A baby asks for “mama,” and two adults laugh back, “There is no mama.” That short viral moment is heartbreaking on the surface, but we think it also reveals something deeper about the way modern culture talks about same-sex marriage, commercial surrogacy, and what counts as a family.

I’m joined by my daughter Hannah as we slow down and look past the news cycle. We start with why the video felt so evil to so many people, not only because it provokes a child to tears, but because it treats a child’s mother as optional. From there we revisit a question some people warned about years ago after Obergefell: what about the children? We talk plainly about how no “private” adult choice stays private once a child is involved, and why children’s rights must come before adult agendas.

We also bring in the child development and sociology side. We outline what social scientists commonly acknowledge about socioemotional health: biology matters, gender differences matter, and parental loss is harmful whether it comes through divorce, abandonment, death, adoption, IVF, or third party reproduction. We challenge the slogan “love is enough,” discuss why some studies are methodologically weak, and point listeners to research associated with Paul Sullins and Mark Regnerus. Finally, we share testimony from adult children and stories drawn from Katie Faust’s Them Before Us, where “father mother hunger” shows up again and again.

If you care about faith, family, and the real-world impact of marriage and reproductive technology on kids, listen through to the end, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

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