion rates, but they also want to block that.
This has nothing to do with abortion, it's about power over people.
It certainly is now.
Yup
Who wants to reduce contraception? It is about power over people and the evil that they want to commit. I also want power over people to not murder 10 year old children in play grounds or anywhere else.
@@firepower7654 195 House Republicans Voted Against Birth Control Protections
The House passed the Right to Contraception Act, which would codify the right to birth control amid fears that conservatives are coming for that next. And they won't stop until they do. They (repubs) want to cut SS, medicaid, want no part of parental leave, child care. Did you even listen to this broadcast??
@@firepower7654 Listen to how you're talking. You did not hear what the reverand said.
A lot of us have been saying for decades that if they were really pro-life, they would be doing the rational things that could make abortion less needed. Sex education, resources for young mothers to be able to financially afford to raise a child like free childcare and pre-school at least. But they never had any interest in such things. Ergo, they never were pro-life, just using the issue as a political wedge. The reality of women and girls lives has never entered their minds because it was never of interest to them. Votes from the unthinking gullible was what they were after.
EXACTLY!!
Absolutely, it started in the 1980s by evangelicals as a pathway to political power. Period.
Please be careful not to lump "them" all together. For both scientific and social reasons I am pro-life. But I am also a strong supporter of a strong social net, services like you list above etc., etc. So while, yes, many Republican pro-lifers surely fit the stereotype above, not all pro-lifers fit it. Stereotypes are unfair wherever they are applied.
@@pegsiciliano8858 ok so put the same energy into the social safety net as you would into making abortion the hill to die on.
@@pegsiciliano8858 You are a rare one, VERY RARE.
I worked at a Buffalo hospital next to one of the clinics where "Operation Rescue" zealots, including the Schenk Brothers wreaked havoc regularly during the late 1980s/early 90s. I worked as an ob/gyn Social Worker & heard many grim accounts from patients...incest, rape, abuse, mental illness, addictions,etc. As Rev. Schenk said, these are unique situations...as unique as the girls & women. I am glad he experienced his epiphany & redemption. I would ask him to speak up, speak out all over, to all outlets as we are faced with this devastating travesty of so-called "justice". We are so tired of marching, yelling, for the same fight again & again. When was the last time any (white) men had to march in the streets for THEIR rights over their bodies!
2 wrongs don't make a right. Better to find a solution that does not require killing an innocent. I feel for these terrible situations but cannot give in to the tearing a child from the womb. That action is just as ugly as the situation that got it there.
None of your fucking business. American Taliban .
THANK YOU!!!!
@@liljade53 Your answer is part of the problem as it helps no one. We can dream of all the perfect solutions we want but that doesn’t change reality. The only moral solution is to leave women to make these deeply personal decisions at their own discretion. No human being should have the government regulating their body or potentially criminalizing it against them, period.
@@megansullivan9377 "No human being should have the government regulating their body or potentially criminalizing it against them, period."
except when it involves the harming of another, then it's up to the government to protect all of it's citizens.
This was an excellent interview. The fact that this man can now see the truth gives me a little bit of hope. Thank you for sharing
👍👍
This is a man who seems to have never been interested in carving out a position of ever growing personal power in an ever more increasingly authoritarian government. For thirty years he has been unscrupulously used as a useful idiot by those who have and are seeking that power.
Nope. They're a cult.
A very tiny small miniscule number change their minds.
Very eloquent speaker (and courageous!). Thank you for the transparent honesty.
I still don’t get the point of the story of the crying woman in jail ( who’s caring for my 3 babies?)
omg I broke down crying listening to him. He spoke to the core of the problem: that fantasy thinking is so far from the REALITY that women face.
Agreed. I have pastored two conservative churches and been in ministry many years. I have been aware of the politization of the abortion issue. Rob's is one of most remarkable and moving testimonies I've recently heard.
No, he spoke to nothing in the pro-life movement at all. He spoke about straw men, but he didn't address the real issue, the life and humanity of the unborn child.
What did John Stuart Mill say in _On Liberty_ :
_He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion…He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them…he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form_
Sorry, but Bob Schenck doesn't know or do that. Killing is never an answer to changed plans.
@@rev.johnpate3231 does God not love all its children uniquely identified by a complex DNA code? If so and the unborn has its own unique DNA code does God love these children? How would God look at a women who let her baby starve to death before giving the child her nipple?
@@craigsmith1443I am curious. Robert Schenck has been active in the pro-life movement for decades, and has moved away from it. That seems to me to be the epitome of a man who knows multiple sides of the case.
So why did you quote John Stuart Mill's "He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that."? It genuinely feels as if John Stuart Mill's argument supports Robert Schenck's position as a witness.
@@terraincognita3749 And I once was pro-choice and am now pro-life. Am I not also equally authoritative as Robert Schenck? Schenck is wrong. Humans will do that. Killing a child is never the answer.
This man has been on quite the spiritual journey. I appreciate his point of view. Having been forced to give birth in Texas in 1968, then being shamed and receiving no support, I can see that he has true empathy for my plight and the plight of so many.
I feel like yours and other women with similar stories are not honored enough. I'm sorry for what you were put through.
Same here in NYS. Pro life movement lied A LOT and have blood on their hands.
While he may have felt empathy for the "unborn," he finally came to have empathy for women with unwanted pregnancies. Congratulations.
👍👍
Be thankful you were born, else you couldn't formulate this sentence. Thank your mother.
@@MrMcgooOG I'm thankful that if my mom had needed to have an abortion it was legal for her during her child bearing years. I however will not have that right.
But no empathy for the child, the father of the child, or the society built to support its citizens.
I'm willing to bet he didn't pray on it and get that message from God.
@@MrMcgooOG That is nonsensical. If my mother had had an abortion I wouldn't exist so I couldn't think of such a thing. My mother did have an abortion and that fetus was lucky not to have been born to an incestous father.
Wow. Just wow. Hearing about how he changed his mind really shook me. His description, his emotion, his truth. This is change. I appreciate that he had the courage to come on here and speak. I appreciate him very much. More people should watch this interview!
I really appreciate that he acknowledges women are unique individuals (aka people) and that all pregnancies are unique.
SUSTAINED MY FRIEND!
How about sharing it on your social media so more people can watch it? We can help spread the word.
WOW! Never have I seen any such political operator declare such contrition, absolutely refute his prior standing with such empathy.
Fantastic interview by Michel, as always.
Too late. Where was he yesterday, last week, last month, last year, last decade? How many funerals will he attend?
I don't agree with the pro life position. But people like Reverend Schenk I can thoroughly respect. This interview should be heard by everyone on both sides of the debate.
I'm not buying Schenck's dramatic display of contrition. The guy was a fame-hungry publicity hound back in the day, and such dogs don't change their spots. He lied and manipulated people back then, and he may well be doing that now. I can just about accept that he's shifted his position on abortion, but he still calls himself an evangelical preacher, and that job comes with all sorts of nasty baggage.
One of the most illuminating, heartfelt and important, brave discussions I've ever heard on this controversy. This man, one of great conviction and conscience needs a much wider audience than this platform alone provides.
_needs a much wider audience than this platform alone provides._\
Perhaps the 'audience' has already judged the banal evil of his position.
So eloquently stated, and I agree 100%.
I'm a man, and I'm also old enough to recall a time in America before the abortion debate became toxic and violent. I remember Schenck: his egregious publicity stunts, his holier-than-thou pontificating, the obvious thrill he got from his fame, and how his concern for women always struck me as phoney. I also remember how it always seemed that men made up the vast majority of those at anti-choice protests, and they were always the loudest. I was apolitical in my youth and I knew nothing about the challenges faced by women who have to deal with an unplanned pregnancy, but even then I thought there was something very peculiar going on with all those men standing around ringleaders like Schenck and bellowing about baby-killers with hatred on their faces.
Schenck had an epiphany and realised that the anti-choice portion of his worldview was blinkered, unrealistic and uncaring. So fricking what? He's still an evangelical minister, so he's still stuck in his religious delusions and he still has influence to screw up people's lives in various ways, even if he scrupulously avoids ever telling any woman what she should do about what's going on in her uterus.
Schenck may wish to believe that his god will forgive him for his choice to be blind to the realities of the world, his need to manipulate others into believing the things he does, his hunger for fame and all the misery he helped to create. But as far as I'm concerned, no matter what Schenck does, he's never going to balance all that wickedness with good works of greater value to society.
Look up Frank Schaeffer. He was involved in the Moral Majority and abortion movement (late 70's to early 80's) along with his dad Francis Schaeffer, Jerry Falwell, Dobson, et al. But he finally saw the light too, and left more than the MM behind. His reading is perceptive and introspective.
Agree. I’m moved by his talk but it’s hard to trust him.
I grew up and went to college in buffalo. I remember this guy and his followers. I actually have an uncle who would be with him at the clinics. An uncle who was radicalized by Schenk. My uncle was a cool nice Catholic guy who almost overnight became a hateful screaming misogynist judgmental bigot. To this day I still don't really talk to him to this day though he seems to have settled down a little.. Schenk was brutal and cruel and was always looking for the cameras. He had a look of hate on his face all the time. His followers were perfectly ready to be violent and no less judgmental. Fuck this guy. I do not forgive him. A doctor was shot and killed in front of his children as he was serving them breakfast because of Schenk. May Schenk never have a moment's peace.
I applaud Rev. Schenck for evolving, and for telling his story. It shows that most conservatives simply have not imagined being in someone else's shoes, and just need a dose of empathy.
Thank you Reverend, well said. A complicated problem needs to be looked at individually, and not be a political argument.
Never judge another on any decision. Make your own decisions. Leave others alone. Very simple. Wipe your own bottom.
Should we apply this same rule to infanticide?
Hello, greeting from keanu reeves
@@pedroparamo891 It's not infanticide no matter how many times you say it
His story is proof that you have to walk in someone else's shoes to fully understand their life choices. It's not a matter of being pro life or religious. This is a deeply, deeply personal matter that involves someone's health, life circumstances, socio economic conditions and women should be given the rights to choose what is best for them.
Plus medical privacy. What other medical decisions can now be made for us? Are our medical records no longer private? It's not about the right to abortion, it's also about the right to privacy.
What about putting ourselves "in the shoes" of the unborn child that will never have a chance to live? But that human is very, very small, and doesn't look like us, so it is easy to ignore its needs. The life of grown woman is not more valuable than that small child's, just because she is the bigger of the two.
@@pegsiciliano8858 YES, IT IS. IT IS NOT ALIVE YET. SHE IS!! SHE DESERVES TO LIVE!!
@@pegsiciliano8858 The "unborn child" has no shoes to fill, and contemplating a life that never has a chance to live is also absurd or moot.
@@pegsiciliano8858 If someone needed a blood transfusion to live, and I was the only
one who could donate blood to save him, NO ONE CAN FORCE ME
TO GIVE BLOOD. Even to save the life of a fully-grown person. It is
ILLEGAL to FORCE me to donate blood if I don't want to.
We have this concept called BODILY AUTONOMY. It means that a
person's control over their own body is an absolute. It's generally
considered a human right and why you can't be forced to donate
blood, tissue, or organs.
We can't even take LIFE SAVING ORGANS from CORPSES unless
that person gave consent before their death. Even if those body
parts would save or improve 20 lives. Even corpses get Bodily
Autonomy.
To tell women they MUST sacrifice their bodily autonomy for nine
months, against their will, in an incredibly expensive and invasive
process to save what the pro-lifer views as another human life is
DESPERATELY UNETHICAL; remember, you can't even force
people to sacrifice Bodily Autonomy after they died!
A fetus is using someone else's body parts. Therefore, under
Bodily Autonomy, it's there by permission, not by right. It needs a
woman's continuous consent. If the pregnant woman denies or
withdraws consent, she has every right to remove the fetus. A fetus
is equal to a person in that regard, since if I need someone else's
body parts to live, that person can deny me their use.
Pro-Lifers are: (1) Demanding people who can become pregnant
to accept less bodily autonomy than we grant to dead bodies.
(2) Granting a fetus more rights to another people's body than we
grant any born person.
It's also worth noting that granting a fetus "person-hood" doesn't
help the pro-lifer's position, since no person can make a demand
on another person's body to survive.
I was living in London in 1999 at 22 yrs of age and found myself pregnant a few months before I was due to fly back home to Sydney to go back to university. I was over here alone didn't tell my mother I was pregnant, made the appointment for the termination which was scary as hell but knew I had no option. My mother had me at 16, she and my dad worked hard to put me through private education and pay for university and the only way I could have the baby meant getting them to help me whilst raising my siblings. I ended up having a miscarriage had to go to hospital it was horrific. Any man or even woman that thinks terminating a pregnancy is a flippant decision clearly has zero clue. I'm 44 now, what i went through has never left me to the point with one ex in my late 20s I said I'll give one pregnancy a go if it doesn't work no more because the trauma never leaves you. We don't become sub human if we become pregnant and should never be treated as human incubators because some religious gop politician doesn't understand basic science.
Thank you, sincerely, for being a genuinely pro life person who is concerned for others. The movement that calls itself "pro life" is really just anti choice.
Well, yes....Anti choice of life and murder. I would agree.
No one is for abortion. All can agree that the tragedy is the perpetuation of cruel policies that make motherhood so precarious. I'm glad I took the time to hear this courageous persons words.
Makes sense.
Pro-choice and anti-abortion.
When it is men's time to go through pregnancy, men can co-decide whether abortion should be illegal.
I’m for abortion. Don’t say no one is for it, m not a believer in the Christian theology .I believe in rebirth, if the soul is in the fetus after 5 or 6 months it will leave the body if the fetus dies ,miscarries or is aborted , the soul will come into another body, most Hindu and Buddhist and sects of other like mystical Jews and sufis believe this. I can’t stand that crazy Christian fanatics are leading USA.
@@radhikaschwartz3499 perhaps I was unclear. Abortion is a tragedy and a trauma I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy but a woman’s right to choose should be absolute. I’m a veterinarian of many 10 day Vipassana courses and it is my practice so I definitely align with your view. Apologies for the lack of clarity.
I completely agree. I’m pro choice and I want there to be a world with as few abortions as possible. We achieve this by investing in our fellow citizens through universal healthcare for all, including mothers and children, easily available contraception, comprehensive sex ed, universal child care, paid family leave for both parents, $15 minimum wage, expanded housing assistance, improving quality of public schools, affordable college; all policies that will help men and women raise healthy families. This, to me, is what it means to be pro life, pro family, pro people, and pro choice.
Powerful statement. I wish everyone could listen to him.
This is a good man, who found his movement had been hijacked by people who truthfully didn't care about (or even secretly despised) those they purported to defend, all motivated by the quest for political power. I can feel his sorrow.
Hats off to him (Rev. Rob Schenck) ; the first time I learned about him was in separation of Church and State newsletter. I was encouraged to hear someone like him.
Unfortunately, we are now experiencing abusive and spiteful conservative US Supreme Court Justices against minorities (though one them is): women for now; who is the next target of group we can never know; keep guessing and be uncertain , that is the goal!
@@charlesmartin1121 I don't think it started out that way, but, as he said, political power is attractive, and it has certainly ended up that way.
I wish everybody could hear this, too!
Listen and understand. We're drowning in information while thirsting for some understanding.
This was a very honest, contrite and deeply felt interview.
America will lose a generation of younger women.
We will not lose our young women because we will fight this with the ballot. November is close upon us. Time to check the ID, find extra bottles of water and folding chairs. Vote blue in all primaries, all state offices. This cannot be allowed to stand. Legislation to support the use of federal lands as safe havens in each state, why not? We must think outside the box. Pro bono lawyers, please get ready. Maternal injury, wrongful death, lost wages, etc etc.
How many funerals will he attend? Zilcho.
I could feel his sorrow and disillusion--if more people were like the Reverend (honest and self reflective) this would be a more justice world.
Indeed!
This was a well thought out balanced argument. Abortion is a failure of many systems and groups creating the inevitable unwanted child. This was the first such pro-life position that I have come across. Many couples are now refusing to ever conceive and raise a family at all. This is further examples of how society is not taking care of its mothers.
Great interview
Great reporting! This was so emotional and spoke to my feelings exactly. I used to be 'pro-life' until I matured and realized that 'pro-life' had no thought or concerns for 'life' except for those that seek political power.
I'm so thankful to hear Rob's story in these times. I needed to hear this to add clarity to the disquiet in my own journey - why the overturning of Roe is troubling me. Thank you Michel for your perceptive journalism.
"Troubling" to you, a MALE ... TERRIFYING to the majority of females.
Me too.
Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. The places where abortion is no longer accessible will see guaranteed spikes in infant mortality rates, crime, and poverty, along with a decrease in average life span for women. Good job, you did it. Congratulations.
FACTS
Not for this man, but for many others, those circumstances and outcomes ARE the intent.
They are hypocrites. They work for Caesar. They love to inflict pain, suffering and misery.
That's a feature not a bug.
@@beefandbarley for Moloch
This man had a true epiphany. I'm impressed w his open heart, his willing spirit, his personal capacity to not judge, or having judged, felt authentic forgiveness.
I don't have words to express my soul's warmth in hearing him.
Thank you for this, all who contributed to bring it about, including, of course, the Rev.
SUSTAINED MY FRIEND! I LOVE IT!
Thank you for this candid and compassionate interview. Never in my wildest imagination would I have expected a former Operation Rescue leader admit the contempt pro-lifers have for women and their children.
If we are going to talk about children, don't we need to include those children murdered by abortion?
It’s contempt for the feminine and desire to rule over it.
@@firepower7654abortion cannot be murder. Read your Bible, which commands abortion when the husband suspects his wife of being unfaithful.
@@drlindberg1 It doesn't say that. Thinking you can use misinterpreted scripture to defend murder is humorous. Be gone, demon.
Wow. At about 6:30 he says the problem is, this group who successfully overturned roe v wade, is not motivated by compassion for pregnant women who seek abortions, but contempt. That’s so real and disturbing. I sincerely respect him for seeing it and calling it out.
_is not motivated by compassion for pregnant women who seek abortions, but contempt. That’s so real and disturbing._
No, it's a lie. 'This group' as you put it with careless bigotry, has compassion for mother and child. Ask any mother who has raised a child that she at first wanted to abort, and hear her speak of the love they now share, and realize what you advocate without a single thought. You have contempt for children and for women, for you apparently believe that women cannot learn to love instead of fear.
@@craigsmith1443: yes, mothers who at first wanted to end their pregnancy then decided to bring their pregnancy to term, give birth, and raise their child often speak of the love they discovered that made all the difference. Certainly! The point Rev. Schenck makes, though, isn't about those women; it's about THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT itself, which he now sees is not motivated by compassion for pregnant women who seek abortions.
Why? Because Schenck says the pro-life Movement isn't interested in ending abortion through arguing in favor of providing access to the practicalities of bringing their pregnancy to term (psychological care), giving birth (neonatal assistance), and raising the child (in the case of people not financially equipped to foot the bill for it; it's expensive)-- the support and care ethic. Schenck is saying that the pro-life Movement is only interested in making abortion illegal, which is strictly a law-and-order orientation to the issue.
Of course, there's nothing wrong, as such, with having law and order in society, but if the pro-life Movement argues that (1) abortion is an emotionally difficult life decision as women contemplate everything they will need to undergo and everything they will need and what support they actually have, and (2) women and their doctors simply need to go to jail if they choose abortion, then the Movement is not motivated by compassion but rather by contempt (that women put themselves in that situation, that they aren't able to afford raising a family, etc.). The interviewer, Michelle Martin, indirectly alludes to this in min. 4:10 - 4:51 of the video when she asks rhetorically about who are the people most interested in this law-and-order orientation to dealing with the abortion issue.
While I'm angry that this man had the privilege to be so cocooned and naive in his philosophy for 30 years, while working against people who had far less power than him, at least he has the courage to come forward and state what he has. I'm gratified that he admits what this is really about, and that he calls out the extremist Catholics on the Supreme Court who are abusing the power given to them.
Well said and I totally agree. The Catholics on the court are trying to control all of us. They won't be satisfied with abortion bans, but on contraception, too. It's unbelievable and unacceptable.
Kiska Kuznetsova, I’m not pro abortion but I never understood a church that was allegedly pro life yet had a problem with contraception. Shalom Aleichem
People can change and atone for their mistakes. I am glad he was able to tell his story😊
Amy Coney Barrett is a freak and I’m Catholic but still American! (I got that phrase from Ana Navarro)
No extremist catholics...just extremist evangelicals
Very powerful story. Thank you for your bravery to admit your change on abortion stance, not many people are willing to do so!
This was an excellent interview with Rev Schenk. I appreciate his compassion for women and the recognition that each woman's situation is different.
BS.
The so-called anti-abortion stand of most republicans is about the money that states had to pay planned parenthood' for women's healthcare, many will realize and be just like this guy. The rest do not have a clue!
It takes a long time for men to "get it" though.
What an extraordinary interview. Michel Martin's ability to sit still and give him the space to fully explain his role, his reassessment, and his rejection of his earlier work was inspiring. More than skillful journalism, it was compassionate humanity.
There is a slogan that women chant during right to choose rallies: "Right to life is a lie, they don't care if women die".
Pro-lifers never seen to campaign for better maternity care, or better childcare provision, or for greater responsibility on the part of the father. They would be campaigning for universal healthcare, for children if not for adults. Its nothing less than an assault on women's freedom to choose what to do with their own bodies.
I'm glad this man has changed his mind. I just wish he'd done it sooner. how many women's lives has this man destroyed before he finally got his act together?
“Preborn, you’re fine.
Preschool, you’re fucked.”
George Carlin
The reverse can be said
@@chrisgrace81 not in the platform of the GOP.
Rip to a legend
Even the preborn aren't going to be fine in the 12 red states that still reject the Medicaid expansion of Obamacare. The health of their pregnancies will go unmonitored by ob/gyns, so any fetal health problems won't be detected, or even things that could make a home delivery deadly, like breach positioning, twins, etc.
Until you can be drafted and become a DEAD SOLDIER at 18. (Also George.)
I appreciate his open apology. I find evangelicals and fundamentalist Catholics to be an obtuse, callously cruel and dark force.
That's the enigma of the Evangelical church today. It's truly mind-blowing. This is not your father's Ev church.
I disagree that this isn’t your father’s evangelical church. This IS our father’s evangelical church after the GOP spent 50 years maneuvering in secret to destroy the rights of everyone who doesn’t agree with them. This is the result of the destruction of the separation of church and state, the destruction of the SCOTUS, and the literal destruction of our democratic republic and it’s constitution. Americans are either too stupid to understand the danger, too brainwashed to not agree with the idiots running the county, too rich from the process to care, or too powerless or cowardly to stop it. We are seeing the end of the Great Experiment and I’m embarrassed that my parents were a part of that.
Hear, hear! So well said!
This reverend is, perhaps, the most compassionate human being I have listened to in a long time. He knows and understands that he doesn’t know and understand every complex nuance of the decisions to keep or terminate. As a man, I will never understand what a woman feels or faces. As much as I dislike the concept of abortion, I feel deeply that I will never know enough to tell women what the right choice is. Bravo Rev. Schenk!
I agree with you 100%!
As a man, I believe I have no right to tell any woman what she should do about a pregnancy, so I think you and I will agree on that point. But I find it impossible to be impressed with Schenck. Call me a horrible old cynic if you will, but he still bills himself as an evangelical preacher. Evangelical preachers are either complete fruitcakes, stupid and actually believe the crap they spew, or they have a natural talent for manipulating and exploiting people, and they chose the religious con game as an easy, legal way to make a nice living. I have no idea what Schenck is up to with this new, supposedly enlightened position of his, but I strongly suspect he's getting _something_ tangible out of it.
You had me at “contempt”. That’s when I knew you “got it”. G*d bless you, Sir.
What a critical interview. Thank you for this interview. Thanks Rev for being so honest. I would like you to go on every network to tell your story. People need to watch this video.
Men making laws on womens bodies. How is that not a return to SLAVERY?!!!! You know. People as property ( objects) vs people as human beings with a heart, mind & soul of their own. Sad days ahead.
It always has been this. This is just a rending of the veil.
Also truly uncomfortable that women are less free in some states. Very Jim Crowe, very Mason Dixon line antebellum, very disgusting. And there actually is a part of the constitution that mentions that no one may be less free in one area of the nation. (Don't quiz me on this, I think it's something like article four? Maybe is it the equal protection clause?). Scary times, let's vote harder!!
That view is as old as time...but I can do without the hypocrisy of claiming it's all about helping the women and their child. IT"S ABOUT CONTROLLING WOMEN AND POLITICAL POWER.
Forcing women to be incubators of unwanted children is treating them as livestock.
Republican Cranial Rectosis: the view never changes and everything seems to stink. 💩🤢🤮👹🤡👺👻🤖
Vote Blue forever 💙💙💙💙
When living outside the DisUnited States and looking in, the social domination and control of women by the white male and their religious rigidity is evident and disturbing.
Residing in a country where abortion is a decision for the woman and perhaps her partner, alone - my body, my choice - the regulation of abortion by the state is bizarre and medieval.
I saw a cartoon recently where one woman is saying she wants to visit a primitive society and her friend replies, "Well, buy a ticket to the United States".
Sadly, this is how the DisUnIted States are viewed by many other countries.
We are heading towards autocracy. We are not a nation divided. We are in a war. Consider recently the Trumpist Supreme Justices with other Republican Justices voted to: 1) overturn RvW; 2) removal of separation of church and state by allowing Christian prayer in public schools; 3) to remove the EPA's power to pass regulations regarding climate change. This last one is not getting the attention deserved in the media. This precedent means agencies can be 100% controlled by our government.
Forcing birth by rape victims is exercising sexualized control of a female. 10 states have no exceptions for abortions, including rape, incest, age, or viability of the fetus. We are sanctioning child sexual abuse by forcing children to give birth. In a state such as this, a gang raped or sex trafficked child would be forced to carry a fetus...then, if the fetus dies in utero, would be forced by induced labor to give birth. Let that sink in a minute! *Edit: this the Law for 10 states.*
This is the way the USA is viewed by a majority (hard to call this a democracy) of its own citizens.
@@mtaylor7307 2) allowing prayer....
Is ironically in my mind a repudiation of Christianity as the recorded words of Jesus say be not as the hypocrites....
So exactly what theocracy are our politicians (or judges if you wish to call them that) aiming for?
They seem to be muddling around in the dark, trampling as many of our sacred rights and precepts as possible.
@@mtaylor7307 sorry, you did say autocracy. I guess they can decide for themselves what to save or cut without reference to any religion.
But the climate is even more important.
The banning of abortion is an abominable act.
What would the judgement be against any civilian practicing medicine without a license?
Like someone who performs back alley abortions.
Preventing the correct and adequate care of pregnant women is likely to be no better.
We have highly placed powerful judges engaging in medical malpractice without ever having mastered medicine.
Will they eventually be sentenced for the lives they butcher?
And again, the climate is even more important than abortion which is critical.
If one is born into a world unfit to sustain life, birth is a cruelty that should not be inflicted on anyone.
God it is said made us stewards of the earth.
I think we are on the verge of being fired.
It's really quite simple. Roe forced no one to do anything they didn't want to do. Overturning Roe forces women to do what they do not want to do
This is what they don't get when they try to equate both sides. Until someone forces them to get an abortion or a gay marriage, it is not the same.
I'm "on your side," but unfortunately it's not that simple, because as "they" see it, Roe forced some "persons" to die (against their will.) That's why this issue isn't so easy to settle: It involves fundamentally-different, possibly-irreconcilable worldviews.
It forces them to go against what they believe is a right!
@Lesley T
I noticed Clarence didn't mention interracial marriage in his list of rights that need to be addressed. It's almost like he thinks he's not black. If he keeps this sh*t up, ole Clarence will have that realization, but it'll be too late by then for even him to be safe.
@Lesley T Exactly. If Thomas pulls down marriage equality, and he already wrote as much directly into his grotesque opinion that no other justice signed, then he is pulling down Loving as well, because both cases are built around privacy, and Loving was used as the foundation for the marriage equality case. This is an unkind thought, I try not to think that way, but I now find happiness in the thought that Thomas is the oldest justice, and Alito isn't so young either. That would leave us with Kavanaugh, Barrett and Gorsuch, and now that bunch doesn't look so scary. Plus Justice Brown Jackson is likely to bring a new energy. We must vote democratic for a while, so that future justices will restore balance and give chief justice Roberts his court back.
Well. That was an extraordinary interview.
I was expecting an opportunity to breathe easily because the anti-choice movement may be losing a bit of its steam & inspiration.
Instead, I was introduced to a deep-thinking & deep-feeling man who freely admits his wrongs, freely admits he lost his way, & is working now to ensure his version of pro-life is both pro-'the life & future of the woman' & pro-'recognizing a woman's right to make her own choice'. Robert Schenck's version of pro-life is about a very moral, compassionate & educated connection to the women making difficult choices. Great interview.
Fantastic interview. I am Catholic, mother of six, but truly belief that each person should have the right to make her own decisions in regards to own body. Various reasons as he pointed out are to be taken into consideration. Surely wish more people could come to this realization. Thank you Reverend.
I'm without words. Pro-Life..should never be pro-birth. I have absolutely no confidence that my state and many others will pass any kind of law to help to these women qnd any children to survive in a healthy, mentally stable way. They will always be looked at as takers, lazy, should pick themselves up by their own bootstraps, get a job, too bad about you..but.. I agree with this gentleman in so many ways. The GOP should pay dearly at the polls.
I hope the GOP pays at the polls.
@@cheriremily9360 Me too but with the economy in shambles and Democrats not providing meaningful material relief, I doubt it. The “relief” that Republicans will provide-austerity on steroids- is too sickening to imagine, but angry voters will definitely give them their turn anyway.
They will one way or another...
600, 000 humans are sacrificed every year to satisfy the will of the abortionists.
The multi-billion dollar abortion industry has told you that you have a right to choose whether or not you want to be pregnant what they don't tell you is that if you do it you'll likely regret it for the rest of your life.
The abortion industry doesn't tell you that you have options other than abortion.
After you have an abortion you can't change your mind.
ShouId we mention that these are poor states (except Texas) that don't puII themseIves up by their own bootstraps and have their hand out to the Fed to pay for their needs?
This interview is a must to watch. Thank you Amarpour & Co.!
👍👍👍
Seriously, the way Republicans fought against The Affordable Care Act. Hell No! people should know that.
Republicans just don't care about us , if we suffer they enjoy .
Your mind is simple, cut your coupons and shop on HSN.
@@MrMcgooOG My father is Dr. Richard T Quick MD, the criminally insane psychiatrist. He is also a die-hard Trump supporter. He is online because of this.
Full respect Sir, from a humble recovering Christian, now a balanced happy atheist at peace with himself and the world at large.
Very powerful! Because of my upbringing in this minister’s same original religious and moral environment I opted not to have an abortion and stayed in a miserable marriage trying to survive my spouse’s disregard and disrespect for me as the very young woman he heedlessly impregnated because he, and not me, was drunk and uncaring. In counseling under even those precarious circumstances my religious faith was never supportive or sustaining of my efforts to do right for my child or for a marriage I committed to in a Biblical sense.
Something that is not enough mentioned is that there are laws prohibiting access to abortion even in the case of rape or incest, these can happen to children or teens who are not even adults with no understanding of what is happening to them nor knowing where to turn to for resources. This is a tragedy and will lead to devastating consequences.
Well said!!
Implicit in the “rape and incest” argument is that women who are not victims of these crimes do not “ deserve” to make critical choices about their lives. A woman having sex is not a crime and a child is not righteous punishment for any crime. One in four women in the United States has at least one abortion. Most of them became pregnant through a failure of contraception. Most have children with their husband or partner. Becoming pregnant in the course of normal family life is not a crime. They don’t have to prove their innocence. They are entitled to decide whether to continue the pregnancy. End of story.
My cousin who is an evangelical Christian bragged to me that she counseled an 11 year old who was the victim of incest to continue her pregnancy. This showed me she cared nothing for this child’s health and well-being. She had been totally brainwashed by her church elders to place their doctrine over love and caring. Fortunately the child had the abortion.
And your solution for that is to tell those same vulnerable and ignorant children to kill their own child?
You can't see a better solution?
Tell me something, how many of the 650,000 abortions that occurred in 2021 were a result of rape and or incest, and of that number how many of them were children?
Now since you said is not an adult and not good decision making age who should make the decision for her? Should she make her own decision as the mother, or should the mother's mother make the decision, or perhaps the mother's father, or the mother's doctor? And if the child doesn't want an abortion but everyone else does, what should happen?
@@TruckTaxiMoveIt your reasoning is proof that abortion is a private matter that should be decided between a woman or her doctor. It shouldn't be a matter of public discussion nor should statistics be available. Besides, most people who have abortions have children already.
Yea. There is NO ARMY OF LOVING 🥰 PEOPLE WAITING TO WRAP THEIR ARMS AROUND these moms & babies.
Thank you for acknowledging the truth - this choice belongs to the woman, period.
I applaud your appearance here, and hope you will continue to fight for women's bodily autonomy.
Shameful!
He opened the flood gates. There ain’t jack that he can do. This kind of Pollyanna bs hope is the mark of a coward.
Judicial Activism, like the violation of Constitution, including taking away enough, of a policy, as to neutralize the whole meaning of a Text. Liberty, being changed to allow moralizer rules, is to mean to Government, as Superior Entity, acting as a Religion, violating Right to Religion, and no Government Established Religion "Church of England' Types.
The Full correction, for Racism, in #WaronDavid, for full correction, of restraints on Military, that doesn't have authority to make any American an Enemy of the Government, without Due Process, or Make anyone Guilty of a Crime; as to touch Slavery without Cause. The claim the Police have no duty keep Advertising: "Protect and Serve", is malicious Judicial Activism.
The breakdown of society, into a Confederate Secret Court, for Hate Crimes, for infinite actions, for infinite justifications, without limitations, for full definition of Hate Crimes. Supporting Hate Group, vs. Legal Government projected for voter fraud; if that's not Judicial Activism, then it doesn't exist, at any level. California Secret Slave Raids to overthrow other States, is Infinite crime.
Targeted Statelessness, to David Boles, is an Infinite Threat, to America, and All Crimes are Secret, which Confederates want criminalized! It doesn't matter who started it, foreign governments, or not, is a public threat, and California, would have had David's Party in it, as to make him, apart of their legal government. California has jurisdiction over its self, but voter fraud, isn't a states right!
LEGAL
Roe vs. Wade is Distraction: All Channels video's Important, with support Texts.
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Fall of Italian mafia
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A) Uvalde Cops Harass Mother Who saved Her Kids
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a) Admitted it
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Truth about January 6
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POLITICAL
Not-So-Supreme Court
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GOP Hates Women, and Children
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The Irony is, their "Humor" isn't a joke, and historical verdicts, means all of it, including prohibition of Inter Racial Marriage, like David, and projected romantic interests. Clarence Thomas Supported Segregation, as States Rights, including School, for Racism, so White Nationalist Hate Groups overthrowing the Law, and its Government, isn't ridiculous to them.
The Secret Slave Raids, are real, and are illegally being protected, by obstruction from Judicial Activists, claiming Secrets shouldn't be on Public Record, for Recovery vs. crime, as to functional codify it. Plausible Deniability Secret crime system, requires sacrifices of self, to the whole Magic System, and through loyalties, serve the trades of the Black Market Permits.
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Dems Fund MAGA GOP
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Doubting Election results: #WaronDavid censored Public Records, to substantively change Results
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Truth on Biden
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A) SCOTUS Reforms
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a) Breyer to Step Down
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b) Alito claiming Most GOP Justices "Wrong: Except Him
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1) Fmr. Pro-Life Leader on Abortion Ruling
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SOCIAL
Feminism vs. Womanism
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Voices from 3rd Reich
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LaMDA Sentient?
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ECONOMIC
Funeral Industry
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FOREIGN
Europe in #WaronDavid
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Fantastic and moving. His compassion for women in crisis and his epiphany not to judge but support are deeply challenging and persuasive.
If they were pro life they’d be screaming to high heaven against war, death penalty, etc.
Please , everyone keep posting and reposting this excellent segment in social media!
Truly heartfelt and fantastic interview !!!
While I appreciate the Reverend's road to Damascus experience in jail, seriously, how did he not see this earlier? It's not like the abusiveness and misogyny of the anti-abortion movement was ever hidden. It's not like it was ever anything other than a tool to create grievance to the purpose of political power. They were always intending to sow the wind.
You'd be surprised how an issues involving faith and religion will lead people to do the unimaginable. Don't drink the Kool Aid
Cognitive dissonace is a hell of a drug, and probably groomed and encouraged in some circles. The mind is slippery and has blind spots and short cuts. Some people learned well how to exploit them
His thoughtfulness, and kindness, and genuine spirituality brought tears to my eyes. Thank you.
I really appreciate this man's honesty about the reality & support that women in crisis face and require.
Walk a mile in someone else's shoes before you criticise or condemn them to a fate most pro-life advocates couldn't be bothered to research & find out about.
There is most definitely a hostility towards these women in a 'why should we pay for you or your child?' logic. Pro-life advocates want to bring the babies to term, but couldn't care to simultaneously lobby for appropriate social welfare, psychological & financial support.
He mentioned skills training for these women to be able to work & provide whilst being pregnant/a single Mom. A baby is expensive & childcare while single mothers work is heinously expensive.
Yet we take away these women's rights, they are forced to bring the baby to full term and we abandon them at every phase of the process FOR LIFE.
That is unusually cruel and despicable.
People were afraid Kennedy would just do as the Roman Catholic church said. Nobody knew it be the Supreme Court.
Justice Alito's reason for overturning roe: "There's a decline in domestic babies for adoption." Source MSNBC
Domestic white babies
There are children across America asking for a good home. They are not babies but they need you to help them!
Adoption market is a slavery market.
Translation: There’s a shortage of supply of white babies
While I appreciate the quote, it's really a quote from the CDC which he pasted into his brief, that was discussing the demographic rate of adoptions....which of course have been declining for years. It's a terrible quote, which was incorrectly reported on more than one MSNBC program, but wasn't meant to be as sinister as it sounds.
Also, Alito is an egotistical lunatic.
Suddenly, God comes suddenly! The cruelty is the point for many in the movement. Thank you so much for interviewing this humble man. Thank you, for liking the truth. I believe when people know and understand the truth then think for themselves, the truth will set them free to a more authentic life. An abundant life which is one of the reasons Jesus Christ came. Great conversation I am grateful. 🕊
God is Santa Claus for adults. Grow up.
That chump released the Kraken.
Amen, I couldn't have put it better!
So we'll said!!!
Right on Bertha! Totally agree!
Amazing to hear so clearly one man's process of self-reflection and being able to finally empathise with those in different circumstances to himself. I hope he can help others to come to this compassionate truth. The overturning of Roe vs Wade must not prevail.
👍👍
So true.
That's exactly the point isn't it. Nobody can walk in your shoes.
I'm Catholic, and I have always believed it is a woman's choice.
Thanks for sharing your change of heart
There are several videos of Reverend Schenk available on the internet. I urge all of you to watch them. This is what humility and Christ like love & behavior looks like. His transformation has been interesting to see. The term "pro-life", being bantied about currently, is anything but that. Thank-you Rev. Schenk for finding your way, in a confusing landscape, that many Christians are confused about.
What I love about his story is that not once did he say he thought abortion is a good thing, he still thinks it would be best if that was never the choice a woman made, but he now understands why it's a choice some women have to make. We don't live in a utopia where asking for help will solve all the problems, or where people who mean well can save thousands of women from having to make that choice. So many pro-life advocates seem to think that being pro-choice means we don't see how terrible abortions are. In news reports on pro-life movements they often say "come to us, we can help you" and I'm sure they could help a few of them, but how can they help all of them? They imagine a young woman holding a plumped cheeked baby without thinking that in many of those cases that baby will grow knowing nothing but abject poverty and hunger, with a mother who in the best case scenario will never be home because she's working three jobs to make ends meet and in the worst case scenario will have her child taken into the system because she can't keep a roof other their heads even if she is a good mother. And I'm not even getting into the more extreme cases where assault and terrible health risks are involved, or women who aren't interested in mothering an unwanted child. Banning abortions serves no purpose save to create more misery for all involved. What we need is to reduce the number of women who would find themselves facing that choice in the first place, more affordable health care with better coverage, job security for pregnant women, affordable childcare, better sex ed so unwanted pregnancies don't happen in the first place... but these are pro-choice policies. I've always found it ironic that so many pro-lifers are also against the policies that would reduce the need for abortions the most.
Abortion is painful and expensive, but what it isn't is "terrible." When every form of birth control is 100% effective, when every zygote is welcomed by the woman who carries it, when every pregnant woman's personal life and health and womb remain wonderful, safe and hospitable till fetal viability at 20 weeks, abortion after that point still won't be terrible. When done to preserve the life of the mother or spare the fetus intolerable suffering, abortion, much like miscarriage, is surely tragic but not terrible. Forced gestation and birth of an unwanted baby? Now THAT is truly terrible.
@@mizaucontraire9224 I shouldn't have generalised. I was trying to keep breaching the wall that stops pro-choice and pro-life from having a conversation where we hear each other instead of seeing the other side as monsters for what they advocate. However my language further served to stigmatise abortion negatively, in a culture that already does that strongly.
Nonetheless I, myself, do think it's terrible, as in a serious and distressing choice/event/bad situation to be in. Because it is painful and expensive, and leaves many women in distress even if they know it was the right choice for them. Because I think it's terribly sad to have to chose to give up a potential child, because of health reasons, or financial reasons, or because the woman is too young to have to be a mother, or any number of other reasons that lead women to choose abortion. No women makes that choice lightly, and the very weight of it makes it terrible in my view. Especially when there are plenty of effective solutions in existence that would stop women from having to be in the position of having to make that choice (proper sex ed for men and women, and encouraged use of contraceptives being at the top of that list). And yes all you've said is worse, and often leads to more terrible situations. It's why so many women do make that choice, why they have to be allowed to judge their own situation, and why taking the initiative from them is a violation of human rights.
“The world is not the fantasy I thought it was”
pregnancy is not a trip to Disneyland
If you grow up in a conservative culture in a conservative religion, it's easy to fall for that notion, since so much of that sort of culture is very "life affirming", it even refuses to understand pain and suffering at times. I think Rev. Shenck is learning what it means to carry a cross in a broken world. His move towards Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a sign he's on the right track. Bonhoeffer understood the temptations of political power and how it could lead an entire nation astray spiritually.
And parenthood is brutal, not to be take on lightly and definitely not to be pushed onto the unwilling.
@@fleurosea Especially considering (amongst other things) that the same people who are anti-abortion are most often against gun control.
'Pregnancy may not be a trip to Disneyland' however in the coming weeks you will be able to get take a trip to California to get your abortion and then visit Disney all paid for by your employer.
@@fleurosea animals seem to be doing quite fine with it.
When people look for too much they don't usually get what they're looking for.
I left the pro-life movement when I realized that their actual goal was to make abortion illegal not to end it. They are not the same thing.
Thank you--this gets overlooked SO often.
Yes, exactly.
I wish people understood that. They won't hear.
Michel Martin, thank you for your grace and compassion and self control.
I wanted to wring this guy's neck!
I am constantly flummoxed by the level of ignorance and lack of compassion of 'educated' men leading the 'pro-life' movement.
The reverend is right on one point, though.
The decision whether to abort an unwanted/unexpected/unplanned pregnancy is very personal. It belongs solely to the woman and her support system (partner, health care practitioner, pastor, family, if she is lucky enough to have such support).
Every child deserves to arrive in loving secure home.
Our failure to insure this as far as humanly possible is a condemnation of us as a people and a country.
To force birth on anyone who is unwilling or unable to provide for the needs of a child is child abuse.
People who think death is the worst thing that can happen are naive in the extreme.
Should the child have a say in if they are born or not? Are poor children not worthy? Should abused children just be euthanized? What do you think poor abused children would choose if offered life vs a quick needle exit? Such arrogance on your part of who is worthy to live or die.
this is why i laugh at the ridiculousness of people who celebrate that roe v wade is overturned, while not having to deal with the ramifications of it while total strangers that they don't have to care about, see, or even know about their existence have to suffer all the consequences for the rest of their lives.. oh what joy celebrating in your idealistic world.
And on top of that, the mostly wealthy GOP politics will always have the option of traveling where ever they need to for the option of abortion and they know it.
I'm glad he realized the movement has ulterior motives and many racist objectives.
Too late. Why didn’t he speak up before?
@@beefandbarley I know and you are right but I think it is important that he's speaking up now.
I wish everyone, pro-life and pro-choice, would watch this and use this as a starting point for an open and honest discussion about abortion. The Reverend touched on all of the points that bother me the most about the pro-life movement.
This was an incredible interview, thank you. Thank you for always bringing such amazing news stories that are insightful, eye opening and heart opening on this channel. My husband and I talk about these issues all the time. And I rarely hear anyone explaining them so eloquently and with such compassion and kindness. Perhaps the consequences of this forceful decision will actually force our politicians and our society to face something they've conveniently ignored for decades.
I have had contempt for the Evangelion movement for many of the reasons you described. Thank you for sharing and bearing your soul. You have redeemed yourself in my eyes.
To sum it all up? Hypocrisy, ignorance, and lack of empathy.
Delusion and fantasy.
Many, many years ago I got caught up in the Pro Life movement. I see it all very differently now at 63 years old.
I m 64. I am grateful that abortion was available to me when I was a young woman of 23. I fear for the young women today who have to navigate in this uncertain and treacherous landscape.
@@Ellecram yes. I agree ☝️
We need to vote as many Democrats in the office as we can and then we need to make them codify abortion as law. And birth control. And marriage equality.
Can you imagine that they’re talking about birth control! Did you hear that many women are on birth control to ease their period symptoms and for other medical reasons besides not wanting to get pregnant. But not wanting to get pregnant is also a fine and IMPORTANT reason to be on birth control.
I swear. This country is just unbelievable today. Nice chatting with you. ✌🏻
@@Nan-59 It is beyond insane that they are actually talking about restrictions on birth control. I feel like we have been bludgeoned with a pick axe full of crazy!
I hope that enough people turn out to vote so we can at least stem this avalanche.
Good luck in the coming days with the unraveling shitshow we find ourselves swimming in!
@@Ellecram Yes! And to you!!
Well if your going to be pro-life America should have universal health care to take care of the babies if they are born sick, have disabilities etc. But after birth these people wouldn’t care if they died a horrible death. Money is what matters to them not life.
We’re living in a country of extremes. No longer is compassionate, objective, fact-based, respectful consideration part of our country’s rhetoric. Sad, scary times…..
It was amazing that his turning point was meeting "the common person" but not on a pulpit because he jailed too on her level.
Gosh, if only “mind your own business” was our national motto.
That's why I like Sleepy Joe. He's usually asleep & does less damage.
Whereas the Republican motto is “Misery loves company.”
@@beefandbarley i thought it was "it's ok when we do it"
An important message from someone who changed his mind on abortion by listening to others
👍👍
He definitely hit the nail on the head .
He drove it home.
Thank you Rev. I meet you on the soul level. Peace be with you.
This is an interview that all Americans should hear.
It's all well and good to have deeply-held religious convictions; foisting them off on others who don't share your views approaches criminality, in my opinion.
yea, as an atheist, where do I sue them for infringing on my religious freedom?
My deeply held, Catholic religious convictions lead me to support increased and sped-up immigration; to protect the environment, to strengthen the social safety net, to treat all people of any ethnicity. skin color, and (admittedly in opposition to much of the Catholic hierarchy) to support the acceptance of gender diversity. All of these beliefs are based in part in my religious beliefs and belief in an all-loving God. I suspect you would be perfectly comfortable for me to continue fighting on behalf of those issues. I propose it is not my religiosity that concerns you, but the fact that some of what comes from my spiritual beliefs does not fit with your stand on things. For a deeply religious person everything they do is based in their spirituality.
"Why" you do things is generally not interesting. "What" you do is much more likely to get people's attention.
@@pegsiciliano8858 Ex-Catholic here. Went to Catholic school from Kindergarten thru high school. I don't care what motivates you to be a decent person; if you need your religious doctrine and dogma to do it for you, then by all means fill your chalice. Just realise that there are other ways to achieve high ethical standards and moral decency without relying on religion. It's the secular way that has led humans toward real progress; religiosity actually gets in the way. History has more examples of the latter than the former, unfortunately.
@@billmcdonald4335 I totally agree with part of your point (I think it's part of your point) that one does not have to adhere to a particular religion, or any religion to be a good and ethical person. But please do not assume that I "need" my religion to make me a good person. If I were only listening to "my religion," I would not be for acceptance of full gender diversity. Rather I listen to educated, thoughtful people of religion, and I research elsewhere, and then I use my intellect and prayer to consider an issue, then make up my own mind. And I am not pro-life because I am Catholic. I am pro-life because it appears to me that scientifically speaking once the sperm joins the egg a unique human being is created. We have no right to end that life based on the fact that it is very, very small and doesn't "look" like us, and/or because we have the power to do so. A truly caring society will care for its weakest members, and the unborn fit that definition. Besides religion is about far more than social issues. It is about belief in a higher power that created us to bring love and caring to others, and to care for the world. That power, whatever it is called, also gave us freedom and free will. So unfortunately, many religious people have done horrible things in the name of religion - and also many atheists have done horrible things in the name of whatever. All people are human, so all (including the religious) make bad, and sometimes horrible choices. Many atheists seem to think that the evil done by people who claim a religion is done because they are religious. They may use their religion as an excuse, but they do evil because they are human and humans are far from perfect. If they weren't religious they would find some other excuse. Other wise there would never be atheists who do evil things. But there are. It's not religion that's the problem.
Enjoyed this interview. Putting oneself in another man's shoes always change hearts. Thank you
So true.
Can men get pregnant sweetie?
Well said!!
@@deborahedelman2659 Thanks.
Kudos to you Sir!!!!!
Thank you Rev. Robert Schenck, well said. We need so many more men like you in this world and particularly in leadership.
I do love that he reevaluated his views and he is very honest. I hope he speaks up all around the country to try to reach people. But I also cannot believe that an adult man who was a pastor was so clueless of people's situations !!!! No wonder we are where we are, so much narcissism and power hungry adults. Unbelievable
Wow - I can't tell you how much I appreciate this interview and what he said. He is a deep thinker and truly wants to do the right thing. He recognizes "winning" is not necessarily the right thing because it has been co-opted by others and turned into an egocentric argument. That is so very true and I commend him on his willingness to see deeply - to recognize that woman's cries and realize nobody in the pro life movement would come to help her. To stand up and tell the truth despite his wish. The dream that his fight would have resulted in the birth of beautiful baby that would have a happy life dissolved when reality showed him that would not be the case. Even now while abortion was legal, we hear of women dumping babies in the trash and toilets - it will only get worse. And those righteous Republicans that care so much about these babies will offer no relief to these women. And when more children are murdered in school, they will only offer thoughts and prayers because guns are valued much more, and guns do not ask for social services.
Sometimes it's hard to find redemption from a such a past. I believe he has found his.
This interview made me cry. So hard for people to change their minds, thanks for having this difficult conversation!
I listened to this video in its entirety. And I keep looking at the person being interviewed. He is a man. What right does he have in deciding on my health decisions. He was nowhere when I was pregnant. Neither was the father of the unborn child. Suddenly, everything got real quiet. The only sound I could hear was “No. You cannot have this”. It took his being locked up to notice the pain and suffering cause by loss of motherhood. He was an influencer building his following. And now he has backed down. There is something very unpleasant and amoral about abortion. But it serves a simple purpose. It allows someone to avoid parenting a child with someone who truthfully does not care or want children. And every woman should be allowed to make that decision for herself and her own future. Relationships last. And, then, some relationships don’t. I am ready to see to it that Roe vs Wade becomes law. Let no one think they can misuse someone’s spread legs for their own purposes. Damn them.
4:45 His analysis about how things are really about control and how they really have contempt for the very people the movement is theoretically about is spot on.
I respect someone who can say “I was wrong”, or “I was misguided”.