Download MP3 | 1:01:26
Robin Atkins is back to discuss psychology in debate. Robin is a licensed mental health counselor, specializing in reproductive issues. She also has a philosophy degree. She spent four years doing home-based therapy with the Department of Children’s Services. She’s a pro-life advocate with an atypical perspective on some of the issues surrounding abortion.
In his recent book, Beyond Roe: Why Abortion Should be Legal—Even if the Fetus is a Person, philosopher David Boonin develops a pro-choice argument that appeals to the legal case McFall v. Shimp. Here is Boonin’s description of this case:
Robert McFall was an asbestos worker from Pittsburgh. In 1978, he was diagnosed with aplastic anemia. The doctors told him he’d die if he didn’t get a bone marrow transplant. And they said he needed one soon. Preliminary tests for tissue compatibility were quickly conducted. Only one promising candidate was found: a cousin of McFall’s named David Shimp. Before additional tests could confirm his compatibility, though, Shimp had a change of heart. He refused to submit to further testing. And he declared that he wouldn’t give McFall any of his bone marrow even if it was needed to save McFall’s life. Running out of options at that point, McFall decided to sue Shimp. In the motion filed by his attorney, McFall asked the court to order Shimp to undergo the additional testing and, if the results were positive, to order Shimp to give him the bone marrow he needed.[1]
The judge ruled against McFall, deciding that the state had no right to force Shimp to let McFall use his bone marrow.
Robin Atkins is a licensed mental health counselor, specializing in reproductive issues. She also has a philosophy degree. She spent four years doing home-based therapy with the Department of Children’s Services. She’s a pro-life advocate and has very interesting thoughts on the topic of abortion.
This is the first of three episodes with Robin. In this episode, Robin discusses the differences between newborn adoption, foster care, and abortion.
In a series of papers—”Lady Parts,” “Were You a Part of Your Mother,” and “Nine Months”—Elselijn Kingma develops and defends the parthood view of pregnancy: that human fetuses are literally a part of the gestating woman’s body.
If your mouth is slack and your eyes are squinting, yes, that was my first reaction, too.
If you have moved on from straight-up confusion to worrying about the implications for the abortion debate, that was my second reaction.
But let me invite you to move through reactions one and two and into reaction three: this claim is super interesting, plausible, and makes the case against abortion stronger.
Download MP3: 57:16
Jonathon Van Maren joins the podcast for the second part of a discussion on what is going on with a hostile anti-abortion group called Abolish Human Abortion (AHA). In this episode, Jonathon discusses the history of the pro-life movement and why it needs to be understood, AHA’s “Free the States” strategy, and what pro-life organizations and sidewalk counselors should do about them.
Part 1: AHA: The Anti-Abortionists Who Fight Other Pro-Lifers:
https://youtu.be/0SvNYXQqvuM
Jonathon Van Maren: How “Abolish Human Abortion” Gets History Wrong – Part 1:
Jonathon Van Maren: How “Abolish Human Abortion” Gets History Wrong Again – Part 2:
ERI Podcast: “Should Women be Prosecuted if Abortion Becomes Illegal?”
https://youtu.be/hcYDbi9baiI
“Defenders of the Unborn” by Dr. Daniel K. Williams:
https://amzn.to/2RwcnZw
“Abortion Rites” by Marvin Olasky:
https://amzn.to/33UYO8C
“Operation Rescue” by Randall Terry:
https://amzn.to/3v1eqTQ
“Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War” by Jim Risen & Judy Thomas:
https://amzn.to/33YKuMe
Debate: Pro-Life Incrementalism vs Abolitionist Immediatism (Gregg Cunningham vs. T. Russell Hunter)
https://youtu.be/5oi4vVTae30
If you want to see Abolish Human Abolition’s account of who they are to assess it on its own terms, read “The Five Tenets of Abolitionism” on the AHA webpage: http://abolishhumanabortion.com/abolitionism/the-five-tenets-of-abolitionism/