Slightly Offensive - Elijah Schaffer - Atheists & Christians Unite to March for Life
Aired: 2019-01-23
Duration: 10:52


=== Pro-Life Perspectives (10:07) ===

[00:00:00]  How many people are here today, do you know?
[00:00:01]  They said there's at least a few thousand.
[00:00:05]  All right, so we got some chance about ending abortion and loving Jesus.
[00:00:09]  But yet, what's weird is we don't see any of the media here.
[00:00:11]  I'm Elijah Schaefer here with another episode of Slightly Offensive.
[00:00:14]  We are at the March for Life 2019 in Los Angeles County, and we're going to talk to some of these ralliers to see what it is they stand for, what it is they believe in, and what they want to see happen.
[00:00:24]  We hope you enjoy the show.
[00:00:25]  All right, so we just got back from the Woman's March.
[00:00:27]  What sets this march apart from that?
[00:00:29]  I would say this march is a selfless march.
[00:00:31]  This is one of the only marches we're seeing people not marching for their own rights, but for the rights of others.
[00:00:36]  Why is the emphasis of women's rights centered upon abortion?
[00:00:40]  It's really unfortunate because I think that abortion clinics, especially Planned Parenthood, they're trying to sell their agenda, and that's what they're focused on is making money.
[00:00:50]  So they market it as a choice centered around abortion, but really what they're focused on is making a profit through abortion.
[00:00:58]  What faith would you say you apply to?
[00:01:01]  Yoga.
[00:01:02]  And this is a really unitive march where people are pushing together, not trying to push people apart.
[00:01:07]  Like, it'd be hard to find anybody at this march that isn't welcome, you know?
[00:01:11]  Hello, can I get your opinion on why it is that people say no uterus, no opinion?
[00:01:18]  I've never heard of that before.
[00:01:19]  Yeah, so at the Women's March, there's a lot of signs going on about a woman's right to choose, and people are saying if you don't have a uterus, then you have no right to comment on the issue.
[00:01:29]  What's your view on that?
[00:01:32]  I mean, it's a pretty silly proposition because it means that you generalize it across any other issue.
[00:01:38]  Just because you don't have something or you haven't had that experience, you can't help someone.
[00:01:42]  So, for example, like, let's just pick in a concrete example.
[00:01:45]  I'm not a drug addict, I've never had a drug addiction, but can I help someone with drug addiction just because I don't have one?
[00:01:51]  Of course.
[00:01:51]  People call abortion a woman's right.
[00:01:54]  What's your view on that as well?
[00:01:55]  Dude, totally not.
[00:01:56]  It's the baby's right to live.
[00:01:58]  So, yoga, you're at a pro-life movement.
[00:02:00]  Why are you here?
[00:02:02]  I'm pro-life.
[00:02:04]  I love unborn children just like I love all members of my human family.
[00:02:10]  And it's the unborn who are not being protected these days.
[00:02:14]  We want to get some opposing sides here from this.
[00:02:16]  So, you stand with Planned Parenthood, and this is a march.
[00:02:18]  We do, healthcare.
[00:02:19]  Healthcare is imperative.
[00:02:21]  Women's health matters.
[00:02:22]  Women's matters.
[00:02:24]  Do you consider abortion a health care issue?
[00:02:27]  Of course, it's a healthcare.
[00:02:28]  Of course, it is.
[00:02:29]  Women's right to choose what they do is between themselves and their doctor.
[00:02:36]  Okay, so your sign has a bold statement.
[00:02:37]  It says abortion is murder.
[00:02:40]  Why do you say that?
[00:02:42]  Because God does not approve of it.
[00:02:45]  What would you say to somebody who doesn't believe in God or holds an agnostic viewpoint?
[00:02:50]  Well, see, that's the whole thing.
[00:02:52]  God should be in first place.
[00:02:56]  That's why we're in this position right now because God is not in first place in society.
[00:03:08]  He's created his church, but even people in his own church are not united against abortion.
[00:03:18]  Why do you think basically society has a hard time confronting the truth about what abortion is?
[00:03:24]  I think that it's not necessarily that society has a hard time confronting the truth.
[00:03:30]  I think that those in power who are kind of advocating for these pro-choice agendas make it extremely convincing because they're focused on what they're focused on is getting people emotionally invested without really giving them any facts, let alone educating them fully.
[00:03:48]  Are you familiar with the arguments of this side?
[00:03:51]  Of course I'm familiar with their opinion.
[00:03:53]  Of course.
[00:03:55]  They're entitled to their opinion.
[00:03:57]  I'm entitled to my rights.
[00:03:58]  Yeah, yeah, great.
[00:03:59]  So then what do you, do you feel like these women are these people?
[00:04:02]  I'm happy to engage with you.
[00:04:03]  You know, you never would have known that there was this many people that are pro-life in Los Angeles.
[00:04:08]  Because if you listen to the media, it basically makes it sound like everybody here is for one agenda.
[00:04:13]  And it's so bizarre how the media can spin things to make it sound like there's only one narrative when there's always an opposing side.
[00:04:20]  And I'm not against people having their own views on matters, but when you don't give representation to share the other side, that could be an actual issue.
[00:04:27]  And when it comes to abortion, we know which side is given the most limelight, and that's the agenda that's for it.
[00:04:33]  Hi, are you guys, just so I know, because it's a pro-life march, is this an organization against capital punishment?
[00:04:38]  Yes.
[00:04:38]  Awesome.
[00:04:38]  Can I get, because obviously some people say the pro-life movement is just a singular issue, but you guys are bringing up another issue.
[00:04:45]  We like to say that it's whole life.
[00:04:47]  And what's your take on that?
[00:04:48]  Babies are just as valuable as all of life.
[00:04:52]  And we continue to protect our elderly.
[00:04:57]  Also, we need to protect those, especially those who've been executed that have been innocent.
[00:05:04]  So again, it's a whole life issue.
[00:05:06]  It's from conception to natural death.
[00:05:09]  What is stopping a young person without an understanding of the issue from getting an abortion?
[00:05:14]  I think a lot of the times if it has to, the family is faith base, that itself can encourage a child not to have an abortion if they are pregnant.
[00:05:24]  Support from the family, although many times if you are young, you may have that fear that you want to abort, but at the end, knowing that God will protect you, God will guide you, God will give you that strength that you need to continue life.
[00:05:36]  Despite what society says, that it is a problem, it is an issue.
[00:05:39]  It stops you from growing, it stops you from living your life.
[00:05:42]  And I think that just having praying, having that faith, having that support system if you are growing up in a Catholic faith or in a Christian faith, anything God-based, even those that don't, there might be other people around them that have a great support system to encourage them to give life.
[00:05:59]  Would you say that a group that is against abortion is anti-woman or just confused?
[00:06:03]  They're anti-woman.
[00:06:04]  Of course they're anti-woman.
[00:06:05]  You cannot say, I support life and then not and then take away a woman's right.
[00:06:11]  That's not supporting a woman.
[00:06:13]  That's oppressing women.
[00:06:15]  When you typed in abortion on YouTube recently, you could obviously see videos of people who are against abortion.
[00:06:21]  Some groups reached out to YouTube about how this was not a good thing.
[00:06:25]  YouTube re-manually changed the algorithms so that the videos that you look up when you look up abortion are pro-abortion.
[00:06:31]  What do you think about that kind of interjection of controlling the narrative on the matter?
[00:06:35]  Oh, I think it's outrageous.
[00:06:36]  I think that it's complete brainwashing.
[00:06:39]  I think that it's ridiculous that we are in a country where we're supposed to be advocating for free speech, and yet we have these major companies censoring anything that comes against their agenda, which is forcing the idea of making pro-choice pro-women, which is ridiculous.
[00:06:57]  What would happen if your mom chose to have an abortion?
[00:07:00]  I wouldn't have been happy.
[00:07:02]  Would you not be happy?
[00:07:03]  Well, I couldn't have even had a choice to be happy.
[00:07:05]  You could be here talking on this mic, would you?
[00:07:07]  Right, so think about that.
[00:07:08]  Okay, so some people tend to try to tie pro-life issues with immigration issues, and they like to say, how can you say you're pro-life when you're not pro-illegal immigrant?
[00:07:19]  What's your perspective on that argument?
[00:07:21]  Well, I think they're different subjects, but again, we have a responsibility as Catholics to encounter and welcome the stranger.
[00:07:32]  I think most people in this country might apply to a narrative that says that the people fighting against abortion are just Christians.
[00:07:39]  What's your take on that?
[00:07:41]  Well, look at me.
[00:07:43]  And there are perfectly good secular arguments against abortion also.
[00:07:48]  Basically, you use your child's head to hit me on the shoulder.
[00:07:51]  I went back and I could be overreacting.
[00:07:54]  I could be actually overreacting and maybe it was an accident.
[00:07:57]  Maybe it was just a coincidence.
[00:07:59]  It's happened to me before several times in life.
[00:08:01]  A woman used her baby to hit you?
[00:08:03]  What happened?
[00:08:04]  The child's head hit me in the shoulder.
[00:08:06]  And I said, I'm so sorry to the mother and the child, more so the child.
[00:08:10]  And then I realized something.
[00:08:12]  It sparked kind of like when you get on the Titanic with your hat on the side.
[00:08:17]  It sparked something that I've seen that before.
[00:08:19]  It's happened before in a parade, twice.
[00:08:21]  And so my anger kind of came out, and it shouldn't have, but it did.
[00:08:25]  A child of all things and the only thing should never be used as a weapon.
[00:08:30]  Wow.
[00:08:30]  So they're using weapons as a children's weapons.
[00:08:33]  A child and a word weapon means you decide.
[00:08:36]  Wow.
[00:08:36]  It's God's right to end a life.
[00:08:39]  However, God's plan is.
[00:08:41]  Planned Parenthood is a very important organization that does cancer screening, hearts, you know, screening for women.
[00:08:49]  Women have a lot of heart attacks that go undiagnosed.
[00:08:53]  They do a lot of important medical work.
[00:08:56]  We cannot depend on praying.
[00:08:59]  We have to depend on science.
[00:09:02]  Do you think a good compromise between the two groups?
[00:09:07]  Because Planned Parenthood is responsible for one-third of the abortions in the country.
[00:09:10]  Do you think if...
[00:09:10]  No, you get your statistics straight before you quote me statistics.
[00:09:13]  I was looking at Planned Parenthood's actual, the numbers that they claimed.
[00:09:16]  That's from actual Planned Parenthood.
[00:09:18]  So I'm saying, so because what those numbers out, I know they say it's only 3% of their services, but it's a third of the abortions in the country.
[00:09:24]  Do you think that a compromise then, because we care, I care about women's health care, they do, I know you do.
[00:09:29]  What if Planned Parenthood just stopped offering abortions as an option and then kept the other thing?
[00:09:34]  Don't, then use a condom.
[00:09:37]  Then don't ejaculate.
[00:09:39]  You just can't pigeonhole what that means that I support life.
[00:09:47]  You can't.

=== What Is Wrong With Killing (00:59) ===

[00:09:52]  I would recommend anyone who says that look up the writings of Don Marquis, M-A-R-Q-I-S.
[00:10:00]  He wrote an essay called Why Abortion is Immoral.
[00:10:05]  And he's an atheistic professor.
[00:10:09]  take on it has nothing to do with God it's the fact that what is wrong with killing anybody See, what is wrong with killing a three-year-old child?
[00:10:21]  Is it because it will cause pain, but even if you kill them painlessly, it's still wrong.
[00:10:30]  Or is it because it will cause fear?
[00:10:32]  Even if you kill them without fear, it's still wrong.
[00:10:35]  No, what is wrong with killing is that it deprives anybody of the life that they would have had.
[00:10:42]  And that is equally true of an unborn child also.
[00:10:47]  In fact, you deprive them of a little more life than if you kill an adult.