← The Charlie Kirk Show
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- [00:00]
A
Hey everybody. This conversation with my friend Lila Rose is a very important one. I encourage you to listen carefully about what she has to say about the pro life movement and getting involved. Her new book, Fighting for Life. Email us your questions freedomarliekirk.com and if you want to get involved with Turning Point USA, it's tpusa.com Buckle up everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here. Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
- [00:25]
B
I want you to know we are
- [00:26]
A
lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks. I want to thank Charlie. He's an incredible guy, his spirit, his love of this country. He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point usa. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives. And we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country. That's why we are here. Look, I got some Tommy John underwear sent to me and I was a little bit just say open minded but it's ridiculously comfortable. Let me just say that again. Tommy John ridiculously comfortable. That's why Tommy John doesn't have customers. They have fanatics. Fanatics that calls Tommy John's hammock pouch one of life's greatest inventions with dozens of comfort innovations. Once you've tried Tommy John underwear, you're never going back. With over 13 million pairs sold. People across America love Tommy John underwear because everything it's comfortable. Tommy John has a non rolling waistband for the perfect fit and it's the best pair you'll ever wear or it's free guarantee. And right now you'll get 20% off your first order@tommyjohn.com freedom that's 20% off your first order of underwear and loungewear@tommyjohn.com freedom tommyjohn.com freedom see site for details. Hey everybody. Welcome to this episode of the Charlie Kirk Show. With us today is a friend of mine, Lila Rose, who is the author of a terrific new book. I have to say it is the most amazing packaging I have ever seen when it comes to a book. Fighting for Life by Lila Rose. And I am also a proud monthly donor to Live Action. I think it is the only other nonprofit I support personally because the fight for life is so important and Lila does such an amazing job. Lila, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show.
- [02:23]
B
Thank you Charlie. And you are awesome. We are so grateful for your support and very grateful for the work you're doing. Well, thank you so much.
- [02:30]
A
So we talk about the life issue a lot here on this program and it is not our sole focus, but it is part of our worldview. Just introduce yourself a little bit to our audience and I want to get into your terrific book, Fighting for Life. But just introduce yourself to our audience.
- [02:46]
B
I'd love to. So I lead Live action. As you mentioned, we are the global educational leader for the pro life movement. So that means we are reaching 15 plus million people weekly with the truth about human dignity, the violence of abortion. We promote motherhood and fatherhood. And I started it actually 15 years ago as a teenager. So I've been doing this my whole adult life. And I began it because I just was heartbroken at discovering abortion, became very passionate and convicted that I had to do something. And then it's just been a crazy journey since. And the goal is complete legal protection for the preborn and just changing culture so that people respect and revere human life and love it. And then besides that, I'm also now an author with Fighting for Life, the new book. And most importantly though, I am a wife and a mom and I am a Christian, so those are the top things. But it's just an honor to be part of this fight and it's a fight for all of us.
- [03:39]
A
I totally agree and I really believe this. Media Matters hates when I say this. I'm going to say it again. We are going to get rid of abortion like we got rid of slavery in this country. It's going to happen. And they are moral equivalents and they hate when you say that because it's true. And so you wrote this terrific book. I haven't finished it yet. Fighting for life and becoming a force for change in a wounded world. Before we get into this, can you comment on the pro life movement in general? A lot of our listeners, they are pro life, but they're not necessarily optimistically pro life. What are your thoughts on the trajectory of the pro life movement? Are we seeing progress?
- [04:18]
B
And I can understand that because I mean, look who's president. The Biden administration is the most pro abortion administration in ever. I mean, even under Obama, Biden as vice president was opposing the Hyde Amendment. Was supporting the Hyde Amendment. Sorry. So he actually supported restricting taxpayer money from funding abortions directly. He's changed all that. Now as the president of the United States, he's saying you as the taxpayer should pay for abortions even through all nine months on children that can survive outside the womb. So it's just horrific. He also has put his some really crooked politicians who are not just pro abortion but they use the power of the state to go after pro lifers. So Kamala Harris, when she was attorney general in California. I'm from California. I watched this happen firsthand. My good friend David Delighten used to work with me in Live Action doing undercover investigations of Planned Parenthood. She actually sent state agents to raid his home and steal his laptops, which showed Planned Parenthood misdeeds. And this was when she was getting campaign finance or campaign money from Planned Parenthood. And then she goes on now to be vp. And then Xavier Becerra, our new head of Health and Human Services. So he's this top dog in health, like Fauci. He has no medical background whatsoever, and he then prosecuted, when he was Attorney general, David and other pro lifers. So anyways, people know it's dire at the federal level, but actually there's some really good news. I have great news for everyone. Despite the fact that the media is so pro abortion, politics is so pro abortion. In the last two years, there have been unprecedented pro life legislation at the state level. Over 600 bills, dozens of them have passed and made it into law. At the state level, there have been an abortion decline that's unprecedented in the last 10 years. Every year, the abortion rate goes down, so more people are choosing life. And then what I'm privileged to see daily through the work of Live Action, the work we do with young people, is more and more young people becoming pro life. I mean, parts and minds do change. The culture has gotten so crazy. And I think people, deep down, it's. They're uncomfortable with it. And when they find out about abortion, they are really disturbed when they actually have the opportunity to be educated. You know, you learn about fetal development, embryonic development. A baby's heart starts beating at just three and a half weeks after fertilization. Most women don't even know they're pregnant yet. And when people discover this, brainwaves at just six weeks, and every abortion's killing a beating heart, ending a beating heart. When people learn this, especially younger people, we see they do open their minds. They are concerned. And then the other thing, Charlie, is I see this shift beginning to happen because this whole sexual gratification culture which says that you should have sex between two adults with consent, it's about pleasure. And that's all it's about. Consent, pleasure, what you want on your terms. And if you get pregnant, no responsibility, right? Just have an abortion. That's what you should do. I think that that mentality, that behavior ultimately isn't making people happy. You know, The STI rate is sky high. Pornography use and addiction is sky high. All the mental health disorders that come with unhappy relationships, quite frankly, are climbing. So I think there's also a change that's ripe to happen in our country where people are seeing this culture is not making people happy and the abortion culture is vicious and brutal and. And we should do something different. We can do something better. And that's why I'm extremely hopeful that we can abolish abortion and that the tipping points are. The turning points, as you're working so hard on, are coming and are happening right now.
- [07:59]
A
And I think that we have to make our goal clear to abolish abortion the same way that it was the goal to abolish slavery back in the 1800s. And the more I study and learn about abortion, you're the expert and I'm actually ask you some questions because I get my timetable screwed up sometimes of weeks throughout the trimester period. I know it pretty well, but you're the expert. It's so horrific and it's bad for everyone involved. I wanna ask you about David, though. So we talked. I've talked about David before. He's still facing charges, is that right? In the state of California.
- [08:31]
B
Yeah. The criminal trial is starting and it's David. It's gone to trial. David Deliden and Sandra Merritt being charged with multiple felonies simply for exposing Planned Parenthood, selling baby body parts. They didn't go after Planned Parenthood. They're going after David and Sandra.
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A
Yes. So who's actually prosecuting? Is it the state of California?
- [08:50]
B
State.
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A
Okay. It's not the federal government.
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B
It's not the federal government. The state of California is doing this. And I mean, they could throw them in prison. So it's just an insane.
- [09:01]
A
I think they might because that's the way the left is. And you know my position on fighting these people. It's just we have to fight fire with fire, if any. If a Republican wins the recall. I'm actually gonna make my job now. And I just clicked. I'm gonna go to every candidate running and say, you better commit to pardon David Daleiden. If you.
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B
Absolutely.
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A
It's like that should be just.
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B
Absolutely.
- [09:21]
A
To get the voter support of California a full blanket pardon for David Delighten. So I'm not gonna forget that. Cause that's what he did, honestly opened up so many eyes. And our viewers, like, what are you talking about? No, he actually got footage and he was very aggressive in doing it. And, you know, he probably assumed that there would be like journalistic type protections for what he was doing. And I think he a little bit underestimated how vicious these people are. But he got footage of Planned Parenthood purchasing baby parts and talking about it over white wine at lunch as if they were buying auto parts to a car. And now you can't really find those videos at times online anymore. Cause they keep on getting taken down. But I remember when they came out, it was front page of Drudge one after the other. And it put Planned Parenthood on defense like never before. Anyway, I just wanted to mention that for David, because we have his back. And I wouldn't be surprised if they throw him in prison because that's how vicious these people are. But we're not gonna let. If Newsom gets recalled and replaced with anyone. It has to be day one. You're gonna pardon David. Okay. And you said the other lady with
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B
him is Sandra Merritt.
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A
Sandra.
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B
Andrea Merritt and David. Delight. I will join you in that, Charlie.
- [10:32]
A
Yeah, it's so important you're even gonna run.
- [10:34]
B
You gotta promise to pardon.
- [10:36]
A
Totally, totally. Okay, so let's go through abortion because it's a very misunderstood topic, especially with young people out there. So there are some young people listening to our podcast right now that will say they're pro life, but they know very little about abortion. And I think the true test of whether or not you're pro life is when it kind of hits home. And so can you walk through kind of how a baby develops? When does life begin? When does the heartbeat begin? What do we know about a child? And talk about how science is actually proving the point of the pro life movement more and more the more we actually learn about baby development.
- [11:14]
B
Sure, of course. So I actually go through the steps of my own awareness on this in my book Fighting for Life and why these steps are important for all of us. Because you can kind of sense, like you said, oh, abortion is wrong, or I'm uncomfortable with it. I don't like this extremism from the left on this. But if you're not, if you don't have the tools and the education, and it's hard to really have it resonate at that deep, deep level and also feel equipped to speak on it or really any cause. If you're not educated on a cause, you're not going to want to get into the fray, especially if it's controversial or unpopular. And so I talk about, for me, learning for the first time about abortion as a young girl and discovering the death toll of abortion. And I'll just share some Facts like you asked Charlie. So first of all, when life begins, when human life begins, is not a matter of opinion or religious belief. It's a scientific fact. And you know this. If you open any biology textbook or you look at any embryologist and there's, you know, their specialization of understanding human life's genesis. Human life begins at the moment of fertilization. So that's when a female gamete and a male gamete, the reproductive cells from, from a mother and a father, a sperm and an egg, and a sperm fertilizes an egg. And at that moment a unique individual human life comes into existence. That's how you and I, we all started our life. And you have your complete genetic code. You are self actualizing as a. So that means you're actually not just some cell that needs to be told what to do by the rest of the body. You are the body, the entire body of a human being. And you just need time and nourishment to grow. And within three and a half weeks, you've got a heart that's starting to beat. It's crazy how quickly that single cell embryo grows. Then six weeks, the brain waves are firing. By eight and nine weeks, you're seeing arms and legs and a face for the child. The jaw is already forming by eight weeks. I mean, just incredible was happening in the first trimester. And I remember for me, when I saw for the first time as a kid, I was passionate about different issues. I was learning and I found out about abortion by seeing for the first time a child at 10 weeks old in the first trimester, when most abortions happen around that time in America. And I saw an image of an abortion victim. So it was a photograph of a child. I could see arms and legs, this beautiful little face that have been torn apart by the powerful first trimester suction abortion, which is 30 to 50 times more powerful than a household vacuum. That's what it does. It rips the child, this developing, delicate child into pieces. And when I saw this destruction of this, you could see the life, you could see the humanity. I was just heartbroken and I was just broken. I thought, how can we allow this? And then I learned the statistics. Charlie At 3 at the time, 3,000 children killed legally a day in America, the leading death toll. It's still the leading death toll today, globally, it's the leading death toll. And I just thought, you know, I came across the words of Mother Teresa and I share the story in the book. And fighting for life, Mother Teresa says the greatest destroyer of peace in the world is abortion. She didn't say sexism or racism or economic inequality. She could have said a lot of things, but she chose to say it was abortion.
- [14:31]
A
Wow.
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B
Because if we kill our children, if we deprive the right to life of the most vulnerable, what are we? You know, where's our justice? And so that moral clarity that I had at a young age, thanks to Mother Teresa, thanks to what I was learning, you know, the research I started to do inspired me to start Live Action and just say, this is the cause, this is the fight of our day.
- [14:53]
A
I love that. And the videos you guys do at Live Action are terrific. And it's persuasive and it's direct and it's not too confrontational, but it's also unapologetic. It's not about trying to. Trying to say something that's not true, but it's also very much. It's designed in a way to try to win people over. Lila, I believe the pro life movement's problem is that not enough people are aware of the facts surrounding abortion. Do you find that to be the case? That most people are just unaware that they haven't had this presented to them properly?
- [15:30]
B
Yeah, I think you're spot on. I mean, think about it. You can go through 12 years of public education in this country and you will never once be taught that human life is sacred, that it starts in the womb, that you might learn in biology class when it begins. But then you're going to be told, oh, there's this right to have an abortion. It's just ending a pregnancy. You're going to be taught, you're going to be taught cognitive dissonance. You're going to be taught to believe a lie as the truth. I mean, they teach in our school system that abortion is a woman's right, and that that's part of being a feminist and that's a good thing. And, you know, if you're brainwashed like that, and, you know, our celebrities, our media, our entertainment, you know, structure conglomerate is very pro abortion. You know, they're regressive. They're in the past. They really are. I mean, it's just, I would love to have lived, you know, in the, in the 19th century, the time of abolition, of slavery, and, you know, the power structures were pro slavery.
- [16:24]
A
Yes.
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B
So the fact that, the fact that the power structures are pro abortion today shouldn't scandalize us. This is how injustice happens. And the most popular causes today, you know, there's a lot of discussion around racism and police brutality. And these other, the environment. And I'm not saying these things don't matter matter because a lot of causes matter and we need to fight for a lot of causes. But when the power structures are actually upholding what is the greatest human rights abuse and the greatest bloodshed, I mean, you know, we watched George Floyd, you know, tragically, this, this horrible death on camera and we were on iPhone camera under the neck, the knee of a police officer and the world was just broken by it. Right? They're broken to see this man crying out for his mother. And we should be broken for that. There's no viral video that the media is circulating of the child that's being dismembered. Well, you know, living child dismembered in the place where they should be safe and loved in their mother's womb while they're trying to escape the abortionist forceps. We don't, we don't, the media won't, would never show that video. So you know, we have to speak out and educate because that's what sets minds free and people are waking up when they get access to that information.
- [17:34]
A
And so abortion is something that I think has a lot of different reasons why it happens. People don't know about it. It's also considered to be the easy way out when it's actually the most difficult way out because you're actually going to be harming yourself and harming other people and harming an innocent life. And so can you talk about some of the other cultural change that needs to happen, such as people getting married before they actually try to engage in a hedonistic or nihilistic type lifestyle? Can you talk about that? About how it kind of, sometimes abortion is downstream from other, other cultural defects?
- [18:13]
B
Sure. It's a great question and I'll share three things for that that I talk a lot about in my book. And the first thing is actually very personal because I think it has to do with our own sense of self worth and identity. And I talk about my own struggles as a teenager and fighting for life, about how I had mental health issues, body image issues. And so if we don't think well of ourselves and our own dignity, it's going to be hard to see that dignity in others. And so if we're going to stand up and fight for a cause, I think we do have to understand our God given dignity. I believe we're all sons and daughters of God and we have human dignity, whether you have a religion or not. I think we can all agree on that. And so I think that's really a reckoning about human value as opposed to materialism or using each other or, you know, greed or all these other things.
- [19:00]
A
Utilitarianism, all this other nonsense.
- [19:02]
B
Yeah, just say the human person. I mean, this whole thing of like, you know, we need to. Is, is having children bad for the environment? No, we, we care about the environment because we want to have children. You know, the focus should be kids and future and human beings. So then the second thing I would say is I think it's very much about what you just mentioned. It's about marriage, it's about family instead of sex being about what I want, momentary pleasure on my terms, which by the way, doesn't make people happy. All the social studies that have been done, Harvard did this 80 year study, 80 years on what makes people happy, what made people happy. Not short lived sexual pleasure and sleeping around. What made you happy was marrying someone and being faithful to them for your whole life and having a family with them. That's what Harvard, big news flash. What they discovered. All the social data says that it's
- [19:55]
A
like the Bible, more true than, yeah, mtv, surprise, surprise.
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B
And then the last thing I'll say, the last thing I'll say is caring for each other and going out of our way to help single moms and families and fostering kids. I think churches especially, you know, Christians, they need to rise up and, you know, foster kids and adopt kids and fight for families because that's really, you know, care for mothers and fathers and those in need because that's really going to also. And a lot of them are doing that. You know, there's thousands of pregnancy resource centers, I know dozens and dozens of couples fostering and adopting. So it is happening. But the more of that the better because that's also how we change our culture.
- [20:36]
A
Charlie Kirk here. And I've warned you about home title theft, where cyber thieves remove you from your home's title and you become the owner. Like I said, you better get home title lock because it's coming. Well, if you are on Facebook, that big data breach is here. Facebook has 500 million accounts that were exposed to cyber thieves. And according to a retired FBI cyber crime expert, everything thieves need to take over as the new owner of your home was leaked. Name, address, personal information and more. It's out there. The thief forges your signature on a quit claim deed stating you sold your home to him. He'll leave you in debt or even have you evicted. Do what I did and protect your home's title with hometitlelock.com go to hometitlelock.com and register your address. See if you're already a victim, then Sign up for 30 free days of protection during this high risk breach. Again, go to hometitlelock.com promo code radio that's hometitlelock.com promo Code radio there's a lot of data out there. There's a lot of things that you got to sort out right now. So go to hometitlelock.com protect yourself, protect your family, protect your well being. @hometitlelock.com promo code radio I'm trying to get involved with the local pregnancy resource center here in Arizona. And, and I've talked about this before. They don't do a great job of marketing and that's the one thing. So you know, I have talked about this before and I gave a whole speech that the, one of the problems the pro life movement has is it doesn't do a good job of advertising the great work they do. Because the number one piece of feedback I get from secular people or non pro life people, I should say, like, oh, the pro life, they're only pro life at birth. You don't care about the. I'm like, you have no idea what a pregnancy resource center is. And then I always reject that from my political view, which is I want more police on the streets because it's going to save lives. I want school choice because it's going to save lives. Every idea I have that you have, that we have as conservatives is a pro life position, right? It's about the dignity of human beings. But anyway, that's a cheap kind of side accusation that you and I get all.
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B
But people need to be educated because if the, if the GOP or conservatism just looks like, don't do this, don't do that, we don't care. Close the border, you know, close the border. There's just this, you know, it's presented and the media doesn't help. Obviously they're happy to present it as negative and bad and mean. But as we as speakers, communicators, activists, advocates are just focusing on this is all for human flourishing. You know, this is all so that people can be free and grow and pursue their dreams and build families. I think that can also do a lot to further our cause.
- [23:00]
A
I totally agree. So the book is Fighting for Life. You talk here about courage. How do you find your inner courage? Because that is something a lot of people are struggling with. Being a vocal pro life activist and leader as a woman tends to get you Attacked a lot. You know, when I talk about pro life stuff, I really don't get attacked that much. It's kind of like, oh, just like, you know, you're not a woman, you can't say it, but you get a lot of attacks. How do you find that inner courage?
- [23:28]
B
It's a great question. And I will say a couple things I mention in the book, because I kind of go step by step towards finding your voice and finding courage, the face of attacks and also in the face of insecurities and doubts. Because I think sometimes it's the voices in our own heads that can keep it hold us back as much as it is as the external voices. But a few things I'll say is, first of all, moral clarity. Having that conviction for what you're fighting for is so key. Having confidence in what you're fighting for. And that's education that's surrounding yourself with people who can help you learn and help you grow. Having heroes is really important. You know, who are your inspirations? Who are your heroes? So I talk a lot about heroes in the book, and also anti heroes, who are the people that are bringing you down. But what are those inspirations that show you how they persevered and will give you the fuel for your fight? And then one other thing I'll mention too, is having a mentor that's a little different than a hero, but finding a mentor or a coach, and this could be someone like a teacher, that's pro life, or someone in your church community or, you know, a religious person, like a priest or a pastor, and saying, I want to be more courageous. You know, I want to. I want my life to mean something. You know, I want to. I want to fight for what matters. But I have these hangups. I have these struggles. Can you help me? And there are people that do want to help, I promise you, but we have to ask. And so I think those are some keys to getting started and just getting the support you need, because we all need it. You know, we are not. We are not meant to do this alone.
- [24:59]
A
And so. So the subtext of the book is becoming a force for change in a wounded world. There's a lot of suffering in our country and in the world. Life is suffering, is what Jordan Peterson would say. It's a Buddhist principle. We as Christians have a different way of saying that. We think that there's redemption in life, obviously, but there is a lot of suffering in the world. It's a wounded world, and it can get people down. It can get them cynical. It can get them depressed, it can get them upset. Can you talk about this, and this is part of your book is bouncing back from mistakes to grow and to make a lasting impact. Talk about that a little bit.
- [25:34]
B
Sure. I think, and this is essential because I think one of the things that may hold us back from becoming activists or advocates or even speaking out in our own families, quite frankly, is fear of. Fear of failure or fear of offending others. And I'm just going to tell you right now, you're going to make mistakes. You might offend others. I certainly have. And I actually, in the book, I kind of, you know, I didn't want people to see just the highlight reel, you know, because I share a lot about life action in my story. So I shared some really hard moments, like things I totally messed up on. And I think that's important because everybody who's just starting, we all have to start somewhere. And in order to start, you have to learn. And in order to learn, you have to be. You have to fail sometimes. I mean, that's just learning. That's not faking it. That's learning. And, you know, I think we need to, as a culture, have more of a forgiveness for each other, for ourselves. That's what God wants to do for us. You know, God the maker of the perfect God, maker of the universe. I speak here as a Christian, of course, but even if you don't believe in God, I think you would want to be forgiven. Right. So let's forgive others. And sometimes that means starting with ourselves and knowing that even if you screw up, because we all do at some point, it's still worth it to try. And it's still worth it to try because you're going to learn from your mistakes. And that's what I share in the book. I share, for example, showing up to my own congressional press conference that I hosted late and why that happened and how embarrassing it was. And just, you know, you can learn more about my mistakes if you read Fighting for Life. But the point is, you can also make really big mistakes. But don't disqualify yourself from your calling, you know, from living your life because you're human and because you're wounded like all of us. And we're all just trying to grow each day and do better.
- [27:22]
A
So I want to read a part of your book here, which is chapter seven. Just start. I'm going to read the first paragraph, which is really good. I think it applies to a lot of people right now. I knew I had to do more. It wasn't just enough to stand outside an abortion clinic with a few friends helplessly watching women and girls walk into that death center. Perfect framing. I had read books, scoured websites, and researched how Planned Parenthood and their allies defended the killing. But what good was my knowledge if I didn't share it? I thought that if we could educate our peers about the horror of abortion as well as about the goodness of life and the many people and resources available to help mothers and children in need, we can prevent women and girls from ever going in. So a lot of people are watching across the street right now, metaphorically. They're seeing something happen that they don't like outside of life. We're going to kind of broaden this, right? But we're going to use your story. They're seeing a school board pass critical race theory, right? They're seeing a mask mandate harm their child. What was it that in chapter seven you say just start. What is your advice, especially the young mothers out there? So our podcast is a little unique. We have a significant portion of listeners that are young women ages 30 to 45 because we talk about education a lot. And so it's predominant focus of young mothers across the country that have 5, 6, 7 and 8 year olds that are trying to figure out what their children are being taught. So what is your. What had. What drove view? What's your advice to just start as you talk about in chapter seven?
- [28:49]
B
It's a great question and it's going to look different for all of us. But it comes down to a simple principle. The principle is this. You're seeing things that are concerning you. And it can be as simple as speaking up, sending that email, making that phone call, showing up to that school board meeting, asking around, and finding one other parent who might have concern too. It takes that moment of initiative and then doing it again the next day. You try the first day, maybe no one responds. You try again the next day. And it doesn't have to be perfect. You don't have to have gone through some course. There is no course for how to do this. I mean, actually, Live Action does have some online courses for how to be a better pro life apologist. But, you know, I didn't have a course when I started. I just kept trying different things. And I would just encourage you to say, listen, if you're willing to speak and put yourself out there and speak up when you see something's wrong, you're going to give confidence to others because I guarantee you there are others who feel concerned too. But that when, when everyone's silent when everyone's quiet. If you're quiet and you see the concern and you're quiet, it's just making it harder for the next person. But when you speak, you make it easier for the next person. And before you know it, there are, there, there can be millions of you. That's what happened. When I started Live Action. There were times when no one showed up to my meeting. There were times when no one picked up the phone. There were times even at ucla, I'd be up all night working on an activism project and everyone else was had ditched. You know, that's part of the journey. But now there's over 5 million people following Live Action. You know, now the pro life movement, not just because of my work, of course, because of a lot of other people's work, but we're bigger and more powerful than ever. So I would just encourage you. Getting started is as simple as one thing you do today and then trying again the next day. And before you know it, you have started to inspire change in your community. And I guarantee you it's going to be worth it.
- [30:39]
A
Well, I just have to tell you, you have made a very big difference. In fact, I get these beautiful emails from you of these testimonials of these mothers that say they decided not to have an abortion because they saw your video or I used to be pro choice. And it's like, these are beautiful videos and it's live action. It's terrific. So I want to talk about something that I know you'll appreciate. Chapter 18, keep the pressure on, which I think is rule four. Is that right? Saul Linsky's Rules for Radicals. I don't know if you chose that intentionally or not.
- [31:06]
B
I, I, I, Yes. Rules for Radicals is I wanted to write the activist Guidebook for conservatives and for people who care for justice. So, yeah, some principles can be applied absolutely. To our cause.
- [31:18]
A
Well, it's literally, it's, it's just I'm being facetious. Somewhat facetious. Is that one of Alinsky's rules is Keep the Pressure On. Is it eight? Rule number eight?
- [31:26]
B
I don't know which one, but that's the one that I would agree wholeheartedly with.
- [31:31]
A
There's a couple others that are okay, but the title of the book is Fighting for Life. And one of the things I love, Lila, is you have a really approachable way of communicating. We're working on that. But talk about the need to also contest for truth. Keeping the pressure on and fighting. This is something that sometimes Christians and conservatives tend to Be more agreeable at times. Don't always want to do.
- [32:00]
B
Yeah. So again, I think it goes back to what are we fighting for? And that can be that inspiration to get in the fray because we're made as human beings to want to get along, especially women. And that's a good thing. You know, it's good to want to get along. Peer pressure can be good if you're being pressured to do the right thing. But if society is broken, is the institutions, they're fundamentally broken in what they're promoting an evil or an injustice. And that's happened during slavery. That's happened at different times in human history and our history. It's happening today with abortion and more and more with other ideologies that are against the human person and against God. Then you do have to stick yourself out there. You do have to. There has to be a confrontational aspect to what we're doing. That doesn't mean we're mean, that doesn't mean we're unkind, that doesn't mean we're ungracious, but it means we're bold. And keeping the pressure on has a lot to do. You know, keeping the pressure on is in part two of the book. So there's three parts. Getting started is part one. Part two is overcoming. And if we're really going to take this home, like we're really going to change America, change our culture, make it pro life, make it pro family, make it. Make it a place where people can practice their faith freely without attacks. I mean, if we really want to make that this country, then keeping the pressure on until we've reached that goal is necessary. And it looks different for different people. That doesn't again, you mean you have to be like, mean about it. But it means persistence, which is a virtue, fortitude, which is a virtue. And the only way you build that virtue is you try again each day. You know, it's not overnight. You don't become this like super brave person in a second. I'm still nervous at times, you know, or I still struggle at times with, you know, how do I do something or what do I do? I mean, that's universal. I think ultimately it's just still getting up and trying, still getting up and speaking, still getting up and doing what is right and good and true. And that's how the change is made.
- [33:54]
A
I love that. And I think that there's a paralysis that has plagued a lot of the movement at times where it's like, I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can make the difference. And Lubbock, Texas, you saw this, obviously just became a sanctuary city for the unborn. How about a sanctuary state for the unborn? We should kick abortion.
- [34:12]
B
Well, you know, go ahead. And you know why Lubbock did that? You know why Lubbock became a sanctuary city for the unborn? Because another city in Texas did this first. Another brave city. We reported it on it. Let Live Action News people learned about it and they're like, we could do that in Lubbock. We can do that.
- [34:28]
A
Awesome.
- [34:28]
B
And that's, that's. But that's the power again of one little tiny town, you know, which is probably one person in that town went to the, you know, the city council and was like, you know what? Let's make this a sanctuary city for the preborn. And then all of a sudden, other states, cities are doing it again. It's a power of one person to stick themselves out there with a new idea, to take a risk and leave their comfort zone and just say, let's make this a sanctuary city for children, you know, for children in the womb. So just, it just takes one. It just takes you.
- [35:00]
A
It just starts with you and everyone listening. You guys can try to do that, too, if you happen to live in a super conservative area. For all my friends in Snohomish, Washington, near Seattle, I don't think this will apply to you. But in Oklahoma or in Missouri or in North Dakota, we have a lot of listeners in North Dakota. Why not try to say we are going to become the first state that is a sanctuary state for the unborn. It's time for us to play offense. And so do you start to see Planned Parenthood scrambling a little bit? I do. I think they're losing messaging. I think that they're glamorizing abortion. They're glorifying it. And I mean, I just can't help but believe that the only way they can justify their tragedy and their atrocity is to try and act as if it's a wonderful thing. Are you seeing that?
- [35:49]
B
Yeah. They're unhinged. And sometimes they lose the messaging. They fumble the ball so bad because you can't make abortion look good. You really can't put, you know, they'll use the phrase lipstick on that pig or, you know, beauty on that, total devastation of a little child. I mean, you just can't do that. And so when they try different things, like some of their allies, you know, shout your abortion or in Texas, they had this abortion candle sales thing, you know, this was like a partner of Planned Parenthoods when they tried this stuff. It backfires big time because it, I mean, everyone knows deep down, I think, that there's at least a tragic element to abortion. And so the best thing Planned Parenthood can do is to not talk about abortion. And that's when they've done their best messaging, is when they just don't talk about it. They talk about instead reproductive healthcare. They talk about women's health. And now they're all on transgender stuff. I mean, their whole thing now is give hormones to little girls and boys without their parents consent. That's their new shtick because they know that the abortion stuff is not really winning the PR fight for them and they want to try this other.
- [36:54]
A
That's an important fight, too. That's.
- [36:56]
B
It is a very important fight, too. And Planned Parenthood also wants the government to pay for that. They want to get the government. They sell hormones already through birth control and some their abortion drugs.
- [37:06]
A
Castration is what it is. It's chemical castration.
- [37:11]
B
And the more they can confuse our kids sexually, the more they can destroy the identities of our children, the better their abortion market anyway, long term. And then that's. That's part of their business structure. But all that to say they're going to. They've already, in a way, they've lost the abortion argument. They've lost it already. The best they can do is just have their alliances in big tech, their alliances and the entertainment media, their alliances in the news media who try to silence pro lifers or who will, you know, only promote the abortion conversation in terms of women's rights, you know, which is totally false framing. Right. Abortion is not about women's rights. It's about killing a child. And women are not served by this. It's a violation of our dignity, too. So I think you're right that they are scrambling and it's only a matter of time, Charlie. It's only a matter of time. The abortion industry is going down. We will abolish abortion. I think the Supreme Court will give us new rulings, I think probably very soon. And dramatic cultural changes are underway.
- [38:14]
A
I totally agree. Well, Lila, thank you for joining. It's fighting for life. Lila Rose from Live Action. Let's get that book all up on the charts on those terrible tech companies, Amazon. Hopefully soon we won't have to.
- [38:25]
B
We're only behind how to be an anti racist right now. So.
- [38:28]
A
Are you serious?
- [38:29]
B
We can get Pro Life to number one. Yeah, that. For political advocacy. We're behind the.
- [38:34]
A
Is how to be an anti race. Is that Robin d' Angelos or Taha Nisi Coates?
- [38:38]
B
No, it's Ibram X Kendi Ibram.
- [38:40]
A
That guy is the worst. All right, just for that, everyone go buy this book because that guy cannot be allowed to win anything. He is awful. But you are not.
- [38:51]
B
There it is. Fighting for life.
- [38:52]
A
That's it. Fighting for life. Lila Rose, in the nicest packaging I've ever received, I think a book ever. It's very beautiful. Lila, thanks so much for joining.
- [39:01]
B
Thanks, Charlie.
- [39:02]
A
You bet. Thanks so much for listening, everybody. If you want to support us, go to charliekirk.com support email us your thoughts freedomarliekirk.com God bless you guys. Speak to you soon. For more on many of these stories and news you can Trust, go to charliekirk.com.