Kristan Hawkins: Hormonal Birth Control Is Lying to Women (Here’s How) | DSH #1791

Summary

Digital Social Hour Episode Summary

Episode: Kristan Hawkins: Hormonal Birth Control Is Lying to Women (Here’s How) | DSH #1791
Date: January 28, 2026
Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life of America

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Sean Kelly sits down with Kristan Hawkins at AmFest to explore her unfiltered views on hormonal birth control, declining birth rates, abortion, and the intersection of feminism and reproductive health. Kristan critiques mainstream narratives around women’s health, discusses demographic and societal shifts, and describes her 20-year activism journey leading Students for Life of America. The conversation is candid, provocative, and frequently challenges conventional thinking about reproductive politics, women’s empowerment, and the cultural influence of organizations like Planned Parenthood.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Hormonal Birth Control: Health Risks and Cultural Lies

• [00:00 | 28:12]
  • Hawkins opens by labeling hormonal birth control as “messed up”—“fake male hormones” prescribed instead of actually treating women’s health issues (e.g., PCOS, fibroids, painful periods).
  • Quote:

    "Hormonal birth control fakes your body out into thinking you’re pregnant all the time. That is no good." (Hawkins, 00:00 & 28:39)

  • She asserts that doctors default to birth control rather than addressing root causes.
  • Claims long-term use affects fertility:

    "And then you wonder why, like, women are like, I can't get pregnant… because you've been on birth control for 25 years." (Hawkins, 28:40)

  • Cites a Baylor University professor’s study and popular media: Women report changes in sex drive, sexual preferences, and even tastes in men, music, and food.
  • Condemns medical advice as misogynistic:

    “We’ve been telling women for 50 years, you have to change your sexual desire, your preferences… to be like a normative male body, because there’s something wrong with your body.” (Hawkins, 30:02)

  • Calls the acceptance of birth control by feminists “fundamentally anti-feminist.”

2. The Demographic Crisis and Fertility Decline

• [01:00 | 01:04]
  • Kristan notes the U.S. is below the replacement birth rate (currently 1.6–1.7 children per woman since COVID, down from the necessary 2.1).

    “We are… at European levels.” (Hawkins, 01:24)

  • Discusses international parallels (Japan, South Korea), and attributes cultural and policy anxieties (e.g., IVF, immigration debates) to low fertility.
  • Observes cultural trends like “DINKs” (dual income, no kids), affecting both society and public discourse.

3. Abortion, Planned Parenthood, and Political Influence

• [07:54 | 11:11 | 14:15]
  • Hawkins asserts her life mission:

    “My mission in life is to see abortion made unthinkable and unavailable… illegal, but also unthinkable.” (Hawkins, 07:57)

  • Critiques Planned Parenthood for perpetuating a “cycle of corruption,” blending nonprofit healthcare, political action, and lobbying.
  • Claims Planned Parenthood is a driving financial and ideological force in Democratic politics:

    “Planned Parenthood is one of their biggest funders… so even if you’re not completely down with all abortions, you can’t say it.” (Hawkins, 13:19)

  • Cites high abortion numbers (over 400,000 annually), clinic closures, and an aggressive role in shaping sex education and media culture.
  • Compares partial abortion statistics to eating contaminated food:

    “If someone gave you like a brownie and was like, hey, this is a really good brownie, but 3% of the brownie has human feces in it. Would you eat the brownie? …There’s shit in your brownie.” (Hawkins, 15:08)

4. The Pro-Life Movement’s Tactics and Evidence

• [06:10 | 22:18]
  • Describes her mobilization strategy: focus on grassroots and culture change among youth, rather than just policy change in Washington.

    “You always need an army… the side that has the largest, most well trained army, is the side that always wins.” (Hawkins, 06:52)

  • Details Students for Life’s national scope (1,600+ chapters, 100+ staff, $24M budget).
  • Reports an in-person “mind change” rate of 18% in campus debates, up to 51% in online engagement.

    “We have about 18% mind change rate… online, though, it’s 25 to 51%.” (Hawkins, 24:26)

5. Sex Education, Abstinence, and the Risk of Birth Control

• [25:28 | 28:07]
  • Hawkins criticizes Planned Parenthood’s role as sex educators in public schools, likening it to Philip Morris teaching teens not to smoke.
  • Advocates for “sexual risk avoidance” (abstinence), but not for omitting sex ed entirely.

    “There is only one thing you can do that 100% guarantee you won’t find yourself in an unplanned pregnancy. And that is abstinence.” (Hawkins, 26:59)

6. Feminism, Women’s Happiness, and Cultural Shifts

• [30:54 | 32:21]
  • Critiques second-wave feminism for embracing birth control and abortion, connecting it to contemporary unhappiness among women:

    “Now you have a generation of unhappy women. Women are at their most unhappy levels that’s ever been recorded.” (Hawkins, 32:21)

  • Argues that marriage and children increase happiness and fulfillment:

    “There is nothing more rewarding than having children. No career moment I could have will ever be more rewarding.” (Hawkins, 32:50)

  • Takes on radical anti-feminist and ultra-right arguments, including advocacy for repealing women’s right to vote, calling such activism “retarded” and damaging to conservative causes.

    “Maybe the smarter, more strategic, cheaper, faster option… is… have Republicans talk to women in a way that makes sense and makes them want to vote for them.” (Hawkins, 35:34)

7. Confrontation, Higher Education, and Free Speech

• [22:11 | 41:09]
  • Shares experiences debating at Ivy League and state campuses—sometimes met with genuine dialogue, sometimes with shouting and protest.
  • Discusses obstacles at private and Christian universities, which sometimes bar her organization or collaborate with Planned Parenthood:

    “Private Christian schools are… kind of the hardest schools we have to deal with.” (Hawkins, 41:04)
    “One in seven Christian universities have an open public relationship with Planned Parenthood.” (Hawkins, 41:59)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On birth control and women’s bodies:

  "Hormonal birth control is messed up. It is like, fake male hormones that women are told for decades to ingest." (Hawkins, 00:00 & 28:39)

• On the demographic crisis:

  “We are… at European levels… at one point, [Japan will have] the last Japanese person who isn’t of a mixed race born… It’s crazy.” (Hawkins, 01:24)

• On Planned Parenthood’s political power:

  “They profit off your despair and then they take that profit and are one of the biggest lobbyists in Democratic politics today.” (Hawkins, 09:03)

• On abortion statistics:

  “They bragged last year… they were at an all time high of their abortions, over 400,000 a year.” (Hawkins, 16:05)

• On the emotional aftermath of abortion:

  “If you’ve had an abortion… and you never asked for forgiveness… you live with this guilt because it’s written on your human heart.” (Hawkins, 38:26)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 00:00–01:20: Opening remarks on birth control and children
• 01:20–03:50: Fertility decline, demographics, immigration
• 06:10–07:54: The formation of Students for Life, activism tactics
• 07:54–09:07: Abortion as a political and ethical issue
• 14:15–17:00: Planned Parenthood’s scale, clinic closures, abortion costs
• 17:10–21:17: Science of conception and development, pro-life philosophy
• 22:07–24:26: Campus debates, engagement, mind change statistics
• 25:28–28:12: Sex education, Planned Parenthood’s influence, abstinence advocacy
• 28:12–31:00: In-depth criticism of hormonal birth control
• 30:54–32:50: Feminism, social change, the decline of female happiness
• 34:59–36:30: Critique of radical anti-feminist right and women’s suffrage debates
• 41:04–42:31: Christian universities and Planned Parenthood, challenges

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Conclusion

Kristan Hawkins delivers a controversial, unapologetic critique of hormonal birth control, the abortion industry, and the trajectory of feminism. She urges for a return to pro-life and traditional family values rooted in her activism and research, while also calling out what she sees as the failures—and dangers—of both mainstream and fringe ideologies shaping women’s health and political discourse. Through statistics, personal stories, and pointed analogies, Hawkins makes her case for why women, politics, and culture must re-examine widely accepted narratives on reproductive health.

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Learn More & Support

• Website: studentsforlife.org
• Social: Kristin Mercer Hawkins on X/Twitter; Students for Life on Instagram

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Note: This summary focuses on content and discussion, omitting ads, intros, and outros as requested.

Transcript

[A]

Birth control. And I want to be very clear about hormonal birth control. Hormonal birth control is messed up. It is like, fake male hormones that women are told for decades to ingest. Instead of, like, fixing pcos, painful periods, other things that, you know, fibroids that women have, doctors just prescribe birth. Like, I'll take this. We're not going to fix the brew. The problem. Just take this. Birth control fakes your body out into thinking you're pregnant all the time. That is no good. And then you wonder why, like, women are like, I can't get pregnant foreign.

[B]

Okay, guys, Kristen Hawkins here at amfest finally made this happen.

[A]

Thanks for being so persistent.

[B]

Yeah. Well, you're on a tour every two days, so.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

You're on a campus.

[A]

I'm a mom.

[B]

Yeah. How many kids now?

[A]

Four children.

[B]

Four children. Wow. Good for you.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

That's impressive.

[A]

It's a blessing.

[B]

That's a rarity these days.

[A]

It is. We were at Disneyland, you know. You know, the thing that was developed for parents and kids. I think we were the only family of four there last week.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

I was like, is there any other families of four? But, yeah, it's. It's not something you see every day.

[B]

Yeah, women are. A lot of women aren't having any kids now.

[A]

Yeah. We're actually below replacement value since COVID So replacement rates for women is 2.1 children per every woman. So for some woman out there, you're welcome. I fulfilled. But, yeah, we are since COVID now. Like, 1.6, 1.7 replacement rate.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Which we're at European levels. It's. I mean, you look at the demographers, like they're talking about South Korea. Japan may have already fallen off the demographic cliff. And at one point, they'll be the last, like, Japanese person who isn't of a mixed race board. Like, there won't be any, like, purebred. It's crazy. So you. Yeah. And that's why you've seen some of the, like, the IVF stuff from the Trump administration, which I disagree with. But that's why you started seeing some of this pushing from the Trump administration of we need to make more babies.

[B]

Right. That makes sense. So our grandparents. I'd imagine it was like, three.

[A]

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. It's. And it's been tracked. And there's all kinds of charts you'll see on Instagram of how it just started to go down and down and down. Now you have these proud dinks. I thought it was like a gay Term. But it's not dual income, no kids. I learned it. But now you have proud dinks out there. And you know, they were my worst enemies at Disneyland. Get in front of my kids on the lines. Like, step aside if you're over 30. Let the kids fit in front of the line. But I have strong feelings about that.

[B]

So US is 1.6. I'd imagine Muslim countries are way higher.

[A]

Yeah, it depends. But yes, absolutely.

[B]

They're reproducing pretty fast.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, and I mean, when you think about the immigration debates and people are like, oh, all these Muslims are taking over. I'm like, well, they're having kids.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So you're mad that they're having kids. And maybe, you know, Britons should have more kids. I don't know.

[B]

Also, they kind of have an advantage when you could have four wives.

[A]

Yes, well, that's also true too.

[B]

Yeah, that might help a little bit, but man, 1.6. So we got to get that up to 2.1. Just. Is that to maintain population?

[A]

That is to maintain.

[B]

Not even grow.

[A]

That's not even to grow. So it's funny when sometimes you'll have conservatives that talk about like, you know, anti immigration completely. Like, stop all immigration.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That isn't actually possible. Like, then you talk to a business owner or someone who runs a hotel or restaurants are like, what are you talking about? We actually need employees to work. Right. You can't even have that conversation until you get up to replacement rate.

[B]

That's crazy. So we have to supplement that with immigration then.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, think about like Social Security. I think it, when it was established, it was like five people paying for one and then it's like 10 paying for one. So when you're, when you're worried about like Social Security and going, oh, are we going to get Social Security? You're not. Because we're not getting enough people paying into Social Security.

[B]

Right. So you won't get it. No, I don't think I will. At least I'm 28.

[A]

I've told everybody. All my staff, mostly they're in their early twenties. Start saving now because if you get it, great, a bonus. But you cannot.

[B]

I'm not counting on it. Like our parents, it was a given, I feel like. But miss me with that these days.

[A]

I mean, that's why you saw the elders at the no Kings protest. All my no Kings protest that I saw, it was all 60 year olds. Because they are ready to get their retirement and they feel like this is. They're deserving of this and so they don't want any policy changes for Social Security.

[B]

Yeah, I drove past a couple of those when I was in Jersey getting married and it was. It was an older crowd for sure.

[A]

Crazy. Like there is all old people.

[B]

Yeah, it was older crowd. So you were filming content there?

[A]

No, I was just shopping in downtown my little town.

[B]

I'd be a good spot for you to set up your town.

[A]

I know, I know. I moved to a small rural town in Idaho. So everyone still doesn't know I'm there. Yeah.

[B]

Oh, I probably good now.

[A]

I mean I did go to the coffee shop and I was ripping down all their flyers, so my. My friend was I think mortified.

[B]

I'll get people talking quick.

[A]

Ye, yeah, yeah. But I. I want move to like the one liberal town in Idaho. Of course.

[B]

Why pick up.

[A]

It's just beautiful. Liberals pick the best places to live because they're dinks. They can afford to live in the beautiful places too.

[B]

LA is beautiful. Even though it sucks right now, you know?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Iowa though.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

What?

[A]

Idaho.

[B]

Oh, Idaho.

[A]

Yeah, it's much better.

[B]

Okay. I've never been there.

[A]

I know. Most people haven't. It's one of the best things about it.

[B]

Interesting. What's the camp? You got the campus tour planned out for next year?

[A]

I'm just starting to. To plan that out. I was talking with Erica backstage last night after my speech about doing some turning point stops. We at Students for life we have 1600 chapters. So I've got 1600 groups asking and then I now I try to follow as many of our turn the turning point chapters and Club America clubs as we can and offer support to them. So I've got a lot of turning point groups requesting me as well. So trying to balance it all is fun.

[B]

Yeah. Running this impressive business. I don't think people see that side of you ever.

[A]

No, that's true. It's so frustrating. The influencer culture, right? Everyone's like, oh you gotta do a podcast. You got these interviews. Like. Yeah, but I'm also on like the phone for like 12 freaking hours a day running the actual $24 million organization. Like I have like to run a business too. I have 100 plus employees and I an influencer, like in my spare time. It's like my fourth job.

[B]

It's a side job.

[A]

Yeah. It's a side hustle.

[B]

Yeah. 20 years you've been doing this.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Was it?

[A]

I really shock you when you look at my face. Like how?

[B]

No, that's impressive. I could see why you're good at debating, though. You got a lot of experience.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely.

[B]

Was it successful at first? Like, walk me through that journey.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, when I started Students for Life, I had just gotten married. I had just turned 21. I graduated college and high school early, so I graduated at 19. So I got a little head start from everybody. But it was interesting that I got to meet like, a lot of my heroes, many of them who have since passed. Phyllis Shafley, for example. And it was interesting that I got a lot of job offers after I started Students for Life. People going, that's so cute. You want to try to mobilize college. If you need a job, come see us in a few months. Like, everyone thought we were going to completely fail because it had been tried before. But the difference in what we were able to do was that I had worked on political campaigns. And so I took a very much of a different approach of a political campaign approach on these campuses. We weren't going to wait for students to come to us. We went out there with like old fashioned foldable tables with clipboards. Then when iPads came out, we thought that was so cool. We were so revolutionary. We had iPads, but we were going to go out and sign up students and say, hey, are you pro or anti abortion? Which one are you? If you're anti abortion, great. We want to train you in how to be a leader. Because anybody who studies any social movement history, civil rights, tobacco sensation, gay marriage, clean water, Clean air Act, you always need an army. You need the side that has the largest, most well trained army, is the side that always wins. And that was something that I noticed in the pro life movement where everyone was like, focusing on Washington D.C. and like these 100 guys in Congress. And that's all we focus on but changing laws, it's important, but you also have to change culture. And culture starts with young people because that's where it all starts. That's where it all shifts.

[B]

That's so true. So abortion was always the big issue for you?

[A]

Absolutely. My mission in life is to see abortion and made unthinkable and unavailable.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So illegal, but also unthinkable. No woman ever again feels. I want no woman to ever again think she has to pay someone to end the life of her child in order to be successful, in order to complete her career goals or reach her, you know, reach her career goals or complete her education. I think it's bullshit that Planned Parenthood and the abortion lobby have lied to women for 50 years that telling them that Abortion is empowerment, when in fact it's literally the opposite. They pray off of your desperation. They're the ones who tell her no, you can't. We are the ones in the pro life movement with nearly 3,000 free pregnancy centers. We're the ones going door to door educating her about Title 9, about the 19,000 fairly qualified health centers that already get federal taxpayer dollars to offer more resources and services than Planned Parenthood, more cost effective resources and better ethical resources. We don't need Planned Parenthood. They profit off of your despair and then they take that profit and are one of the biggest lobbyists in Democratic politics today.

[B]

Wow. How does that work?

[A]

It's a cycle of corruption. They have, you know, just like how Students for Life has a 501c3 nonprofit Students for Life of America, right? All donations, tax deductible. We don't make a profit. We have a C4, a 501C4 nonprofit political action committee where we're mobilizing students at state capitols to pass laws to hold. Mostly Republicans count. I spend most of my time campaigning against Republicans, even though I'm a Republican. This is what Planned Parenthood does. They have a C3, which is their less than probably 500 clinics now. They've had more than 50 closures this year. Then they have a C4, then they have PACS where they're actually getting donations and directly donating money. 527s to candidates. And you started to see a shift because when the movement started out, the problem like the first marches, there's this.

[C]

New technology floating around that people cannot stop talking about. It's called the light system. Before you roll your eyes. It's not some gadget you strap on or supplement that promises the world. Every once in a while I come across something that actually stops me in my tracks. And the light system is one of those things. This isn't a supplement. It's not a biohack. It's a flat, a full on energy environment built to help your mind and body synchronize, recharge and operate at a higher level. It uses light patterns, color frequencies and coherent energy fields. All the stuff that your body naturally responds to to create a coherent energetic field around you. People are saying they feel more clear, more centered, more aligned in their environment. And honestly, the science behind it is fascinating as I've seen a lot of wellness tech. But the numbers coming out on this new study of the light system are actually insane.

[B]

Insane.

[C]

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[A]

Happens every year in January, it's the world's largest annual social mobilization. No other cause gets more people out every year than the pro life movement. You had Democrats who showed up at the March for Life. Jesse Jackson spoke at one of the first March for Life. Al Gore in the 80s was saying he was proudly pro life. And then in the late 80s you started seeing a shift because Planned Parenthood, which was receiving federal taxpayer dollars, they started applying for all these grants. They now receive about $800 million a year from US federal, just federally, not even on the state, taxpayers or taxpayer money right now. They were defunded for 80% for one year in the BBB that President Trump signed a law on July 4th. But because of an activist judge who has relationships of Planned Parenthood in Boston, that money continues to flow. And we actually have a FOIA request, HHS to see how much money was actually stopped this year. It like literally is defunded back on defund. It's like every week it changes. So who knows what it is today at this moment. But they started playing in politics as soon as they started playing in politics. You saw the entire Democratic Party shift. Like when I started Students for Life, there were actual congressmen who were pro life, who were Democrats in the US Congress. I had a good friend, Dan Lipinski from Chicago Union backed pretty liberal on most things, 100% pro life. The Democrats took him out. We were door knocking for him against now in Chicago in his primary, Nancy Pelosi stripped him from all of his committee assignments, from any chairmanship. The Democrats got very strategic, making abortion a core central tenet of their party. It's one of their downfalls now, especially their extremism on this issue, their loyalty to it. It's because of the money, because Planned Parenthood is one of their biggest funders of Democratic politics. And so even if you're not like completely down with all abortions, you can't say it. I mean, the US Senate couldn't pass the Born Alive Infant Survivor Protection act last January. And all that did was say if babies were born alive accidentally during an abortion, an abortionist and his staff would have to give care to that baby, call 911 and administer oxygen to this chilled child. They voted against it. Democrats killed that bill. Filibuster against that bill. Like, we're not even talking about the right to kill a baby in the womb. We're talking about a baby who's born alive outside of the womb, gasping for air. They voted against it. That's how brand loyal they have shifted the Democratic Party to their own demise. And so, I mean, you now have some consultants going, maybe we should back it up and like, not do this. Yeah, it's. I do admire, though, though, because when we have majorities and Republicans in Congress, we often have, you know, betrayers like Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania. They're like Planned Parenthood's favorite Republicans. Right. And so we'll get a good vote here and there for speaker or something, but then they'll betray us on a budget vote because they're loyal to the abortion lobby themselves.

[B]

That's crazy. Well, you said 50 closed this year.

[A]

Plant Planned Parenthood, it's over 50 once it's. One study I saw it said that they were saying it's close to 70.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

The Pro life researcher that I trust is saying it's about 54. So they started closing clinics down January 1st as soon as the year started, even before President Trump was sworn in. Because here's the deal, and we've known this. They've got about 80 affiliates. So Planned Parenthood used to have about 600 clinics, but they organized as affiliates, like regional. And we've known for years a lot of the feeder clinics to the abortion facilities, they operate in the red. The abortion facilities operate in the black. They're the ones that make the cash. So they started shutting down at the beginning of the year. A lot of the ones that have been operating in the red. We saw the one that the big abortion facility, which was the largest abortion facility in the Western hemisphere, and Houston actually shut down because of Texas's pro life laws. So we're making progress. I would say they probably have around 500, maybe fewer than 500 facilities in country. But it's, it's something I see on campuses all the time where people have like this loyalty to Planned Parenthood. Like, well, I don't like Planned Parenthood, but, like, they do some good. Okay, let's take that. Could you argue that the Nazis did some good things, Maybe built some good roads going in and out of Berlin, probably for their tanks, but they're still evil. If someone gave you like a brownie and was like, hey, this is a really good brownie, but 3% of the brownie has human feces in it. Would you eat the brownie? No. Because there's shit in your brownie. And people are like, well, only 3% of what they do is with abortion. 1 the Washington Post called Pinocchio's on that and it's actually 11%. But still 11% of the brownie is killing human beings.

[B]

Millions.

[A]

Millions. I mean, they have killed over 10 million children in like the last 20 years.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

They bragged last year, the day after Mother's Day, this year they released a report bragging that they were at an all time high of their abortions, over 400,000 a year. They are the, they brag that they're the leading abortionists in our country. They're the Walmart of the abortion industry. The local mom and pop chop shops hate them because, because they get government funding, they actually can undercut all the other abortionists like Walmart. Getting your gas at Walmart.

[B]

Do you know how much it is if you want to get an abortion?

[A]

It depends on the type of abortion. Chemical abortion's cheaper. A couple hundred dollars if you want a late term abortion. I actually got a dm. There was a girl, we were trying to save a baby and she just had a 29 week abortion, so. And she's a minor. Her parents drove her to it. She DMed me after it happened, that was probably $2,500.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

The longer in pregnancy you wait, the more risky it is to your health as a mother. And it's more risky for the abortionist because he could kill you. So they tend to charge a little bit more. It gets up to about $2,500.

[B]

Wow. Where's the legislator at? I know it's state by state now, right. Because of the Roe v. Wade stuff, but where's it at right now?

[A]

Yeah. So Roe said this issue goes back to the people and its representatives, meaning the federal Congress, state legislatures can weigh on this issue. So we have at any given time, depending on the lawsuits, you know, 15 to 18 states that have probably pretty restrictive abortion laws, protective, you know, free to be born states, the rest of them, for the most part, free to kill states. And so it really depends. My biggest fight now has been with Republicans. So I've been focusing on the red states where, like for example, South Carolina, super pro life state. I had the speaker of the House this year stonewall our bill to ban all abortions.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

They've passed a heartbeat law in South Carolina. So you can't kill a child after you can hear the baby's heartbeat via Ultrasound. But we were trying to get it at conception. You know, when biologists, 96% biologists say human life begins at conception. And the other 4% should never have gotten a freaking degree. But it should be simple. But it's not. Because I've got Republicans who still trust these, like John Boehner, Mitt Romney, inside the beltway consultants telling him, don't talk about abortion. It's too divisive.

[B]

That's crazy.

[A]

That's nuts.

[B]

That is so crazy. Conception is. Is what exactly? Could you explain that?

[A]

Conception is when sperm and egg unite. So sometimes on college campuses. Well, I guess every time I have to explain this, it's not hard, Right. You have a sperm, I have an egg. These are parts. These are part of our body. Right. They have our DNA. When they unite at the moment of conception, when that egg, which we just learned by the way, the egg chooses what sperm penetrates because women are awesome.

[B]

It used to got lucky.

[A]

Yeah. It was like the winning sperm. No, no, no. It's all us. So when the egg chooses the winning sperm to penetrate the membrane. Right. That is when you came into existence.

[B]

Wow. That's what you consider.

[A]

Oh, absolutely. Because that's when your genetic code started. Your new DNA that has never been created before, will never be created again, began at that moment. That's when you became you. So much about you was determined at that moment, actual moment. And. And it actually started you probably your mom's fallopian tube. It took you probably a couple of days before you, Shawn, at in your zygotic stage, entered in. It would take a couple of days to enter into your mother's uterus, but then you would implant into your mother's uterine lining, start growing the organ that will sustain you, the placenta. And you'd started self directing your growth.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Like human development is. I don't know how people could deny the existence of a creator. When you look into how humans develop, how fast we develop, how we direct our own growth, the mother's body doesn't say, hey, Shawn, today you're getting your eyeball, you're growing your finger. Nope. You are self directed. All a mother has to do is give you that safe spot, that womb and nutrition and time. That's what the mother's body is providing that new child, that new human being.

[B]

Yeah. It is a beautiful process.

[A]

It's amazing. There's an awesome TED talk of. And I don't even know if the guy's religious. It's like Alexander and I think it's like Some long Russian name, so I won't even try to pronounce it because I'll mess it up. But he, he goes through the human development, even mammal development. It's unbelievable how fast cells start replicating and there is no other moment. You became you. And so if you want to be philosophic, and I know it's hard, but if you want to be philosophically consistent, that's when your DNA code came into existence, that's when you started. Often people are like, oh, we don't know when human life began. No, Harvard scientists have already testified, like in the 80s in front of Congress. No human life begins at conception. There's no other point. Right. Any other point is an arbitrary point of like, oh, well, when your brain's fully developed. Well, that's an interesting debate because women's brains aren't fully developed about 24. No, sorry, 21. Men's brains develop about 24.

[B]

I heard 26 too, maybe.

[A]

But like, when are you going to cut it off? You're gonna be like, well, the brain has to be fully developed. So 21 year old women are more human than 26 year old men, right? No. You know, our brains might be on a different spectrum. Right. My life experiences, my IQ might be higher than somebody else, but it doesn't mean that I'm more valuable than another human. And so often we hear in the, in the abortion debate of these arbitrary points, like, oh, it's when the heart begins to beat. Well, it's about 21 days. So that would mean you're pretty much against every single abortion because most women don't know they're pregnant till about three or four weeks.

[B]

Right? Yeah. I'm sure you've heard every counter argument at this point.

[A]

There's only like, there's only like six counter arguments. I mean, it doesn't matter if I'm at Harvard, at Berkeley, a community college, or debating with, you know, my 10 year old. There's only a few arguments that you hear for abortion.

[B]

Which university had the most impressive students?

[A]

Most impressive students. And what do you mean by oppressive? Like oppressively stupid or oppressively kind or smart?

[B]

Let's do both. Let's do both.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, it's, it to me, it's fascinating. I've had, I've had wonderful discussions. Like at Harvard. Right. Or you have students that they are genuinely interested in the debate and the dialogue. And then I go to Dartmouth and everyone's screaming at me and shouting at me.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Well, I don't really think Ivy League. Yeah, no, that was like, one of my first campus tour stops before this got, like, popular to get filmed, right? My son was sitting in the audience, like, what's going on? We had like, no idea, right?

[B]

You weren't even filming at first, right?

[A]

Oh, no, we haven't done it for 20 years. Like, before anyone cared about what we did. I've been doing this, right? I think for me, I love the students where they're willing to have a rational, calm discussion because I realize changing your mind on abortion is hard because it's not like the death penalty. I changed my mind on the death penalty. I'm against the death penalty.

[B]

Oh, you're against it?

[A]

I'm against it. But it wasn't like, I didn't have to, like, go and save face because it. And it didn't, like, affect my everyday life, right? Be like, oh, I'm for death penalty now. I'm against the death penalty. Changing your mind on abortion, especially as a college student, might mean you have to change some of your behaviors. It might mean you have to change your dating behaviors, right? Because if you can no longer kill a child that you might accidentally conceive with that guy that you don't, you know for a fact, you don't want to spend the rest of your life with might change things. So I look for. And I love the campuses where I can have a calm discussion with someone who truly wants to understand where I'm coming from. Those are the conversations I live for. But we don't often get to have them because the culture is so divided. People want to scream, they want to shout. Which, by the way, though the screaming and the shouting I've sometimes had, people are like, these videos don't change anyone's mind if they're shouting at you and you raising your voice back. They do, though, because the mind changed rate. We measure mind change on college campuses, so we have about 18% mind change rate in our conversations in person. Oh, yeah, it went up this semester. It was amazing. Online, though, it's 25 to 51%, depending on the campaign I'm running.

[B]

No way.

[A]

It's amazing. And we do quizzes. So, like, we'll. We'll ask you real quick, like, how you feel about Planned Parenthood? How do you feel about abortion? We'll do whatever the content is and then we'll re. Ask the question. That's how we know it's a mind change. It's not like a conversion because, like, social people like a conversion to click. No, no, no conversions and minds change. To me but it's. It's incredible because when I can have someone shouting at me or whatever, and all I'm doing is calmly repeating back. They're really illogical argument, unscientific argument, it changes minds. Because when you're sitting in bed scrolling, that's when you're most likely to really consider what, you know, what's being presented. Right.

[B]

Your guard's down.

[A]

Oh, your guard's totally down. You're not having to save face. I mean, we're humans. We don't like to ever, like, admit we're wrong. My husband has never been right, ever right. In an argument. Now, I might admit to myself later, but saying that to his faith, that takes a little bit of humility and a little practice.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

New tip for newlywed.

[B]

I did not know you were that effective. No wonder you're going all over the country.

[A]

No. Yeah. And so it's. You've got to continue. And that's why we started on the campuses, because we have to reach those. Planned Parenthood as a predatory, vicious cycle. They. They go to elementary schools in California. They get federal funding to go and do be sex educators. That is like saying Philip Morris go to high schools and middle schools and tell kids not to smoke cigarettes because Philip Morris. Right. Profits off the sales of cigarette smoke.

[B]

That was like the DARE program, if you remember that.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. Planned Parenthood profits off poor decision making. So they get government funding to go to schools and tell kids to be responsible about their sexual partners. And. And then to come to them, though, when they think they might have an STD or they get regular STD testing, or they want to get on birth control or they need an abortion. So what sentence do they have to actually be effective educators to educate our young people about not making poor decisions? They have a predatory cycle. It starts as early as elementary school in California and other states. New Jersey, for example, it's like middle school. They go, they're the sex educators. They're building a relationship with their young people. They're reaching them online. They have paid scriptwriters in Hollywood inserting abortion bylines into TV shows, movies. They've talked openly about this novel idea of theirs. They're reaching them everywhere in the culture, and it just continues and continues.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And we have to interrupt the cycle.

[B]

Do you think sex ed class should be removed from the public education system?

[A]

No, I. I love biology. I like to talk about sex all the time. Right. I think we should talk about sex, but I think we need to be real, that there is only one thing you can do that 100% guarantee you won't find yourself an unplanned pregnancy. And that is abstinence. And it's not as hard as everyone thinks it is. And I think we need to be real about that. And it's. It's called sexual risk avoidance. It's not ignoring the conversation. Young girls and young boys need to know how sexual reproduction happens. Right. But they also need to know the truth, that this can be done. And we can hold you to that account. Like, we go to schools, are like, listen, we know you can't control your urges, so here's some really crappy condoms, have an 18% annual failure rate. Or here's birth control that has a 9% annual failure rate. And just use this and hope for the best. And if you have an oopsies, come to us and we'll make money. We don't do that with anything else. We don't be like, hey, we're gonna teach you how to drink as much vodka as you want and then drive home later. No, we're like, no, you can't drink vodka or any alcohol and drive. Don't do it. Any alcohol puts you at risk for driving. Right. But with sex, it's totally different.

[B]

Yeah. Speaking of birth control, have you seen all the concerning studies, health studies, on it recently?

[A]

Yeah. I've been doing this for 20 years. I've been saying for 20 years when it sounded like in conspiracy theory.

[B]

Now, she knew 20 years ago about birth control.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah. No, that's when we sounded like conspiracy theorists when we said things like, margaret Sanger was a eugenicist and racist and founder of Planned Parenthood. Now everybody knows it because Planned Parenthood's own minority employees have been suing Planned Parenthood for racist work environments. Right. No Plant birth control. And I want to be very clear about hormonal birth control. Hormonal birth control is messed up. It is like, fake male hormones that women are told for decades to ingest. Instead of, like, fixing pcos, painful periods, other things that, you know, fibroids that women have, doctors just prescribe birth, Like, I'll take this. Don't. We're not gonna fix the brew. The problem. Just take this. Birth control fakes your body out into thinking you're pregnant all the time. That is no good.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

For any woman's body. And then you wonder why, like, women are like, I can't get pregnant. Yeah. Because you've been on birth control for 25 years. You think taking a fake hormonal drug, I mean, the Thing is too is like, it's been proven. There was a Baylor University professor that did a whole study on this. Well, in Good Morning America, I don't think she's pro life at all, but she was talking about the effects of birth control because she was in grad school and she got married one on birth control because she didn't want to get pregnant because you fell for the lies. Thought she had to, couldn't have a baby and reach her career goals. And she talks and wrote openly about how her sex drive, her sexual desire of her husband suddenly changed when she started birth control. And that's. She was like, wait, what happened? And she came to find out that birth control changes your sexual desire. It changes your taste in men. It tastes your taste in music and food.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

It's totally misogynistic because we've been telling women for 50 years, you have to change your sexual desire, your preferences for your partners, your taste in food and music in order to be like a normative male body because there's something wrong with your body. Like, we're freaking superheroes. Women can do three things men can't do. Menstruate, gestate, and lactate. You should be super jealous of me.

[B]

Like, the lactating I'm jealous of.

[A]

Lactate is awesome. I can feed another human being from my breasts, Right? But instead we've told women, you have to be like the normative male body. Like, it's crazy that the feminist movement ever fell, the second wave feminist movement ever fell for these lies because it's fundamentally anti feminist. We should be celebrating the fact that maybe we are the better sex.

[B]

I was just going to ask you about the feminist movement. That's crazy. Do you feel like it's gotten out of hand these days?

[A]

I mean, the first sway, feminists, Alice Paul, Elizabeth Kennedy Stanton, the first woman to run for president, Victoria Woodhull, Susan Anthony, they were all pro life. They called abortion restalism at that time. They were anti restalism. They spoke openly about it. Like, this is the opposite of what we want. Right? The second wave of feminism was co opted by Bernard Nathanson, who was an abortionist in New York state, and Larry Ladder, biographer, and Margaret Sanger, who believed that there was going to be a population bomb in 1970. And so Nathanson wanted more money, Ladder wanted less people. They met with Betty Friedan and got abortion and birth control in the second edition of Feminist Mystique. That's how we got the 1968 NOW convention where they actually, like, adopted abortion as Part of their, like, platform. It never really was part of the platform. So, yeah, I mean, feminism at its core should be about empowering women to have access to education and health care and, you know, the career of their choice and choose a partner or spouse of their choice and be able to own property. All good things that, like conservatives and Republicans agree with Democrats and liberals on. But then you have this abortion thing that has just totally taken over. And I think that's so. It's so messed up because now you have a generation of unhappy women. Women are at their most unhappy levels that's ever been recorded.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Because they're delaying marriage. They're delaying having children. Being married makes you happy. Actually being married, you actually have more sex. Married married people have way more sex than unmarried people, by the way. That also will make you happy. Right. Endorphins. Right. Having children is the most incredible blessing you'll ever have. You. Your life will be hard, always hard, being a parent. But there is nothing better. And it's on. It's almost impossible for me to describe.

[B]

It's rewarding, right?

[A]

Yes. There is nothing more rewarding than having children. No career moment I could have will ever be more rewarding to have kids. And I know when you don't have kids, it's like when I had my little puppies before I had kids. I'm like, I love my dog so much. I do. I have four puppies. I love dogs.

[B]

One puppy for each kid, huh?

[A]

Yes, I do. I have four puppies.

[B]

That's what I'm doing.

[A]

Yes, that's right. I started out with one. And you know, so no more kids. Cause I can't have more puppies. My husband's like, no more puppies. But I remember coming home from my, from the hospital, my first son, Gunner, and I looked down at my dog Kramer at the time and I was like, yeah, I love him, but he's just a dog. My love for my dog, I thought it was like the ultimate. And then I held my child in my arms. Yeah, no, compare.

[B]

There's levels.

[A]

There's no comparison.

[B]

That's beautiful. Yeah, but it's. It's gone out of hand in my opinion. I just moderated a feminism debate yesterday.

[A]

Oh, really? Between who?

[B]

Hannah Faulkner. Do you know her? She, she's like an 18 year old conservative.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And then a 31 year old feminist.

[A]

What was the main argument that feminists was making?

[B]

All the things you said, plus right to vote and all that stuff about it.

[A]

Well, there is some crazy stuff happening. So in the Wake of Charlie being assassinated, you've had this, like, rise of, like, these ultra. Right. God, I hate to even use the word right, because I know, right far right, you know, crepers, Nick Fuentes type of Right moment. Yeah. And they, because of the ins. Influencer culture, they get more money, the more outrageous things they have to say. And I think Ben Shapiro here at amfest the first night said something I thought was really profound and very important. I. I was going to say it. So I was like, I don't have to say I can make people like me because I don't have to do it now. Thanks, Ben. But influencers have a responsibility. Charlie used influencer culture. Right. He did the videos, he did the clickbait. But his goal was to move people, to get good people elected. Right. Hard, true, championing service so then we could get good policies enacted. There was a goal. Now we have these, like, guys who just want clicks because the more clicks, the more outrage they have, the more money get. There's like, a group here that, like, advocates to repeal the 19th amendment.

[B]

Really? They have a booth here?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

What a stupid, in the words of Ben Shapiro, retarded argument to make. Right. That doesn't make any sense. And their argument is, well, women have moved the country left and they voted from a dummy. 80% of women voted from a dummy. Okay, first of all, it's freaking New York City. So that's not like a representative example in the United States. But to repeal the 19th amendment, we take about 180 million votes. Because you would need 37 state legislatures to ratify a new amendment appealing our right to vote. Maybe the smarter, more strategic, cheaper, faster option to fix the problem you say you're trying to solve is, I don't know, have Republicans talk to women in a way that makes sense and makes them want to vote for them and talk about the why conservative economic, fiscal policies are. Should be important to them while give them a better life. Like that might be an easier way to go about it rather than take away women's right to vote. And then they're like, well, we're on the right. I'm like, you're not anywhere near the right. You're like, on this authoritarian dictatorship path. And I want nothing to do with that. And I think that's what was so important by Ben saying, like, we got to start calling this shit out, because that's going to hurt. Like, that hurts me on campuses when I go on campuses and they're like, you want to take one right to vote? I'M like, what the hell? I run a $24 million organization. I have 100 employees. My husband is a stay at home, homeschooling hero of a man I love. A very, I would think, feminist type of life. What the feminists said they wanted. And yet you're trying to accuse me of being anti feminism. What the hell are you talking about?

[B]

Yeah, I'm sure they try to attack you for your husband being a stay at home parent.

[A]

Oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah. No, they. I mean, you should see the comments. Shut up. Go home. You're a bad mom. Go raise your kids. Your husband should be voting for you. Like, it's crazy. And I want nothing to do with those people because I'm trying to win voters. I'm trying to save women from making a decision that they will not only regret the rest of their lives, but it's going to kill a human baby. An innocent human who didn't ask to be conceived at that moment in the backseat of the car or at the party. You didn't ask for any of this, but is the one who is on the receiving end of a violent, brutal act.

[B]

Yeah. I wonder what the stats are. And what percentage of women get an abortion in their life in America.

[A]

It depends. You know, it's probably one in three. At this moment, we don't actually have a national abortion law. This is how. I mean, they're evil. The abortion lobby is evil, but they will not allow a law to pass federally that actually tracks the number of abortions or what actually happens after abortion.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So we actually have to cobble together different stats from the abortion industry on how many women are having abortions.

[B]

It's like a puzzle.

[A]

No, and the thing is, and what we see on campuses, like my security guards, on campuses, there are two types of people they're trained to watch for. Trans men and older women. Those are the most violent people on a college campus that I endure.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

I have no idea what the hell trans man. Trans women's problem are because they're men. They don't have wombs. Like, I don't know, maybe they're jealous. I can have a baby. That's why they give. I don't know, maybe they're hopped up on too many fake hormones. So I don't know what their problem is, but it's older women, university workers, administrators, professors. And you have to ask yourself, why is that? Yeah, well, for 40 years, they've been living with the pain of having an abortion.

[B]

Oh, that makes sense.

[A]

If you, if you've had an abortion. And you've never accepted I did something wrong. You never asked for forgiveness from the God who spoke the universe into existence. You live with this guilt because it's written on your human heart. Like every kid in America is pro life. Like when you. I had to describe to my kids at a very early age what abortion is because I'm a loud person. They hear me talking about it. Right. I actually filmed one time telling my oldest. It's shocking to the kids. The kids. Right. Like they're like someone's killing a baby.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You, you start out in life, pro life because it's written on your heart not to kill babies. Other members of our species.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You have to be made into a pro choice person. That's why it's a good point. Planned Parenthood targets high school and college campuses. Right.

[B]

That's a great point. Because kids are so innocent. It's the perfect audience to pull about it.

[A]

Talk to a 10 year old, explain to them what abortion is and see what their reaction is. I guarantee what the reaction is. And so you have women who've, it's written on their heart that maybe they did something wrong. They've never sought healing or forgiveness for it. So anytime they see anybody or hear anyone saying, don't have an abortion. Abortion is human sacrifice. Abortion is wrong. They can't handle that because that's saying, that's like shouting to them, you did something wrong, you killed your baby. Because they. But they are. It's not that I said it. It's what they hear because it's already on their heart.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And so that's why, like, that's the, like when I, when we co opted. So we tried to get, you know, when they did that women's march after President Trump was elected in 2017, we applied to be a sponsor of the women's March because we're women.

[B]

That would have been a good audience.

[A]

Yeah, right. And we got in and then they kicked us out. So we.

[B]

We kicked you out.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. We were allowed at the Women's march.

[B]

Oh wow.

[A]

They kicked us out. So we decided, well, screw that, we're going to lead the march anyway. So we wait till the march of Pennsylvania. Well, we were on Constitution before we got to the White House and Students for Life. We jumped in front of the Women's march and led the Women's march for the last two blocks for activists, you know, all women, all high school, college age women. It was the older white women who were like hitting my students with signs, geez. Screaming, them getting Violent. Like, it was crazy. They were the most violent people we encountered.

[B]

That's nuts. How many times have you been, like, kicked off campus or.

[A]

I mean, I usually. I go to campuses, a lot of state schools, so I don't really get kicked off campus. It's more like they didn't honor our First Amendment rights. They treated the Students for Life group differently and I have to sue them. So I have a lot of lawsuits against schools. Private schools are the ones are like, no, no, thanks. You're not allowed to come on campus.

[B]

That makes sense.

[A]

Private Christian schools are, in fact, kind of the hardest schools we have to deal with.

[B]

I bet.

[A]

Because I was just in San Diego where a Catholic university, University of San Diego, has banned a Students for Life group on campus.

[B]

Really?

[A]

They literally told our students, talking about abortion will take people away from finding Christ. Make it make sense.

[B]

Doesn't make sense.

[A]

It doesn't. Makes no sense. We. I have made more Christians than any like, than Elias. Other like Christian ministries. Because when you come into the pro life movement, you don't have to be a Christian to be pro life. We have Muslims, we have Jews, we have atheists, agnostics who've served with us. Right. But you start to have conversations about who made life and why life is valuable. Kind of leads you to the truth that there is a creator of the universe and that's kind of special. But yeah, no, the Christian universities are. They're a problem.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Well, majority of them one and. Well, not majority. I'm sorry, it's now one in six. Seven actually. Christian universities have an open public relationship with Planned Parenthood, the nation's longest abortion vendor. We study that every single year. It actually went up. Last year it was 1 in 8. This year it's 1 in 7.

[B]

Have a public relationship, getting a kickback. If they send someone to get a.

[A]

They promote Planned Parenthood on their school healthcare website. They give internship credit for students who go intern Planned Parenthood. These are Christian universities. This is just public that I found on their websites.

[B]

That's cool.

[A]

This is even what like the professors.

[B]

Say, well, you've made a lot of Progress in the 20 years you've been doing this.

[A]

So we've got a lot more to go. But thank you. I appreciate that.

[B]

How could people watching this support you donate and all that.

[A]

Yeah. Go to studentsforlife.org and you can sign up to start a student for life group or if you have a conservative group, partner with us and follow our social students for life. Or follow me. Kristin Mercer Hawkins on X or Twitter. A lot of my campus videos go on on Instagram. So. Awesome. And it's really interesting to see the lack of education debate on this issue. And it's, you know, I'm no genius. I'm no, like, rhetorical expert. I just let people yell at me and bring basic science into a conversation.

[B]

Thanks for bringing the truth.

[A]

Thanks.

[B]

Thank you. Check her out, guys. Peace.

[C]

I hope you guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm.

[B]

Thank you.