Latest / The Lila Rose Show / BONUS: Beyonce vs Eva Mendes Competing Models of Womanhood

Transcript

BONUS: Beyonce vs Eva Mendes Competing Models of Womanhood · The Lila Rose Show

0:00
Hello guys, welcome back to the Lila Rose podcast.
0:02
Today we're doing another special YouTube live here.
0:05
All right, so the culture has a lot of competing images about
0:08
what womanhood is, what culture tells us.
0:11
Womanhood is about working hard, being a girl boss or womanhood
0:14
is about being a mother and being a wife or womanhood is
0:17
about something else entirely. And So what we're going to do in
0:20
this episode is look at some recent news stories that
0:22
showcase what womanhood is and might not be.
0:27
And I think the in politics right now especially, there is a
0:30
strong representation that womanhood is about so-called
0:33
reproductive rights coming from unfortunately the an entire
0:38
campaign run by Kamala Harris right now claiming that
0:41
womanhood is the right to be able to kill your baby.
0:43
So there was a recent rally in Houston that Kamala hosted with
0:47
some very popular and famous actors and artists.
0:51
We're going to talk about that and what went on in that Houston
0:53
rally. But I wanted to start with the
0:54
positive first because unfortunately, it's easy,
0:58
especially with social media news, to focus on all the
1:00
negative stories. But there are good stories that
1:03
are representing womanhood well. And so we're going to start with
1:06
somebody that I like to keep an eye on in what she's doing in
1:09
her public work. And she actually kind of went
1:11
private for a while to be able to focus on her family more.
1:14
She still worked, but she wasn't in the limelight as much.
1:16
And this is someone named Eva Mendez.
1:18
So we're going to start with her in some clips, that of her
1:21
talking about her decision to focus on motherhood.
1:24
And we're going to look at how that contrast with the
1:27
representation of motherhood that is happening at some of
1:29
these political rallies during this episode 2 of the show.
1:33
I'm going to be keeping my eye on the chat, so let me see if
1:35
you guys can hear me. Good audio is great.
1:39
Thank you. Tom says being a mother is the
1:41
hardest job. Yes, being a mother can be a
1:43
hard job. It's also an incredibly
1:45
rewarding job. Hello, Caleb.
1:48
Hello Elle, Al is talking about the recent announcement from the
1:53
Vatican about this new anime character that they're using as
1:57
this kind of mascot for the year named Lucy, which means light,
2:00
which can mean light. And it's this cute kind of
2:03
overture, I guess to Gen. Z and those that love anime.
2:07
So anyways, I I thought that was cute.
2:09
I know there's a lot of controversy around this little
2:10
anime character, but Al is talking about that saying a lot
2:13
of Christians are calling her Lucy Lucifer.
2:15
All right, I don't know that she, this little anime character
2:18
actually is a the devil in disguise.
2:21
It is just a cute mascot that the Vatican is using as an
2:24
outreach to those that love anime.
2:26
That's fine by me. Not a big deal.
2:28
But hi, Zach. It's Zach saying hello here.
2:31
Gianna, thanks for joining. Thank you guys for being here.
2:34
OK, so let's go to this recent article out about Eva Mendes.
2:40
And this is from Evie Magazine, which is a great publication
2:43
that's doing a lot of fun and good reporting for women about,
2:47
I think, uplifting things that are happening in the culture.
2:50
And yeah, men can read this too. But I think Eva is a good
2:53
example of showing life as a mother and as a wife in a
2:58
beautiful way, while still obviously focusing on her
3:01
creative work as an actor and as a businesswoman.
3:04
So this article is specifically referencing some recent comments
3:07
that Eva made about how she will not return to acting because
3:12
this is the big famous actor you might have remember.
3:15
We might remember her from movies like Hitch and she is a
3:19
beautiful, very talented and she has spoken out publicly about
3:22
how she will not return to acting.
3:24
And she's, by the way, I should have mentioned already, she's
3:26
married to Ryan Gosling. So he's the Ken from Barbie,
3:29
obviously a huge actor. And she said she will not return
3:32
to acting unless it is in films that don't involve sexuality or
3:36
gore, and only if it is alongside her husband.
3:41
What a refreshing standard for her to set.
3:43
I love seeing this kind of feminine leadership coming from
3:47
somebody as talented as Eva. She's beautiful, she's talented,
3:50
she has children of her own. And she's publicly saying I
3:52
don't want to be in movies that have sexuality, heavy sexuality
3:57
and violence. And if I'm going to be in a
3:59
movie, I want it to be with my own husband.
4:02
But one of the things that really caught my eye was this
4:04
conversation that Eva actually had with Hoda where she talks
4:09
about her decision to focus on motherhood and put motherhood
4:13
first in her personal life. So let's take a listen.
4:16
Yeah, it really. That's when it made like.
4:18
Sense it just clicked in yeah. Because I, you know, so in love
4:22
and I'm like, oh, right, I want to create life with you.
4:26
And it's, it's funny because I feel like parenting is the most
4:29
creative thing I've ever done. You know, I've, you know, I'm an
4:33
actress, I've designed clothes, I've done, you know, different
4:36
number of different things, but this is the most creative thing
4:39
is to create life with them. So.
4:41
You had your babies and kind of stepped away from the spotlight.
4:44
Yeah. Tell me about that choice.
4:47
I have friends who made that exact same choice, and they
4:50
stepped away, you know, pursued motherhood full time, which is a
4:55
beautiful decision. Tell me about what that has
4:57
meant to you. Well, I really took it back to
5:01
when I was little, I was able to, even though we had, we were
5:04
very, very lower middle class, my mom was able to be there for
5:09
me at home until I was about 8 or 9.
5:13
And those memories for me that just formed who I was those
5:18
years with her. And I just thought, I feel
5:21
fortunate enough that, you know, that I could have taken some
5:26
time out from acting. I actually still worked.
5:28
I just didn't act, just didn't, you know?
5:31
And so I just felt lucky enough. I'm like, damn, I really, you
5:34
know, I really want this time with them.
5:37
And then now, you know, I'm obsessed.
5:39
You should have seen me leaving. We're in London right now.
5:41
Ryan's filming a movie and I. You can pause it here.
5:43
It goes on. She keeps talking about how
5:45
she's now entering back into work, that the girls are a
5:47
little bit older and how she did some work when they were
5:49
younger, but she wasn't on set filming movies because that
5:52
would take her away from her children for hours and hours and
5:54
days and days on end. And I think this is so
5:57
beautiful, what she's saying here.
5:58
I just, I love it. She's saying that the most
6:01
creative thing that she's ever done, Eva Mendes, is saying the
6:03
most creative thing that she's ever done is to create new life
6:06
with her husband, Ryan, and that creating life with her husband
6:10
was such a joy that she got to do this in her marriage.
6:13
And I think this is a great and beautiful representation of why
6:18
marriage and motherhood and and parenthood is such a beautiful
6:22
gift because you are doing the most creative work that you can
6:26
possibly do by helping working with God to bring a new soul
6:30
into the world. And then I loved what Eva said
6:33
afterwards where she, you know, Hoda was asking her about how
6:36
she knows herself women who have stepped away from work when they
6:39
had children when they were very young and the that they made
6:43
this beautiful decision. And what did Eva think about
6:45
that? And then she shares that she was
6:49
privileged to have a mother who was able to be with her through
6:51
much of her very young childhood and be able to make those core
6:55
memories with her, be there and present for her.
6:57
And she wanted to offer that to her girls.
7:00
Now, if you listen to more of what Eva says later on, she does
7:03
say that she was still doing some work.
7:05
It's not like she completely, completely pieced out of all
7:07
work and she was completely not contributing economically into
7:11
the family unit. No, she was still involved in
7:14
work, but she chose work very intentionally as a mother of
7:18
young children, two young girls that would provide for her,
7:23
enable her to be able to be there for her girls.
7:26
That she wasn't just dropping them off and then taking off for
7:29
set or taking off for long hours on end, but that she was able to
7:32
be there quality and quantity time for her girls.
7:35
And again, I know we talked about this on the podcast and I
7:37
know that this can be controversial for some because
7:41
there is a sensitivity, You know, some moms are working
7:44
because they absolutely have to for their family or they're
7:47
doing important creative work. And I think all of that can be a
7:50
very good contribution. I think the tricky part enters
7:54
in where we're making decisions about how much time are we
7:57
spending with our children versus our creative work or the
8:01
economic work that's important to support our family.
8:03
We have to do what we've got to do in the end to support our
8:05
families. But I think that prioritizing
8:08
time with our children and the most important work, the most
8:12
creative work that one can do, which is helping bring a soul
8:16
into existence and nurturing that soul, helping develop that
8:19
human being, that should be get more celebration, quite frankly,
8:23
and more support in our culture. So to see someone like Eva
8:28
saying loud and proud that this was the decision that she made
8:31
and how grateful she is that she got to be that primary care for
8:34
her girls and be there for them in their childhood.
8:37
I think it's a great role model to this generation of women.
8:41
Because the reality is, as you guys know, and if you're a man
8:45
or you're a woman listening, I'm sure you've picked up on these
8:47
messages from culture. There is an aggressive push in
8:50
our culture to denigrate motherhood, to make motherhood
8:54
all about this choice, about your reproductive right to kill
8:58
a baby. I mean, that's how motherhood is
9:00
talked about politically now, not in terms of having babies
9:03
and caring for them, but in terms of being able to having
9:05
the right to kill a baby. So that's absolutely abject
9:08
horrible. And then in addition, there is
9:11
this, I think this. And maybe we're afraid of
9:14
offending people who don't have children or offending people who
9:17
say they don't want to have children.
9:18
But there's this approach to the incredible project of parenthood
9:23
as if it's the choice of, you know, adopting a dog or not
9:27
getting a dog from the pet store or not, or choosing one career
9:31
over another or not. Children are not products or
9:35
accessories. Children are sacred gifts that
9:39
literally define the future of our civilization and our
9:42
country. And so the project of being a
9:45
parent, a father and a mother, it is the most important work
9:49
culturally because you're literally raising the next
9:52
generation. But I think there is an
9:54
overemphasis in our culture today on pursuing, you know,
9:58
higher degrees in education and getting becoming very successful
10:02
and being very healthy and physically beautiful and all of
10:05
these things, you know, famous all of these things and being an
10:08
influence or whatever. And there's less of, you know,
10:11
social power around and support around the project of being a
10:16
mother. I said before it's, you know, we
10:19
put celebrities on the cover of magazines and models and famous
10:23
people on the cover of magazines.
10:24
Well, the person I think that should be on the cover of
10:27
magazines is the the person raising the future that the
10:29
mother that the family raising the future that are investing
10:33
and prioritizing their life around supporting and raising
10:36
those kids. Like that should be the the
10:38
cultural model of what we're aiming at and those that support
10:42
the family unit. Maybe you're not, you don't have
10:44
kids yourself or maybe you know, your call is not to get married,
10:46
but you're still supporting other families in your
10:49
community. That should be the goal.
10:51
So good for you. Eva Mendes, thank you for being
10:54
a role model. It's hard to find them today in
10:57
many ways, but thank you for role being a role model and
11:00
showcasing the beauty of motherhood and also love of
11:04
marriage and love of your husband.
11:06
All right, So that was a good story that I had to point out.
11:09
And again, kudos to Eva. Let's go to what just happened a
11:13
few days ago. You guys might have seen news
11:15
clips from this already. This was the Houston, TX rally
11:19
in support of Kamala Harris. As you guys know, it's a week
11:22
before the election and Kamala Harris is, you know, pounding
11:25
pavement, as is Donald Trump trying to Curry favor with
11:29
voters, get voters. And Kamala Harris's campaign
11:32
continues to double down on its support of abortion on demand
11:36
without apology. And I wanted to point to
11:39
specifically some of the statements that were made at
11:43
this late one of these latest Kamala Harris rallies because
11:46
she had some big names joining her on stage.
11:49
She had Beyoncé there. Beyoncé did disappoint many fans
11:53
because she did not perform. She was not there to sing.
11:55
She was there to speak and what she said.
11:58
Let's take a look at what she said.
12:01
I'm not here as a celebrity, I'm not here as a politician.
12:06
I'm here as a mother. Mother who cares deeply about
12:13
the world. My children, and all of our
12:15
children live in a world where we have the freedom to control
12:21
our bodies. A world where we're not divided.
12:26
Our past, our present, our future merge to meet us here.
12:35
Imagine our daughters growing up, seeing what's possible with
12:38
no ceilings, no limitations. Imagine our grandmothers.
12:44
Imagine what they feel right now, those who have lived to see
12:48
this historic day, even those who are no longer physically
12:55
with us. Imagine all of their sacrifice.
12:59
OK, let's pause here. So here Beyoncé is invoking the
13:05
role of motherhood as the reason that she even showed up to the
13:08
rally. And when she talks about why she
13:12
is at Kamala Harris's rally and endorsing her for president,
13:14
when she talks about why it is, she says she's a mother.
13:17
And then she goes on to say use that catch phrase, the right to
13:21
control our bodies. That's why I'm here because as a
13:24
mother, I want the right to control our bodies for all women
13:28
and for my daughters. And again, what are what is she
13:32
actually talking about here? Because on one level the
13:35
rhetoric might sound a bit persuasive like yes, I have the
13:38
right to the protection of my body.
13:41
I have the right to use my body and move my body and not have
13:45
anyone hurt my body. Yes.
13:47
But she's of course talking about we're not dumb here.
13:50
We're she's talking about the right to end the life of an
13:53
innocent pre born child. That's what she's referencing
13:56
here. And it is so it, it, it, it
13:59
still amazes me how this, this slides.
14:04
This is accepted as rhetoric and people can cheer for this when
14:10
what it's really talking about, when you take away the rhetoric,
14:14
the nice sounding words, is the lethal destruction of a human
14:18
life. Our womanhood, our power as
14:23
women is not dependent on the right to kill a baby.
14:27
And our ability to be mothers is what makes us uniquely women,
14:33
right? Why are we different from men as
14:35
women? Because we have the reproductive
14:37
ability to carry life, to nurture life and to bring life
14:41
into the world. And so to say that our power to
14:44
destroy life, our power to snuff out a life is somehow our unique
14:50
superpower is the opposite, is the inverse of what it really
14:53
means to be a woman. Now, of course, not every woman
14:55
has a brings life into the world.
14:58
Not every woman realizes that that beautiful potential that we
15:02
have, that's OK, But that is uniquely what makes us different
15:06
from men. We can be mothers and men can be
15:07
fathers. And so how, how did we get to
15:12
this place where this is the representation of motherhood, my
15:15
ability to take life instead of my ability to nurture and create
15:18
life? And listen to what Beyoncé said
15:20
afterwards. She talked about how I believe
15:23
in this world. I want this world where we're
15:25
not divided and we're at this historic moment and imagine our
15:29
daughters growing up and there's no ceilings and limitations.
15:32
All of that sounds good, right guys?
15:34
All of that sounds good. We want there to be so many
15:37
possibilities and so much potential for everyone, for
15:38
every woman, for every man. But again, the context here is
15:42
the right to kill. That is the context that Beyoncé
15:45
is bringing to this rally. And that that is the context of
15:49
the entire rally. When Kamala Harris gets up to
15:52
speak at her own rally, some of the first words out of her mouth
15:55
is to talk about, quote UN quote, reproductive freedom.
15:58
That's what she's there to advocate for.
16:00
Her whole campaign is around the right to kill.
16:04
And so, you know, Western woman choose your way.
16:08
What's our way as Western women? Is it the way of valuing what it
16:12
means to be uniquely a woman, which is the potential to bring
16:15
life into the world and treating a sacred, the project of
16:19
motherhood? Or is it to say my power as a
16:23
woman is my ability to dominate and even destroy a child's life?
16:29
Because that is the choice before us.
16:32
Let's listen to another clip here from Jessica Alba, who also
16:36
spoke at the Houston rally. As a mother, I'm excited by VP
16:41
Harris's new way forward focused on uplifting families and the
16:46
middle class. They will expand the Child Tax
16:50
Credit to provide a $6000 tax cut to families with newborn
16:55
children because they believe that no child in America should
17:04
live in poverty. As an entrepreneur, I am
17:13
inspired that as part of her Opportunity Economy agenda,
17:17
Kamala is fighting to help small businesses and entrepreneurs
17:22
innovate and grow by expanding the startup expense tax
17:26
deduction for new businesses from $5000 to $50,000.
17:36
So I think we can pause it here really quick.
17:37
She's going to get to abortion, of course, unfortunately in a
17:40
moment. But I think it is important to
17:42
note that the child tax credit is a bipartisan, thankfully for
17:45
this, a bipartisan policy. And there are many pro-life
17:49
Republicans who have been pushing for this in the House
17:51
and the Senate now for years. In fact, live action has a
17:55
different model, legislation that we're promoting to provide
17:58
cash credits for families that have children.
18:01
And there's even another piece of legislation that's promising
18:04
or trying to put into effect income tax breaks for and even
18:09
making them tax free for families that have three or more
18:12
children. This is, of course, in response
18:14
to the fact that the birth rate in the West is rapidly declining
18:18
and especially in the United States, we're below replacement
18:21
rate in our birth rate. This means that we are not
18:24
having enough children and we can't even replace ourselves as
18:27
a population. And when this happens, when
18:29
demographic population decline happens in this way, it can have
18:33
huge economic and social problems for the country because
18:36
now you don't have a younger generation that's up and growing
18:39
and the population is aging. Why is this happening?
18:42
Why is there such a population decline in the United States?
18:46
Well, I think it's largely in part to the anti life ideology
18:50
of abortion and the anti life ideology of materialism that
18:55
says that my career, my my financial pursuits, my own
19:00
selfish pursuits are my desire to experience the world in my
19:03
own terms. Radical autonomy is more
19:06
important than a child's life. And included in that is my
19:10
radical autonomy to be able to kill a child if they
19:13
inconvenience me. Of course, that's the abortion
19:15
rate in this country. 3000 abortions a day.
19:17
Well, let's go back to Alba. So again, some of what she's
19:19
saying here sounds good. And it's also things that on the
19:22
Republican side that they're promoting.
19:23
But let's see what she says next.
19:27
And as a woman, I know we need a leader like Kamala Harris who is
19:32
dedicated to protecting reproductive freedom.
19:38
It's like the loudest, the loudest.
19:43
Cheer here. Decisions about your body are
19:46
made by you, right? Never by the government.
19:54
Because Kamala Harris understands that protecting
19:58
reproductive freedom isn't about politics.
20:02
It's about our right to choose. And these are just a few of
20:13
Kamala's policies and. OK, we can pause it here.
20:16
You'll notice that the most passion in her statement and the
20:21
biggest applause from this particular crowd of many
20:25
abortion advocates in Houston, TX at this Kamala Harris rally
20:28
was for the reproductive right to choose what you want to do
20:31
with your body, which again, is code for killing a baby.
20:33
Imagine if Jessica Alba and Beyoncé came up and said I have
20:36
the right to kill a baby in the womb.
20:37
Of course, you know, maybe, maybe some of the crowd would
20:40
have shared. That would have been absolutely
20:41
heartbreaking. But it's harder to cheer for
20:44
that because you're being honest about what abortion is.
20:46
It's easier to mask abortion with positive sounding words
20:49
like reproductive freedom, my body, things like this, instead
20:53
of acknowledging what an abortion actually is and what it
20:55
does. I do have hope.
20:57
I do have hope that if more people knew what abortion was,
21:01
they would not be for it. And we've done a lot of
21:05
surveying and a lot of research at Live Action.
21:07
When people actually see what an abortion is, when they actually
21:11
understand what these abortion procedures entail.
21:14
Even pro-choice women, many of them become pro-life or at
21:18
minimum have more negative feelings about abortion than
21:21
they did before because they're confronted with what this
21:24
abortion procedure is actually doing to the body of an innocent
21:27
child. Abortion isn't just about the
21:30
body of a mother, as Beyoncé and Jessica Alba represent here.
21:35
Abortion is about the destruction of the body of an
21:38
innocent human life. And what about their choice?
21:41
What about the choice for that baby?
21:44
It's also, you know, sad here. I mean, Jessica Alba, she has
21:49
companies. The Honest Company may have
21:50
heard of it. And you might see it if you go
21:52
shopping. You know, if you're in Target, I
21:54
hope you're not in Target. By the way, we're still
21:56
boycotting Target over here because of their promotion of
21:59
gender ideology to kids. But if you're at, let's say,
22:01
another store and you see an honest product, she has this
22:04
line of products. And many of these products also
22:07
include diapers and products for babies.
22:10
That's why I love every Life. This is actually just a shout
22:13
out for our friends over every life.
22:14
If you guys have heard me talk about them on the podcast
22:16
before, you know, but every life.com is a pro-life diaper
22:19
company and they actually sell a best in class product that is
22:23
better than the Honest Company's product that is designed for
22:26
babies. And they're giving part of the
22:27
proceeds back to the pro-life movement.
22:29
So if you're a parent or if you know, parents, buy your diapers
22:33
from everylife.com, not from Honest Company or from some of
22:36
these other groups that are in a tragically supporting abortion.
22:40
And I mean, it's so tragic that Pampers and Huggies in some of
22:42
these groups are supporting abortion.
22:44
The conglomerates that that own them are actually donating money
22:47
to Planned Parenthood. And of course, here's Jessica
22:49
Alba, the owner of Honest Company promoting abortion on
22:53
stage at this Kamala Harris rally.
22:55
All right. The last thing I want to mention
22:56
about this rally, though, was comments from Kamala Harris
23:00
specifically about maternal mortality.
23:02
And this is really important because I want to debunk
23:04
something that Kamala Harris said at her own rally.
23:07
This is what she said. I'm going to just read the read
23:09
the quote here. She's talking about how she's
23:12
calling them the Trump abortion bans.
23:14
She says these same people who have argued that these Trump
23:16
abortion bans are in the best interest of women and children,
23:19
look at their records. They tend to be in states with
23:22
the highest rate of maternal mortality in the country.
23:25
This is one of the talking points of the abortion side
23:28
right now, that somehow abortion on demand will help maternal
23:32
mortality rates. You may have heard this before,
23:34
and they claim that if you ban abortion, you're going to hurt
23:37
maternal mortality rates. That is a complete lie.
23:40
It's a complete fabrication. And if you dig a little deeper
23:43
and look at what is being referenced here by Kamala Harris
23:46
at some of her rallies, you'll find that she's referencing the
23:49
fact that there has been an increase in some states in
23:52
maternal deaths between the years of 20/20/20, 2020-2021 and
24:00
into 2022. And So what has happened is some
24:03
of these abortion advocates have weaponized that data, saying the
24:06
maternal mortality rate has increased during this period of
24:09
time between 2020 and 2022. And they claim it's because of
24:13
abortion bans. That's what they're saying.
24:15
When the reality is Dobbs wasn't even in effect.
24:18
Dobbs hadn't been ruled yet the decision that overturned Roe V.
24:21
Wade until after these dates that maternal mortality was
24:25
increasing. But what was happening during
24:28
this time of 2020 to 2022 was the COVID-19 pandemic.
24:33
And so you actually look at then this is something I want to pull
24:36
up for you guys to look at here. You actually look at what even
24:40
the CDC is saying. And this is from this is a, a
24:44
report on maternal health. And let me know if you guys can
24:46
see this. Outcomes worsened and
24:49
disparities persisted during the pandemic.
24:52
And it talks about how each year in the United States, hundreds
24:55
of women die from complications related to pregnancy and
24:57
childbirth, known as maternal death, says GA OS analysis of
25:01
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
25:03
That's ACDC Data, the government agency that is responsible for
25:07
collecting data on maternal health outcomes.
25:10
It says the data shows that maternal deaths increased during
25:14
the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the data shows that the
25:17
COVID-19 pandemic was a contributing factor in 1/4 of
25:21
all maternal deaths in 2020 and 2021 combined.
25:25
So this right here fully debunks this incredibly misleading
25:31
talking point that's being promoted on during Kamala
25:35
Harris's campaign, as well as among unfortunately, other media
25:38
groups and in the state ballot initiatives that are being that
25:42
are being fought right now, that somehow abortion bans lead to
25:46
poor maternal outcomes, health outcomes.
25:49
When the reality is some of the struggles that maternal
25:53
mortality, the increase in maternal mortality has to do
25:56
with the COVID-19 pandemic. And the CDC is even showing
26:01
this, is even stating this from its own data.
26:04
And so to say that abortion bans, which are not preventing
26:08
healthcare for women, they are stopping the intentional taking
26:11
of innocent human lives are responsible is an outright lie.
26:14
It's a fabrication. There's no evidence to suggest.
26:17
There is no evidence to suggest that an abortion ban hurts
26:21
maternal maternal health in any way.
26:24
In fact you can look at evidence to the contrary that when the
26:29
doctors when doctors are focused on both patients and caring for
26:33
both mother and baby, which is the pro-life way, you can
26:36
actually see strong maternal health outcomes and lower
26:40
maternal mortality rates. Some examples of this include
26:44
the country of Malta which has some of the best the lowest
26:47
maternal mortality rates in the world and they have a complete
26:51
abortion ban in the country of Malta.
26:54
Another example would be Ireland before it legalized abortion.
26:58
In the decades before Ireland legalized abortion, they had
27:01
some of the best maternal health rates in the country and the
27:05
lowest maternal mortality rates, some of the least amount of
27:08
maternal deaths because the doctors were focused on loving
27:12
and caring for both baby and for mother.
27:15
So one last thing I, I need to say here to debunk this is
27:18
sometimes, you know, Kamala Harris or others will point to
27:22
some states that have poor maternal health outcomes that
27:25
also have abortion bans and claim, well, that's because of
27:28
the abortion ban. But you look at some of these
27:31
States and you evaluate even before their abortion ban went
27:34
into place, how their maternal health outcomes were, and you
27:37
discover that they had poor maternal health outcomes even
27:42
before the abortion ban. For example, states like
27:45
Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, and Arkansas have historically
27:49
struggled with maternal health due to issues like healthcare
27:53
access, high poverty rates, rural healthcare shortages, and
27:58
less investment in maternal and preventive care services.
28:02
So to say that a ban on killing babies is responsible for more
28:08
mothers dying is a complete fabrication and no evidence
28:12
bears it out. And in fact, the evidence bears
28:14
out that if there are issues and an increasing an increased
28:18
maternal mortality rate in recent years, it's the COVID-19
28:23
pandemic that is to blame. So very important point of
28:25
debunking here. I know you guys are constantly
28:28
looking at the craziness in in news media and all of the lies
28:31
that are swirling about abortion, but I'd had to take a
28:33
moment to debunk that coming from again, the Houston Kamala
28:37
Harris rally. But all that to say, look at the
28:39
dramatic difference at these competing visions of motherhood.
28:43
Eva Mendes talking about how she loves her kids.
28:45
The most creative work she's ever done was to be bring life
28:47
into the world. She is prioritizing her family
28:50
and her kids versus this rally where Beyoncé, Jessica Albert
28:54
coming up, getting up there and saying that the most important
28:58
thing that they're fighting for and the reason they're
29:00
advocating for Kamala Harris to be the president is because of
29:03
reproductive freedom, AKA the right to kill a baby.
29:07
Which way will we go, Western woman?
29:09
Which way will we go? Let's go the way that embraces
29:12
our femininity, our womanhood, and our potential to be mothers
29:17
by embracing the lives of children and not seeing those
29:21
children's lives as a threat and a burden.
29:24
All right, before I close out here, I want to do another
29:27
positive story that I saw. This caught my eye recently.
29:31
This is a post that is made by a woman named Catherine Ruth
29:35
Pakaluk. We're actually going to have
29:37
Catherine on the podcast soon. You're going to enjoy that.
29:40
Catherine is an author and a professor as well as a mother
29:44
and she has many children. I believe she has nine children,
29:47
if I have that number correctly here.
29:48
She, she is incredible person who is not only highly educated
29:52
and doing incredible creative work, but she's prioritizing her
29:55
most important creative work, which is raising these beautiful
29:58
kids. And she had something really
30:00
lovely to say on Twitter recently or on X that I wanted
30:05
to share with you. But before that, I want to do a
30:07
big thank you to our sponsor, which is We Heart Nutrition.
30:12
We Heart Nutrition provides wholesome supplements and
30:15
vitamins and they have wholesome values.
30:17
Not only does We Heart Nutrition use the highest quality research
30:21
backed ingredients that are always in the most bioavailable
30:24
form, We Heart Nutrition is also unapologetically pro-life.
30:27
In fact, 10% of every sale of their vitamins is given back to
30:31
pregnancy care centers. You may not know this, but many
30:34
of the major multivitamin companies are owned by
30:36
corporations that donate directly to Planned Parenthood.
30:40
With We Heart Nutrition, it's the opposite.
30:42
It's not only of best in class vitamin, but they're donating
30:44
10% of their proceeds back to pro-life resource centers.
30:49
We Heart Nutrition sells vitamins for women at every age
30:51
and stage of life, including options for preconception,
30:54
pregnancy, postpartum and post menopause.
30:57
So go to weheartnutrition.com today.
30:59
Use the code Lila for 20% at checkout.
31:02
Now when you place an order of $50 or more at We Heart
31:05
nutrition.com, you will receive a free signature bamboo capsule
31:09
box. These boxes are adorable and
31:11
make taking your vitamins are traveling with them easy.
31:14
Check out We Heart nutrition.com and use the code Lila at
31:17
checkout for 20% off. That's We Heart nutrition.com.
31:22
All right guys, thank you so much for supporting we Heart
31:24
Nutrition and Every life. These are awesome pro-life
31:26
companies that are providing amazing products.
31:29
So I know that it's a huge blessing for the company when
31:32
they get supported by groups that share their values and
31:35
individuals that share their values.
31:36
And I hope you're loving their products.
31:38
So let me know what you think. By the way, we Heart nutritions
31:40
vitamins as well as Every Life's diapers.
31:43
OK, So Catherine Ruth Pacaluck, she recently wrote a book called
31:48
Hannah's Children about the incredible beauty and the
31:52
sacrifice involved in saying yes to life as a mother, not just
31:56
yes to one or two lives, but yes to many lives.
32:00
I need to hear share here briefly before I read what she
32:02
wrote, which is very beautiful. You guys may know this.
32:05
I'm one of eight kids, husband's one of eight kids.
32:07
We come from this incredible background that I'm extremely
32:10
grateful for of mothers and fathers who were so open to
32:13
life. And I will say as an adult child
32:16
now of my parents, I am even more grateful than I was as a
32:19
kid that I have so many siblings because there's nothing more
32:23
precious in the world than bonds of love with family members,
32:28
chosen and otherwise. And to be given the gift of
32:31
siblings is an incredible blessing.
32:33
And my best friends to this day are my money of my best friends
32:38
are my brothers and my sisters. And getting together family
32:41
reunions, having all the now cousins together, the nieces and
32:44
nephews, the grandchildren, it is such an incredible blessing
32:47
to see just the love multiplying because of all of that.
32:51
Yes to life. And I know of course not
32:53
everyone is blessed with many children.
32:55
There's miscarriages and fertility and those are
32:57
struggles. And some people aren't called to
32:59
get married and that's beautiful too because they're called to a
33:01
spiritual motherhood or fatherhood of other people.
33:04
Some people are still single hoping to when they get married
33:07
or they're wrestling with their vocation.
33:09
Your life is absolutely beautiful, worth living, and you
33:12
have an incredible gift to give by loving other people and
33:15
anybody can be a spiritual parent.
33:18
But I want to say that our culture, we should be
33:22
celebrating and valuing more those that are saying yes to
33:25
life in such a generous way and willing to have big families.
33:30
We need to normalize big families.
33:32
I can't tell you the number of times that I'm out with my kids.
33:34
I only have three kids, as you guys know and people ask me, are
33:37
you done yet? It's almost almost every single
33:40
time I'm out with my kids. We got a compliment or two.
33:42
People are very kind and loving, but I'm often asked, are you
33:45
going to have more? Oh, you got your girl.
33:47
Our youngest is a girl, We have two older boys.
33:49
Or are you guys done? And I always, you know, people
33:52
are always surprised because I often say, oh, we'd love to have
33:55
more. It would be such a blessing to
33:56
have more. Oh, no, I we hope to have as
33:58
many as we can have. And the surprise on people's
34:01
faces that's registered when I make a comment like that,
34:04
because it's just the baked in mentality today that one and
34:09
done, 2 and done, three maybe and then definitely done.
34:12
And so Catherine Pakolak has written this book, which is the
34:16
stories of women who've had many children, and not in an easy
34:20
way. I'm not trying to glamorize it
34:21
or make it sound easy. Having a lot of children
34:25
requires a lot of sacrifice, and it stretches you even three
34:28
children like I have. I've learned so much about
34:30
patients, and I'm still learning about patients on a daily basis.
34:34
I'm far from perfect and I'm struggling each day to be a
34:36
better mom, but we make mistakes.
34:39
There is no greater responsibility that I've been
34:42
given then the responsibility of getting to raise these children
34:45
and helping form them into the men and women God created them
34:48
to be. And so Catherine Pakolak has
34:51
this book out and we're going to talk cover in this podcast, but
34:54
she recently said this on X and I wanted to read this because I
34:57
was really moved by it. She says, I don't know who needs
35:01
to hear this, but most of you are going to decide you're done
35:04
having kids when they're still little, when their needs are
35:07
endless and you can't remember why you wanted kids in the 1st
35:10
place. Trouble is, it's years too soon.
35:14
And I just want to pause here for a SEC.
35:16
I know so many people this is the case.
35:18
They're like, I'm done having kids.
35:19
And then, you know, many of them, especially if they're not
35:23
practicing Catholics, maybe they'll encourage their husband
35:25
to get a vasectomy or maybe they will, you know, do some sort of
35:29
birth control and just say, I'm done having kids.
35:31
They'll get their tubes tied, whatever it is.
35:32
And they say, well, I had 1-2 or three or maybe even 4, I'm done.
35:36
And Catherine Pacolet goes on to say it's too soon to make that
35:40
decision, especially when you're in the, you know, sleepless
35:42
nights of when they're very young, she says.
35:46
She goes on to say, because it'll be years before you lock
35:49
eyes with her in a Czech diner in Warsaw on an impromptu trip
35:53
when you know exactly what dessert she wants for her
35:55
birthday. And you realize you'd go to the
35:57
end of the world and back again for her and think the toil was
36:00
still all pleasure because she is the best, most wonderful
36:03
being you know. And you still feel like the day
36:06
she was born that you can't believe you got to keep her.
36:08
That's when you know that you could have had a couple more
36:10
kids because you feel that way about her siblings too.
36:14
And what a great thing to feel that way about anyone.
36:16
And what a miracle that she feels that way about you too.
36:20
So all you with little kids dream today about that future
36:22
flight you're going to book to Europe, to meet your daughter on
36:24
her study abroad, to buy her a mocha milkshake sundae in a
36:27
shabby diner on a rainy day in a town.
36:29
You don't know when your heart will be bursting with gratitude
36:32
and joy that she's yours. It'll all be clear then, and
36:34
you'll weep with happiness that you stepped out in faith when it
36:37
seemed you couldn't pull through.
36:39
And then she quotes Jeremiah 2911.
36:41
For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to
36:44
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
36:47
future. Now she's talking about her yes
36:51
to this daughter's life. And now she's enjoying her
36:54
daughter as a teenager. I mean, I think about my own
36:57
family and my mom. I'm, I'm one of eight.
37:01
Like I said, I'm the third oldest, the girl in the middle
37:04
of five boys. And if my mom had stopped at
37:07
four or five, I wouldn't have my sisters.
37:10
I wouldn't have my 2 youngest sisters.
37:13
Who are the two youngest kids in the lineup of the eight children
37:16
who are two of my best friends and who I love with my entire
37:19
heart. And they bring me so much joy.
37:21
And I still, I, I, I find it so beautiful.
37:24
My mother even says to this day, oh, I wish I'd have had even
37:27
more. I wish I'd had even more.
37:29
She had eight kids. And she said, I wish I'd had
37:32
even more because now she sees even more than she did before.
37:36
And I know she saw it before, too.
37:38
The incredible richness of a life populated with the people
37:42
that you love. And what is life about?
37:45
Life is about God and people. It's about loving God and people
37:49
and serving God and people. And saying yes to more people is
37:53
never a mistake. Saying yes to more people is
37:55
never a mistake. So thank you, Catherine Pakolak
37:58
for your witness and I'm excited to have you on the show in the
38:00
future. I think you guys are going to
38:02
love hearing her perspective and the perspective of the many
38:06
women, some of them who had health issues, economic issues,
38:11
even, you know, problems with some of their younger children
38:15
having their own health issues or disabilities.
38:17
And they still were saying yes to life and being open to life.
38:20
And again, this is not to say they they didn't have any
38:22
spacing involved with their children or they were seasons
38:24
maybe when they decided to wait before conceiving again and they
38:29
would practice natural family planning because of some
38:31
significant health event or some significant economic issue.
38:34
But ultimately they erred on the side of generosity in Co
38:38
creating with God like Eva Mende was talking about that creation
38:41
of a new life being the most creative work.
38:43
And because of it, their lives are that much more full of
38:46
richness and beauty because they said yes to life.
38:49
All right, I'm going to take a quick look at the chat here.
38:51
The chats going on fun. Thank you everybody again for
38:55
tuning in here. Sips with Sarah.
38:58
Thank you for joining our friends.
38:59
Sips with Sarah. He says, imagine a diaper
39:01
company and supporting the the murder of your future customers.
39:04
Yeah, great point here. I want to know what you guys
39:07
think of Loose Lucy, the new anime character from the
39:11
Vatican. It actually created a lot of
39:12
controversy online. Again, I think that she's cute
39:15
and harmless and even fun. I don't understand why people
39:18
are so upset, but you know, it is what it is.
39:22
That's the social media world. Jeffrey says thank you Lila for
39:25
courageously standing up for life, objective truth and strong
39:27
morals and values. God bless you and your team.
39:29
Thank you so much, Jeffrey. I really appreciate that and I,
39:32
I big kudos to my team too, that right now is making this life
39:35
possible and all the people who are working at live action as
39:37
well, who are doing that work day in and day out.
39:40
All right guys, thank you so much for joining this episode of
39:43
the Lila Rose podcast. I want to encourage you to
39:46
wherever you are in your life, whatever kind of location you
39:49
are living right now to and put love first, put loving God and
39:54
loving other people 1st and to celebrate the gift it is to be
39:58
able to love and to be able to. If you are a woman and you have
40:02
kids, those children that God is entrusted with you, or maybe you
40:05
don't have children, but your ability to maybe spiritually
40:08
mother another person or to be able to be there and nurturing
40:12
and loving and serving another person.
40:14
This is what life is all about. Thank you so much for listening
40:17
to the Lila Rose Podcast and we will see you guys next time.