Focus on the Family Broadcast

Preview:

Kristan Hawkins: When I’m speaking to young women, I’ll ask them, “Why are you falling for these antiquated lies of the abortion industry? You know you’re strong enough.” Abortion is the opposite of empowerment to young women.

End of Preview

John Fuller: That’s Kristan Hawkins. She’s our guest today on Focus on the Family and she’s the Head of Students for Life, a pro-life organization working primarily on college campuses. And Kristan has some great insights for us today about protecting women and their pre-born children from abortion. Your host is Focus president and author, Jim Daly, and I’m John Fuller.

Jim Daly: John, this issue of abortion is so close to my heart and I’m so grateful that Focus for many, many years, 40-plus years defending the innocent life of a pre-born baby, and helping the moms. Um, as Christians, we’re called to protect the vulnerable around us and some of the most vulnerable people we’re ever going to encounter are pre-born children-

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … and their mothers. And I’m so grateful that we’ve helped so many in that way. We have done that together, by the way. The donors and- and Focus. And, uh, y- the reality is, abortion harms, uh, both mom and baby. And there’s so much we can do to support the pro-life movement. So, part of this program is just getting you up to speed on what’s happening on the front lines from one of the most, uh, articulate, uh, fighters for the pro-life position. And Kristan is out there on college campuses, like Berkeley, and Dartmouth, and Yale, and Harvard. Think of that discussion.

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And we’re gonna hear more from her shortly.

John: Yeah. And I mentioned she’s the President of Students for Life. And, uh, Kristan is married to Jonathan and they have four children.

Jim: Kristan, welcome to Focus on the Family.

Kristan: Thanks for having me. It’s good to see you again.

Jim: It’s good to have you here too. And I always admire from a distance what you’re doing and it’s good to finally have you here on Focus on the Family.

Kristan: It’s great to be here. You know, Focus, uh, is so critical for, um, what we do. And I just, I want to thank you all for what you guys do. I remember as a little, uh, little girl sitting at church, I would get those-

Jim: (laughs).

Kristan: … Focus on the Family bulletin church inserts.

Jim: Oh, right.

Kristan: And that was really the, kind of the first time abortion … I learned about abortion was through those church-

John: Mm-hmm.

Kristan: … bulletin inserts. So, I don’t know if y’all ke- are still doing it-

Jim: We’re still doing it-

Kristan: But-

Jim: … with Tindale. Yeah, it’s good.

Kristan: … but, I mean, just thank you for that.

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: Because y- what you mentioned earlier, you all have been doing this for 40-plus years. And the- the legacy you guys have had is spread out-

Jim: Wow, that’s very, very kind.

Kristan: … across America.

Jim: Well, Kristan, let’s start with the obvious question. What got you going to be-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … an advocate, to be a really strong voice for the pro-life movement? What was the occurrence-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … that you kind of went, “Wow, I got to do something?”

Kristan: I think everyone has those kind of stories, those of us that have committed our lives to the pro-life movement. For me, um, it was a simple ask in my life, where a woman that I went to church with was a part-time accountant at a pregnancy resource center. I was looking to graduate high school early. I decided to graduate school a year early. And so, I had to, um, get all of my volunteer hours in within one summer to graduate with honors. And, uh, so I just put out a call at church that, “Kristan’s available for slave labor all summer.”

Jim: (laughs).

Kristan: “Whatever you need, I have to fill up all of these volunteer hours.” And she came up to me and said, “You know, I- I work at this women’s center. Do you want to come and intern for me at the women’s center?” And I had … I would love to be able to say today that I knew exactly what I was getting myself into, uh, that I knew, you know, really fully the issue of abortion and the, uh, the violence of abortion. But I- I didn’t really know that much. Um, I- I largely felt that I was pro-life, um-

Jim: Right.

Kristan: … I grew up in a church. We didn’t talk about much. But as I mentioned, we had those bulletin inserts, so I-

Jim: (laughs).

Kristan: … I knew a little bit. But, you know, I was kind of one of those people of, “Yes, I’m against abortion, but in this case, or maybe in this case.” Um, and so, when I walked into that pregnancy center in Steubenville, Ohio, the- the women there were just so excited to have me there, because I was the youngest volunteer by a couple of decades. And they just poured into me for an entire summer, uh, and really trained me in how to counsel some of the women who were coming into the clinic, uh, my age, even younger. Um, yes, I did the- the menial intern task of reorganizing the supply room and-

Jim: (laughs).

Kristan: … teaching everyone how to use the-

Jim: And you probably did a really good job.

Kristan: … the computer. Yes. But, uh-

Jim: They were going, “Wow, she’s good.”

Kristan: (laughs). Yeah, yeah. Um, but no, it was, it … For me, I- I remember distinctly walking out of that pregnancy center the first day, you know, with the thought in my head of, “Why doesn’t anyone talk about this?”

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: Abortions happening thousands of times in a day and no one talks about this.

Jim: Well, and I do want to make a shameless plug for our internship program that we have at Focus (laughs).

John: Oh, yeah.

Kristan: There you go.

Jim: So, if you are a college, uh, person and want to spend a summer with us, get a hold of us. And moms, dads, you can let your adult children know about that.

Kristan: There you go.

Jim: But in that context, um, you did get an opportunity to begin counseling.

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And that really sparked you, I think, right? What- what-

Kristan: It did.

Jim: … happened and how old were you then? And pretty courageous, because your- your youthfulness, that somebody would of said, “Well, let’s put you in the counseling role.”

Kristan: Yeah.

Jim: Because that’s heavy.

Kristan: Yeah, that’s not something normally you would see pregnancy centers do. I- I think Sharon, the Director of the center probably saw something in me. And I would sit in with her for counseling sessions. And then by the end of the summer, I was able to do some of them by myself. Um, I was 15 goin-, you know-

Jim: Wow.

Kristan: … nearly 16. Um, and it was hard, because I, you know, I grew up in pretty sheltered, you know, stable family. A great family. Uh, there was no, um, financial poverty, no spiritual poverty. Uh, and then, to meet some of these women who came into the center, many of them had already had abortions in their life.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Kristan: They’re coming for a pregnancy test. Sometimes I knew they we-, you know … I’d say, “You’re not … Do you really think you’re pregnant? Or … ” She was coming there because she wanted to talk to somebody, that she needed some diapers-

Jim: She was lonely.

Kristan: … for her two year old. Her boyfriend was abusing her. And just, hearing these stories-

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: … and realizing that abortion isn’t this great solution for any of these women, n- no matter how terrible their circumstances are. It’s- it’s this Band-Aid. And in- in a lot of ways, it let the abuse continue on in her life.

Jim: Yeah. And in that regard, I mean, uh, I think statistics show when they do the post-survey work-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … that women are far worse off-

Kristan: Right.

Jim: … after abortion emotionally, spiritually in every way. So, that’s why you are there. Uh, Students for Life, it’s about 18 years old now. So, it’s b- becoming an adult (laughs).

Kristan: Yes. We can vote apparently now.

Jim: But … It can vote, that’s about it. Uh, but in that context, I mean, that’s a long time going after this.

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: Uh, what have you seen in that movement? You’re going after students, why?

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: Why is it important to be on these college campuses where there’s, you know, pretty much monolithic thinking about the abortion issue?

Kristan: Scary.

Jim: Which is, “Every woman should have the right to terminate the life of their baby.”

Kristan: Yeah.

Jim: Um, that’s a hostile environment to get into.

Kristan: Yeah, yeah.

Jim: What’s it like?

Kristan: Yeah. I don’t mind hostile environments, I actually enjoy them. I find I thrive in those environments. So, I-

Jim: And what’s the mission-

Kristan: Yeah.

Jim: … of Students for Life?

Kristan: I mean, I think when you look at the mission of Students for Life, y- you look at, back at the history of social reform movements in our country. And you know, um, in order to have great cultural change take effect, you have to win over a generation of young people. Um, that is what the left has done so brilliantly. I mean, today, we’ve seen the chickens come home to roost on our college campuses. And this wasn’t just like two years ago. People ch- tend to think like, “Oh, it’s gotten really bad since COVID.” No, this is what they’ve been teaching our young people for decades in schools and now they’re in college and now they’re adults. Uh, no wonder why they’re confused about their gender, or think that they have no value or purpose in life, because you’ve told them that, right? For two decades whi- while they were in school. And so, I know, and I think about my life and the time I spend away from my four kids and my husband and, you know, why am I doing this work and getting on these planes and- and going to these crazy places where people don’t want me, right? Um, I know that there’s nothing greater that I can do to build this generation up. These young people who they are the ones having the conversations on campuses with the women who are most targeted by the abortion industry. They’re saving lives. They’re helping moms and families, uh, find success. But then these are the ones also leading the pro-life movement. Now we have, you know, tens of thousands of graduates at Students for Life who are now running their own pregnancy centers, starting their own maternity homes, uh, you know, working for members of Congress. They are literally everywhere. They’re running for office. They’re being elected to office. This is the generation that’s going to, uh, hopefully achieve the full mission of the pro-life movement, which wasn’t just reverse Roe v. Wade.

Jim: Right.

Kristan: Um, it’s to end abortion, to make it unthinkable and unavailable. That’s really going to be this generation’s legacy.

Jim: Man, may it be so. That’s, uh, what we have all worked for-

Kristan: Yeah.

Jim: … for so long.

Kristan: That’s what we’re praying for.

Jim: Um, let’s get down to some practical storytelling. Um, you’re there helping students in very practical ways.

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: You’re lecturing and talking and debating and doing Q&As at, again, Berkeley, and Dartmouth-

Kristan: Doing TikToks.

Jim: Yeah. I mean, it’s, uh … And I’ve seen many of those and you do a great job. Tell us about that component, what you practically do to help these female students in their point of need?

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And one of the things that comes out in the data, I didn’t mention it a moment ago, but if a w- woman has just one person-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … that says-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … “I will help you through this,” they’re far more likely to have the child instead of being alone. If they’re alone, they’re desperate-

Kristan: You’re exactly right.

Jim: … they’re looking for, uh, you know, a way out. But they say, “If I just had one person-

Kristan: One person.

Jim: … saying, ‘We can do this together.’”

Kristan: And- and she’ll tell you at the pregnancy center … I wrote a book, uh, back in 2010, where I interviewed Students for Life leaders, young women we met on campuses, all who had an abortion story. In every story, every person we interviewed, the difference between life and death was one person.

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: Finding … If she was able to find one person to tell her she didn’t have to have the abortion … Not that they had all the solutions and all the answers to everything going on in- in her life at that time, but just saying, “You don’t have to do it.” You’re- you’re absolutely right. And I think that’s what’s important about what we do at Students for Life every day on campuses, where we’re going out, hosting events, starting conversations. We measure our conversations, we measure our conversion. We have a 10% conversion rate last semester on campuses.

Jim: That’s fantastic.

Kristan: Um, and that’s, you know, that’s hard to get p- young people to- to admit that they’re, you know, they were wrong to your face. Online, the conversion rates much, always much higher because you’re just committing it to yourself. But then, you know, it’s not just hosting these events and starting the conversation. It’s building up these groups, Students for Life groups, on high school, college campuses, that are this remaining force, uh, that are constant. They’re hosting educational displays, talking about the violence of abortion, talking about the resources in their community and then pressuring the university themselves to change their own policies-

Jim: Right.

Kristan: … to support pregnant and parenting women to be that one person.

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: So, we have tons of stories of that-

Jim: Yeah, and I want to hear-

Kristan: … one person meeting that girl.

Jim: Yeah. And- and I guess the good way to describe that is, you try to be that friend.

Kristan: Yeah, that’s right.

Jim: You try to be that one person-

Kristan: Yeah.

Jim: … that one entity that can help her make the better decision.

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: Give us a couple of those stories-

Kristan: Sure.

Jim: … of women that you’ve helped.

Kristan: Yeah. Um, one of the stories that is- is a recent story President Trump highlighted a couple years ago, I didn’t know about until I was watching on TV and I was like, “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”

Jim: (laughs).

Kristan: Uh, one of our students in Fresno, uh, approached the Students for Life table, took one of the- the fetal models, the rubber fetal models-

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: … um, went to Planned Parenthood, uh, was gonna have an abortion. Uh, Jessica walked out of the Planned Parenthood abortion facility, after they told her, you know, “You have to do this. You’re Latina, you know, you’re the first one in your- your family to graduate college. You’re not gonna achieve your goals.” Uh, so she walked out. And the next week, she found the Students for Life group again, on campus, tabling about abortion, tabling about non-violent alternatives in our community. Walked right up to them and said, “Okay, now what do I do? I c-

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Kristan: … I’m not gonna have this abortion. Now, what do I do?” And, uh, it’s an incredible story of just how the entire, uh, Fresno state Students for Life group came around this young mother, uh, helped her through … You know, went with her to university meetings where they had to kind of stand up for her rights as a pregnant student on campus. Um, Jessica eventually, uh, became the President of the Students for Life group, as a mother. Uh, walked in her master’s graduation with her son with her. It’s an incredible story. And there’s all kinds of stories like that of just having that presence on campus, uh, as a Students for Life group, highlighting all that’s there that the group is willing to do, whether it’s baby diaper drives, baby showers, free babysitting nights that these Students for Life groups do. Um, they’re that voice to say, “You don’t have to make this false choice. You don’t have to choose between your education, or- or the way you see your life going and your child.”

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: You can do both. It’s not going to be easy, but you can do both.

Jim: You know, I’m- I’m stuck back at what you said a moment ago about how they try to tell this young lady-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … that if she has a baby, she will destroy her life.

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: I- I mean, what I’m hearing is, if you’re a mom, you’re a loser.

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And it’s so bizarre that-

Kristan: It’s antiquated.

Jim: … it’s so, it’s … Yes, it’s that. But it’s also so bizarre that they’ve been able to achieve a certain level-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … of dividing a mother from her baby.

Kristan: Yeah.

Jim: It’s so contrary to God’s nature.

John: Hmm.

Jim: A- a mom-

Kristan: Yes.

Jim: … has that desire. She has that nature and that nurture-

Kristan: Mm-hmm. That’s right.

Jim: … to be there for that baby. And it- it’s kind of profound in a sad way that they have done such devastation-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … to that natural ability of a mom.

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And to label that person, “You’re not gonna succeed.”

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: You can do it.

Kristan: Yeah.

Jim: Today, you can do it. You can have a career. You can be a mom. You- you can get married, which is a better way to go, right? And, uh, yet, I- I do think they’re unfortunately successful in-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … brainwashing young women, uh, that they will never succeed if they have a baby. What a lie from the pit of hell.

Kristan: No. And- and that, and that lie didn’t just start, you know, recently. I mean, you think about the 1960s and the, and the second wave of the feminist movement and how, you know, in the 70s you started seeing advertising, marketing in America shift from a mother being this put together nicely dressed woman who can handle it all, to becoming this disheveled person and the career woman is the one who’s put together and has it all going on. And I mean, that started way before I was even conceived or thought of. And- and that’s what we’ve seen on- on these campuses. And we call it … When I’m speaking to young women I’ll ask them, “Why are you falling for this antiquated lies of the abortion industry? You know you’re strong enough.” You know, we’ve been told, you know, ever since we were little girls in schools that we are equal to boys and we can achieve, you know, even more than boys can achieve. And if you look at the college, you know, uh, you know, graduation rates, more women are graduating college now than men. Um, so I mean, that’s a whole nother problem and whole nother broadcast next we need to bring on there. Um, but why do you feel that you have to succumb to these lies of the abortion industry?

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: They are … Abortion is the opposite of empowerment to young women.

Jim: It truly is.

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And I’m so proud of what pregnancy resource centers do around the country-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … it’s- it’s an awesome movement. They are there for that woman-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … to help her in so many practical ways.

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: Uh, you’re not gonna get that at a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Kristan: No.

Jim: Sorry. Or any other-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … abortion clinic. They’re into making the money off the abortion-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … and you’re out the door.

Kristan: Yep.

Jim: And, uh, that’s the plain truth. Um, and of course, we do our Option Ultrasound-

John: Option Ultrasound.

Jim: … program here, which helps equip those pregnancy resource centers with the ultrasound machine to show the mom her baby. And oftentimes, the majority of women will choose life when they have they counseling and see that baby.

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: You know, in the womb it’s so amazing, that baby will be sucking its thumb-

John: Yeah.

Jim: … it’ll be waving its hands, you know? This is a living human being and that’s the battle we’re trying to win.

John: Yeah. This is Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. And, uh, at our website you’ll be able to see all the details about, uh, Students for Life and about Option Ultrasound and ways that you can be equipped to stand for life. Just stop by the site. Uh, that’s focusonthefamily.com/broadcast, or call 800, the letter A, and the word, FAMILY.

Jim: Kristan, I want to kind of get into that moment that you’re on a campus and you’re having these exchanges with students that, you know, it’s almost … There is a … My expression of this, there’s almost … I’ve seen the videos on YouTube. It’s almost like a militancy-

Kristan: Yeah.

Jim: … and a block uniform think that they show up in-

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … you know? It- it’s the typical congregation-

Kristan: Yeah.

Jim: … of thinkers on the left, you know, the LGBTQ crowd and the pro-abortion people. And by the way, I no longer call them pro-choice. That is-

Kristan: Thank you.

Jim: … not an accurate statement.

Kristan: I’ve only been campaigning for that for 15 years.

Jim: It is pro-abortion.

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: So, uh, you know, I think all of us in the Christian community don’t give them the dignity of choice. That’s not what they’re about-

Kristan: No.

Jim: … ever. Uh, they’re about 600, $700-

Kristan: They get very angry when you say that, though (laughs).

Jim: Right. But it’s not. It’s … Yeah, it’s a lofty-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … sounding title.

Kristan: It is.

Jim: But it’s not who they are.

Kristan: No, that’s right.

Jim: And especially the leaders of that movement. But describe, uh, being in that kind of angry, aggressive context. I mean, you know, for me, I do want to have a discussion. I want to keep the dialogue open.

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: The Lord, I think, really does command us to, uh-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … maintain that. But boy, our own temperament, the way that we’re wired can really trip us up in that environment where there’s unloading of this-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … emotion coming at us. How do you frame it? How do you go about engaging-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … with somebody who’s frothing at the mouth and seemingly want to hurt you-

Kristan: Yeah.

Jim: … because of what it is you believe?

Kristan: Well, I- I’m very lucky. I mean, my- my singular prayer usually when I step onto an environment like that is, “Come Holy Spirit.” You know, so-

Jim: It’s a good start.

Kristan: … I … It’s a good start.

Jim: (laughs).

Kristan: And, you know, words will come out of my mouth sometimes and I’ll watch the video later, I’m like, “Oh man, where did that come from?” Uh, it was not in any written remarks I had or thoughts I was having. And so, uh, the Holy Spirit does come and I think he gives you that sense of peace and calm when you’re having those discussions. And I think, you know, for me, when I’m having that discussion with a young person, uh, especially when they get really angry, um, you have to understand you’re probably talking to a walking wounded person. I mean, with the- the array of abortion in our country, um, likely that person’s been involved in abortion or has had an abortion or knows someone they love who’s had an abortion. Um, and so, there’s some sort of hurt there. Often I get young people … And this, I know this is an issue close to your heart, Jim, who have been raised in the foster care system and they’re very hurt by what their parents did to them by how, by something that happened to them in the system. And, um, they’re there and sadly they’ll, you know, they’ll say, “Well, I don’t think anybody has any value. I don’t have any value.”

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Kristan: And so, you’re dealing with somebody who’s … It’s not just arguing a political argument about abortion or even a human rights argument about this child that they’ll never know. It’s having an argument with them, themselves that they have value. I know I- I have to start out all my speeches on campuses now reminding students that they have value. Like, I’ve- I take a point-

Jim: Yeah, they themselves.

Kristan: Yes, yeah.

Jim: (laughs).

Kristan: I- I take, I- I t- … I give a pregnancy helpline, uh, for standingwithyou.org, which is our kind of comprehensive resource of pregnancy centers and, uh, government funded non-abortion agencies. I talk about post-abortive healing and then I, then I always end with, “And you have value. No matter how much you hate me, or how much you may disagree with me, I want you to know that I believe you have value and you had a right to be born.” Um, those are like the three standard things I have to always, you know, make sure I go through. And so, I think that helps have, you know, have peace in those conversations when someone’s screaming at you, or, you know, calling me nasty names, or-

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: … threatening my children. Um, I- I tend to get more, I guess, angry when it’s a person who comes up … I’m just, I’m thinking about my last campus I was at this fall semester, University of Florida, where a young man who kept professing his Christian faith and using it to justify abortion. Uh, it … I think I probably lost my cool in that one.

Jim: Yeah. And it’s not well-informed.

Kristan: Uh, and so, it’s with Christians that I tend to lose my, uh, my coolness with, uh, because I’m like, “You should know better. You know, of all the things, why are you quoting scripture to me trying to justify killing God’s children?” Uh, but yeah. No, I think that helps. I- I, and I also think we’re all called to different things too. I’m, I am much better in a hostile situation where people are screaming at me, because-

Jim: Y- you’re pretty calm.

Kristan: I- I’m calm and I’m- I’m also thinking about what I’m saying and what people who are watching the conversation-

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: … are thinking. Because often I have 50 students who are watching the conversation, so I’m pointing out the illogic position that they have taken. And I get to see … I have the best view in the whole deal, because I get to see the little light bulbs go off in all the-

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: … audiences’, you know, minds.

Jim: Well, and that’s what’s so good. Um, you know, again, one of the things that we’ve done for years here is that Option Ultrasound, but that now has expanded-

Kristan: Yeah. It’s beautiful.

Jim: … into so many efforts within the pro-life community.

Kristan: Yes.

Jim: For example, certainly the placement of the machines in the clinics, but also developing an, a powerful app, uh, My Choice Network, that gets all the independent, uh, pregnancy resource centers kind of connected in community. And we’re able to do national or regional ad campaigns-

Kristan: That’s awesome.

Jim: … on an app when a woman searches “abortion”-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … “need abortion”, and that has exponentially-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … uh, sent women to these clinics to get-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … uh, advice on having the baby, and saving the baby’s life. That’s been powerful. I mean, I mean hundreds of thousands of appointments-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … in the, uh, pro-life community. That’s been a great success. The other, which we hadn’t talked about, but it’s something I’ve thought about going all the way back during the Obama administration. We always talk about women, uh, keeping that child, but adoption is an option.

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: A better option than ending the life of your child.

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: But one of the difficulties we have is we don’t have a national kind of adoption, waiting adoption list of parents-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … who want a newborn infant. So, we are attempting to work with agencies, adoption agencies to develop a national database-

Kristan: That’s fantastic.

Jim: … and if we can, you know … There’s about a million a- abortions every year. And from our research, about a million people that would do the adoption. We just need to link these up. So, we’re working hard in that same space with Option Ultrasound to put money toward developing that, uh, list so that women will have options, pre-qualified adoptive parents-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … who are Christians and want to get involved in this way. That is another noble approach.

Kristan: That’s right. And I’m so thankful for what you’re doing, because that’s so, so needed. I just interviewed a woman a couple months ago on my podcast, Explicitly Pro-Life. Uh, and-

Jim: Say it again.

Kristan: Explicitly Pro-Life.

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: Uh, and she’s a foster care advocate in Jacksonville, child psychologist. And just talking about what’s happening in the foster care system in Florida and- and how hard it was for her family to adopt a child. And, um, the blessing of- of her child, uh, that she was able to adopt. It’s so … It should not be this hard. But you think about politics. Politics is a place so the agent, uh-

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: You know, we need better state laws about a-, you know, f- to help adopting families. The rising cost of adoption in our country. We don’t, we don’t talk about those things alot.

Jim: Right.

Kristan: Um, there needs to be folks coming together to address some of the real concerns we have, you know, and folks have with the foster care agencies in states or how, you know, the certain-

Jim: Oh, Christians are being sidelined-

Kristan: E- e- exactly.

Jim: … in some of these states from adopting or from being in foster care.

Kristan: Exactly.

Jim: It’s horrible. But this is so good. And h- here’s an irony. You know, we have got the metrics down. It’s $60 to save a baby’s life through the Option Ultrasound program that I’ve talked about. So, I hope people will engage that way. Um, Jean and I are doing that. You know, we try to, uh, do that every month to save babies-

Kristan: Thank you.

Jim: … uh, through the program. And, uh-

Kristan: You can change a young person’s mind about abortion for $12 a month.

Jim: Hey- hey, I’m in.

John: (laughs).

Kristan: If you do, it stands for life.

Jim: Yeah, let’s do that. I’ll support you.

Kristan: I’ll match you and you match me.

Jim: That’ll be great. And, uh, you know, again, this is just a way to engage in all of the great work that’s being done. Um, Kristan, it’s important to mention the fact that another thing that we’re involved with, along with the pregnancy resource centers, is the abortion reversal pill. So, this is a very safe thing to do.

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: Once a woman has taken that first pill, uh, they can get the reversal pill, if they do within about 24, 48 hours.

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: It can actually restore the baby and- and no harm. Uh, there’s long-term studies that have watched this. I think 5,000 babies, uh, were-

Kristan: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … uh, looked at clinically. All c- solid healthy children. But, and this is all hormone treatment.

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: I mean, they- they blast the baby with a hormone in order to start the process and then you can reverse that.

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: So, I would encourage women who are maybe in that spot to, uh, think about quickly, uh, and you can get a hold of a pregnancy resource center. Call 1-800-A-FAMILY. We could put you in touch with somebody right away and a nurse will be on the line with you.

Kristan: Yeah. That’s awesome. And go to standingwithyou.org and start a chat with Heartbeat International instantly and-

Jim: Yeah.

Kristan: … they’re the ones who founded the Abortion Pill Reversal Network and they can get the protocol going.

Jim: Kristan, thank you for what you do. I’m so delighted that we could have you on Focus so that you could express what you’re seeing at the ground level. There’s nothing that beats being on the ground-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … and talking with people and I admire the fact that you’re doing it. I’d encourage people to take a look at your YouTubes-

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … because those are really good instructors-

Kristan: They are.

Jim: … on how to deal with angry people-

Kristan: (laughs).

Jim: … in your face and the way that you’re able to, you know, respond to them with logic-

Kristan: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Jim: … with compassion, with spiritual insight. Keep on going.

Kristan: Well, thank you for what you guys do and your Option Ultrasound. And it’s- it’s incredible just to hear a refresher of all that Focus on the Family is doing right now to- to change our culture and save lives and help mothers. So-

Jim: Well, thank the Lord for people with big hearts that give-

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: … to help this effort and your effort as well.

Kristan: That’s right.

Jim: So, thanks for being with us.

Kristan: Thank you.

John: Well, I hope you’ve been encouraged to donate to Focus on the Family today to save a baby’s life. Uh, we’re a phone call away, 800, the letter A, and the word, FAMILY. 800-232-6459. Or stop by the website for, uh, the link and all the details. That’s focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. And on behalf of Jim Daly and the entire team, thanks for joining us today for Focus on the Family. I’m John Fuller inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.