Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon sat down for an August 16 conversation with podcast host Joe Rogan on his show, The Joe Rogan Experience. During the course of their discussion, Rogan challenged Dillon on the topic of abortion — and Dillon unequivocally defended his pro-life stance.
“Murder doesn’t fix a rape”
Rogan begins by asserting that abortion should be allowed in cases of rape, saying, “You don’t have the right to tell my 14-year-old daughter that she has to carry her rapist’s baby… If a 14-year-old child gets raped, you say that they have to carry that baby?”
“I don’t think two wrongs make a right,” Dillon responds. “I don’t think murder fixes a rape.”
Dillon is right when he notes that murder doesn’t fix a rape. In fact, rather than healing any wounds, abortion can compound the trauma experienced by the rape victim.
Rape is a violent, horrible act. Abortion is another violent act with two victims: the preborn child and the mother. Some rape survivors have said that the abortion they received afterward was far more traumatic than the rape itself. Conversely, many rape victims have spoken out about choosing life for their child after rape, and the incredible blessing that it was. Studies have shown that the majority of rape victims who choose life have no regrets about their decision.
“Abortion intentionally kills an innocent human life”
Rogan later moves the discussion to deciphering the point at which life begins.
“What if we’re talking about an abortion when the fetus is like, six weeks, four weeks, three days?” he asks. “What if she just turned positive for the pregnancy? What if it just happened today?”
Dillon responds by saying that there is no time at which abortion is permissible. “I just disagree that you can draw a line on when life has begun,” he says.
“I would lay it out like this,” Dillon goes on. “I would say that it is wrong to intentionally kill an innocent human life. Abortion intentionally kills an innocent human life. Therefore abortion is wrong. And I don’t think any of the examples of how developed is it, can it think, is it conscious, can it dream, can it feel pain…”
“So for you, it’s the moment of conception?” Rogan asks.
“I think that if it’s a human life, a distinct human life, then I think it’s wrong to end its life,” Dillon responds.
While Rogan’s main concern in the discussion seems to be with the issue of who can dictate a woman’s “right” to do as she wishes with her body, the true question that we must ask is, “What gives a woman a right to kill her child before birth?” It is the child’s own genetically distinct body that is being killed.
Science has repeatedly confirmed that life begins at the moment of fertilization, when the sperm meets the egg, and a new life is formed. Dillon is right to note that a preborn child’s worth is not determined by how old she is, how much she has developed, or whether or not she can feel pain — ability does not determine humanity.
Misinformation and the abortion industry
Finally, Dillon points out the harmful misinformation perpetrated by the abortion industry. He calls out a double standard that exists in the media, noting that his organization, the Babylon Bee, has received “misinformation” labels, yet the abortion industry is never held accountable for its misinformation.
“What about calling that baby a clump of cells, I think that’s harmful misinformation,” he says, “And then you’re encouraging people to kill it like it’s nothing when it’s actually a human life.”
He calls out the idea that the abortion industry uses the term “health care” to describe the killing of the preborn child. “I think abortion is healthcare the way that rape is lovemaking… I think they’re opposites, and these are euphemisms that we use. I mean, we use the word healthcare, we’re talking about a procedure that ends an innocent human life, and we’re calling it health care?”
“All life is valuable”
As the abortion discussion ends, Rogan appears more open to Dillon’s arguments. “This is why it’s such a human issue because I see what you’re saying,” he says.
“I think what we agree with is what you are trying to say is that all life is valuable. All life is valuable. At the moment of conception, it’s valuable — it’s all valuable. And it’s so important that we be this loving Christian community…” Rogan says.
“I don’t think you have to be a Christian to hold that view, by the way,” Dillon interjects. “There are plenty of pro-life atheists.”
Rogan also notes how incredible it is that some people have survived abortion attempts, with Dillon pointing out that today these people are some of the most avid pro-life advocates. “What you’re saying, life is valuable — yes,” Rogan says. “And people almost were the victims of abortion, and they weren’t. They went on to become these amazing people, but we would have lost them.”
Rogan’s conversation with Dillon shows the value of respectful dialogue around the issue of abortion. In the face of Rogan’s questioning, Dillon doesn’t back down from defending the preborn at all stages of development, including those who were conceived under the most difficult of circumstances. As he notes, all preborn children deserve a chance to be born.
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