Once a month or so, the Secular Pro-Life blog features a short interview with a pro-life atheist or agnostic. (See the full series of interviews here.) Although Secular Pro-Life is not exclusively for atheists and agnostics, historically they have played a key role in the organization, and we’re excited for the opportunity to share their stories. This month, we welcome agnostic Anna Sturges. How did you arrive at the anti-abortion position? I came to the anti-abortion position only a couple of years ago. I was raised in a very pro-choice family in a suburban area in Virginia. When I ..read more

Last week I went to Salt Lake City to speak at the Heartbeat International conference. Heartbeat International is an association of thousands of pregnancy resource centers (PRCs) and hosts an annual conference offering affiliates detailed training on running successful PRCs. The conference is massive. This year they boasted approximately 1,300 attendees in person, plus countless more joining virtually from all around the world. Building Bridges presentation I attended to co-lead a workshop on how PRC staff can get a “seat at the table” in local meetings with other public health services and h ..read more

Today’s guest author is Sarah Terzo. You can read more of her articles here. Pro-lifers are often accused of opposing abortion solely for religious reasons. If you follow Secular Pro-Life on Twitter long enough, you will see tweets from pro-choicers claiming SPL is really a Christian group. Some pro-abortion people say that atheists like me who oppose abortion are closet Christians who have no reason for our views except for our (alleged) faith. Pro-abortion people have also used this argument to discredit religious pro-lifers. Even when a religious pro-lifer relies solely on secular argu ..read more

[Today’s guest post is published anonymously.] January 27, 1973. The Paris Accords formally bring an end to direct US involvement in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam war and the draft that it involved had been a major controversy for more than a decade. American society as a whole had formed a variety of opinions on the morality and practicality of the Vietnam War, but the generation of young men who were faced with the draft had to do more than form an opinion on a political issue- they had to decide how they personally felt about the prospect of participating in legally and socially authorized v ..read more

Last year our first trivia night was a smashing success. We filled all the seats, sold all the silent auction items, drank (not all, but enough) of the wine and beer, and laughed our heads off. Let’s do it again! Join us for our only annual fundraising event! Support our amazing organization and have a wonderful time doing so. Do you live anywhere near St. Louis, MO? Yes? JOIN US! I will be so delighted to see each of you. Even better, bring a friend. Even better fill a whole table (seats 8)! You can register here. No? Even from afar, there are a bunch of ways you can help us make this night ..read more

In a recent NPR article touting the promise of artificial womb technology to help premature infants, I came upon a telling quote: “I am absolutely pro the technology because I think it has great potential to save babies,” says Vardit Ravitsky, president and CEO of The Hastings Center, a bioethics think tank. But there are particular issues raised by the current political and legal environment. “My concern is that pregnant people will be forced to allow fetuses to be taken out of their bodies and put into an artificial womb rather than being allowed to terminate their pregnancies — basically ..read more

With Roe in the rearview mirror, the change in abortion related legal battles reflects the differences in laws across the United States. This patchwork of laws is particularly relevant in first trimester abortions, which are more likely to occur at home through drugs that can be obtained via mail. Federal and state laws contradict one another regarding the legality of sending and receiving abortion inducing drugs. Contradictory Federal Laws Drug-induced abortions generally occur using two pills, mifepristone and misoprostol. Existing federal law regarding access to these drugs is covered by tw ..read more

On March 25, 2022, PAAU activists Terrisa Bukovinac and Lauren Handy recovered the remains of 115 children who were killed by D.C. abortionist Cesare Santangelo. (Bukovinac is an atheist with deep connections to Secular Pro-Life.) Most of the victims were killed legally and received a prompt burial. But the five oldest victims — Harriet, Christopher X, Phoenix, Ángel, and Holly — wound up in the custody of the D.C. medical examiner: Harriet has a gruesome injury on the back of her neck that is consistent with the illegal partial-birth abortion procedure, and some of the others may h ..read more

Quite a headline, I know. We try not to be the clickbaity sort here at Secular Pro-Life. But an Indiana court has, in fact, opened the door to religiously motivated legal homicides. A little background: We are talking about a RFRA challenge to Indiana’s abortion law. RFRA (short for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act) is a law adopted by the federal government and numerous states, including Indiana. It governs when people can obtain religious exceptions to generally applicable laws. For example, a prison may have a generally applicable policy requiring inmates to be clean-shaven, but a Musl ..read more

This article originally appeared on Sarah Terzo’s Substack. You can read more of her articles here. Pro-abortion activists often say that when someone is pregnant with a baby expected to die, abortion is the compassionate answer. This isn’t the case for the baby. And studies show it’s also not the case for the parents. Is Perinatal Hospice Cruel? When discussing a pro-life initiative to inform pregnant people about perinatal hospice, pro-abortion activist Jessica Valenti wrote: The activists that decimated abortion rights have quietly rolled out a new initiative to pressure and force America ..read more