Christian Influencer: "Your Abortion Also Saved Your Life," to a Woman Who Traded Her Child for a Chance at Gold
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Christian influencer Emmanuel Acho posted a curious episode of “The Uncomfortable Conversation,” about the overturning of Roe V. Wade. His guests were two women who had elective abortions for their careers, a doctor who had an ectopic pregnancy, and a female pastor who was the lone white woman. The “uncomfortable conversation” was never challenged because no one represented the Pro-Life side. Curiously enough, the panel of Christians never took a moment in the twenty-seven-minute segment to ponder the humanity of the child and acknowledge a life was taken at all.
TV analyst MJ Acosta-Ruiz told her abortion story publicly for the first time. She had an abortion at barely twenty years old, had just dropped out of college, and was very lost. Her parents left good careers in their homeland to find opportunities for their daughter. When she found out she was pregnant, she thought to herself, “My parents did not do all of this to bring me here, for me to now bring a child, and for them to be in poverty, for them to suffer, and for me to suffer along with them. And so, I very quickly decided that abortion was the way for me to go.”
Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 6, to take no thought for these things because God is aware of them. He will provide. Instead, Jesus said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Later on, Acosta-Ruiz remarked that women of color and low-income will be affected by the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. It was unfortunate that no Pro-Life advocate was there to remind the panel that eugenics used to be very prevalent in the United States, and the goal was to limit the population of the very people Acosta-Ruiz believes needs abortion access to kill their offspring. Also, no one mentioned the United States is a land of opportunity. There’s a reason why her parents left their careers in other countries. She went from being a lost college dropout to a TV analyst. Would it have been so unfathomable that she could have achieved a good career with a child?
Christians love to quote, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” and “with God, all things are possible.” Why do believers think they need abortion to achieve success? And no one on the panel pushed back on the idea that abortion wasn’t necessary for these women.
4x Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross said from the age of nine, she had the dream of becoming an Olympic medalist. Richards-Ross said she was in an “impossible situation,” because she was with her “forever,” the man who she wanted to marry, and ultimately did. She wanted to have a family with him, but she wanted to be a champion more than anything. So, the day before leaving for the Beijing Olympics, she terminated the life of her unborn child for the chance at a gold medal.
Richards-Ross “identifies as a Christian woman who tries to be Christlike.” She said, “I never ever thought that I would be in that situation.”
Having sex outside of the covenant of marriage was the first big misstep, and Christ famously laid down his life for the salvation of the world. Richards-Ross didn’t need to lay down her literal life for her child, but perhaps her dream. Despite feeling unworthy of gold and crediting her guilt to losing the race she wanted to win the most, Richards-Ross still can’t imagine her life without her Olympic victory. “I don’t know if I would’ve been all of who I am today.”
Acho proposed the question: “So then would you say, or submit in the figurative sense, your abortion also saved your life?”
“Yeah.”
It’s a very curious question for a Christian to ask another. It was not strange for Jesus to challenge those who sought after him to lay down their careers. Jesus told Simon and Andrew if they came after him, he would make them fishers of men. So, these fishermen, cast their nets aside and followed. To the rich young ruler, Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions. He refused and walked away from Jesus sorrowfully.
Emmanuel Acho also featured Dr. Yani Abraham, who had an ectopic pregnancy. It occurs when a fetus implants outside of the uterus. On Planned Parenthood’s own website, it says: “Treating an ectopic pregnancy isn’t the same thing as getting an abortion.” The abortion debate is surrounded by advocates who do not believe in deliberately killing the unborn child. Ectopic pregnancies are not viable and are dangerous if untreated. Pro-Life advocates are not against triage situations when you must prioritize one life over another.
Though ectopic pregnancies are rare, “2 out of every 100 pregnancies” according to Planned Parenthood, it has become a go-to in the abortion debate, creating hysteria and jeopardizing women who may fall victim to malpractice, because doctors are too terrified to do their jobs
Dr. Abraham claims her doctor was afraid to treat her ectopic pregnancy due to Texas’s heartbeat bill and instructed her to come after hours. The heartbeat bill allows for exceptions for a medical emergency when a mother’s life is in danger.
Pastor Chelsea Smith of Churchome said she was “embarrassed” by Christians “rejoicing” at the cost of other people’s pain. There is nothing wrong with Christians empathizing with women who have fallen victim to the propaganda of the abortion industry, but this panel furthered that agenda. There is never any call to repentance, the women who had completely elective abortions never expressed regret, nor did they openly discourage women from seeking abortions in the future. They all stuck up for the “choice.” No one was “Pro-Life.”
When Acho asked Pastor Smith what the church could do to help “those now that are not empowered to make that decision,” he implies it’s empowering for a woman to sacrifice her child. God is blatantly against this. If you need to kill a child to be free, you are bound and need deliverance.
Richards-Ross said, “The person who’s involved should speak up, and the ones who aren’t, should shut up.” The panel laughed along, but this is not a Christian position. Why should Christians, or non-Christians, remain silent during a major human rights violation? Looking back on history, would they want men like William Wilberforce to stay silent? What about John Rankin?
When Emmanuel Acho was asked what role men should play, he said: “It’s two-fold. I firmly believe that justice will not be served until those that are unaffected are as outraged as those that are affected. And so, after we identify what justice looks like, I think those men that are unaffected need to be as outraged as those women that are affected.”
It’s unfortunate Acho didn’t have anyone represent the Pro-Life position, because they would have shared the sentiment that everyone needs to be outraged by the horrors of abortion, which includes terminating the life of a child via suffocation/starvation, dismemberment, and lethal injection. They also could have pushed back against the misconception that abortion only affects the woman and not society as a whole.
“The second thing I always think about is you have to be slow to speak and quick to listen.” He thanked the ladies for sharing their stories, but he had no differing perspectives.
Black Tea News reached out to Emmanuel Acho to see why they did not have representation from women who regretted their abortion and actively discouraged it. His team did not respond. Pro-Life organization Live Action also claims when they tried to engage in Acho’s comments, they were blocked, along with Lila Rose.
One of the most troubling things is that Acho never represented the perspective of a father fighting for his child not to be killed.
Toward the end of the video, Acho said, “No woman wants to have an abortion; you are just faced with a decision.” We are faced with decisions every day. Not everyone makes the correct choice. Some are egregious. That doesn’t mean we sign onto every single one. That is why the bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things,” in Jeremiah. It also says in Proverbs, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
It also says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes…”
MJ Acosta-Ruiz, who quickly made the decision to terminate her child, said multiple things can be true at the same time. “You can love God, you can be a member of your church, you can choose to have an abortion, and you can still be a good person, all at the same time.”
If you love God, you will keep his commandments. That’s what Jesus said. We all fail. Women who have abortions can be redeemed and forgiven. If God can forgive and use Apostle Paul for persecuting Christians, he can forgive a woman for sacrificing her child on the altar of self. God is a redeemer, and no woman should feel like she cannot be redeemed by the love of Jesus Christ. But we are supposed to repent of our sins, and Jesus expects us to go and sin no more, a detail Pastor Smith left out when she chastised Christians for “casting stones.”
By encouraging abortion, you are encouraging others to commit a grave moral sin. God hates hands that shed innocent blood, abhors child sacrifice, and commands us not to murder.
Pastor Smith says that “saving a life is a very valid cause, but that’s not the only life that we’re called to save. If you’re Pro-life, there’s a lot of life.” Why would a pastor believe upholding the institution of abortion would save a woman’s “life,” or better yet, her eternal life? “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it,” (Matt 16:25).
Jesus said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” (John 10:10).
The women Acho selected had conversations about their lives, their experiences, their dreams, their feelings, and their expectations, and they never took the time to reflect on God’s commandments and what he would have wanted for them.
The uncomfortable conversation should have included the fact life isn’t solely about you, and as a Christian, your life is about glorifying God. No woman is granted the blanket authority to electively take the life of God’s creation, and no Christian should find it acceptable for her to do so.
