(Blog) An Abortion Celebration - Ep. 961 - August 13, 2026
Massachusetts Abortion Policy and a Christian Response
When public officials and supporters applaud expanded abortion access, the debate is no longer only about law. It also becomes a question of what a society chooses to honor, mourn, or celebrate.
In Episode 961 of The Smith and Rowland Show, Jeff Rowland and Alan Smith respond to an article titled "When Abortion Becomes Something to Celebrate." Their discussion centers on Massachusetts abortion policy, the humanity of children in the womb, biblical teaching, and the church's responsibility to speak plainly.
When Abortion Becomes a Public Celebration
The episode begins with a concern about changing public language around abortion. Rowland and Smith argue that public debate has moved beyond the claim that abortion should be permitted in difficult circumstances. In their view, abortion is now often presented as freedom, empowerment, health care, and progress.
They return to the phrase associated with President Bill Clinton: "safe, legal, and rare." The word rare matters in their discussion because it suggested that even supporters of legal abortion recognized it as something grave, not something to applaud.
"From safe, legal, and rare to applause."
Rowland and Smith see that shift in language and public emotion as a moral change. Their objection is not limited to the law itself. They are also troubled by the idea that ending the life of an unborn child could become an occasion for smiling, clapping, laughter, or political celebration.
A Shift in How Abortion Is Described
The contrast raised in the episode is direct:
| Earlier framing discussed in the episode | Current framing criticized by the hosts |
|---|---|
| Safe, legal, and rare | Freedom, empowerment, health care, and progress |
| A tragic outcome to minimize | A right to celebrate publicly |
| A difficult exception | A symbol of political achievement |
For the hosts, this language does more than soften the issue. It changes how people see the child, the mother, and the moral weight of the decision.
The Massachusetts Law Discussed in the Episode
Rowland and Smith discuss legislation signed by Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. According to the article they reference, the measure removed prior restrictions governing abortion after 24 weeks and replaced them with a standard based on a physician's professional judgment.
The article's central concern is that the law contains no specific gestational age cutoff. Rowland and Smith interpret that language to mean that abortion could be permitted in the final weeks of pregnancy, potentially up to birth, depending on a physician's judgment.
Why the Public Reaction Disturbed the Hosts
The article described people smiling and applauding as Governor Healey signed the legislation. Some attendees reportedly appeared to laugh with joy.
Rowland and Smith argue that the response is as troubling as the policy. In their view, public celebration treats the death of an unborn child as a political victory rather than a moral tragedy.
They point to the image of a woman who is eight or nine months pregnant. The baby's movements may be visible. A nursery may already be prepared. A car seat may be installed, and small clothes may wait in a drawer. The child could potentially be born and placed in the mother's arms, yet the hosts believe the law discussed in the article permits that child's life to remain subject to abortion.
A Few Inches Should Not Determine Human Worth
One of the strongest illustrations in the article involves two rooms in the same hospital. In one room, a premature baby has been born. Doctors and nurses work urgently to keep the child alive while the parents pray for survival.
In another room, a child at a comparable stage of development remains in the womb. The article asks what has changed between the two children.
The Difference Is Location
Rowland and Smith argue that the child's DNA, humanity, and inherent worth do not change at birth. The difference is location.
| Child outside the womb | Child inside the womb |
|---|---|
| Medical staff may provide emergency care to preserve life. | The child may fall under an abortion law with no specific gestational cutoff, according to the episode's discussion. |
| Parents may be encouraged to hope and pray for survival. | The child's life may depend on a physician's professional judgment. |
| The child is treated as a patient in need of protection. | The hosts argue that the child is treated as disposable. |
The episode presses a difficult question: How can a few inches of physical location determine whether a child receives every available medical effort or no legal protection at all?
Language Cannot Change What the Child Is
Alan Smith refers to a definition that frames the issue in plain terms: if a fetus is recognized as a distinct human being, intentionally ending that life can be viewed as killing an innocent person.
The hosts reject the idea that the word fetus changes the nature of the child. A fetus is a medical term for a developing human being, not a different kind of being. Smith compares it to a small pine tree. A pine tree does not become a pine tree only after it grows tall. It is a pine tree from the beginning of its development.
Clinical Terms Can Hide Moral Reality
Rowland and Smith contend that technical language often makes abortion easier to discuss without confronting the human life involved. They argue that words such as "procedure," "choice," and "health care" can obscure the fact that a developing child is present.
Their larger concern is about language, humanity, location, and value. When language treats a child in the womb as less than human, the hosts believe society becomes more willing to permit and even celebrate the child's death.
Rowland connects this concern to the biblical warning about calling evil good and good evil. He and Smith also connect the same pattern to other cultural debates, including homosexuality, transgender issues, and the rejection of biblical moral authority.
Grief Shows How Parents Value Life Before Birth
The conversation becomes personal when Rowland speaks about loss in his own family. His mother gave birth to a baby girl who lived for three days before she died. He also mentions that the mother of Haley, his wife, carried a child for nine months before the baby was born stillborn.
Those losses, he says, remain with a parent for life. The grief is not abstract. It comes from losing a child who was already known, loved, and expected.
Miscarriage and Stillbirth Bring Real Devastation
Both hosts mention counseling women who have experienced miscarriages. They speak about the lasting pain and devastation that can follow the death of an unborn child.
The episode does not treat miscarriage, stillbirth, and abortion as identical experiences. However, Rowland and Smith draw attention to a moral tension: a child can be mourned before birth as a beloved son or daughter in one setting, then described as disposable in another.
The discussion asks why a child can be grieved before birth, while public policy can treat that same stage of life as unworthy of protection.
The Biblical Case for Life in the Womb
The Christian argument in the episode rests on the conviction that God knows, forms, and values human beings before birth. Smith and Rowland do not present abortion as a merely political disagreement. They describe it as a direct moral issue before God.
Smith points to the Sixth Commandment in Exodus 20:13: "You shall not murder." The hosts apply that command to abortion because they believe abortion intentionally ends the life of an innocent human being.
Scripture Cited by Jeff Rowland and Alan Smith
| Biblical passage | Point made in the episode |
|---|---|
| Exodus 20:13 | God's command against murder applies to the intentional taking of innocent life. |
| Psalm 139 | God creates a person's inmost being and knits that person together in the mother's womb. |
| Jeremiah 1:5 | God knew Jeremiah before He formed him in the womb and set him apart before birth. |
| Luke's account of John the Baptist | John leaped for joy in his mother's womb when Mary, carrying Christ, came near. |
Psalm 139 describes God's personal involvement in life before birth. Jeremiah 1:5 declares, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart." For the hosts, these passages describe unborn children as people known by God, with dignity and purpose.
The account of John the Baptist also matters to them. John leaped in Elizabeth's womb when Mary came to visit, and the hosts see that event as further evidence that Scripture gives real significance to life before birth.
Immigration and the Value of Children
Smith raises a hypothetical question about an undocumented immigrant in the United States who is about to give birth. He says he would not want to perform an abortion on that child, regardless of the mother's immigration status.
Rowland then points to what he sees as a contradiction. He questions how the country can encourage immigrants to come to America and have children who may become citizens, while laws may also allow those children to be aborted before birth.
Their exchange does not offer an immigration policy proposal. Instead, it returns to their central claim: a child's worth should not depend on citizenship, legal status, location, age, health, or usefulness.
The Church Cannot Remain Silent
Rowland and Smith place a major share of responsibility on the church. Smith says that if truth does not come from the pulpit, there is little hope that people will hear it elsewhere.
They criticize churches and pastors who soften their teaching on abortion and other moral issues because they fear being called harsh, political, or sensational. In their view, unclear preaching leaves congregations without moral direction while public policy and popular culture continue to move in the opposite direction.
Clear Teaching Matters
The hosts express concern about rainbow flags, transgender ideology, and other cultural movements entering churches or shaping how churches speak. They believe Christians should not avoid difficult subjects in an effort to appear acceptable.
Rowland also raises the issue of Christian adoption. He argues that some Christian families have faced barriers to adoption because of their beliefs, even as unborn children remain vulnerable to abortion. To him, that contrast shows a culture that questions Christian homes while failing to protect children before birth.
A Warning About Human Value and Cultural Decline
The discussion expands beyond abortion policy. Rowland and Smith connect abortion to what they see as broader moral decline in the United States, including violence in cities such as Chicago, hostility toward Christian convictions, transgender debates, and the growing influence of non-Christian religious expression in parts of the country.
These examples reflect the hosts' belief that the nation is moving away from biblical authority. Smith argues that continued rebellion against God will bring a diminishing of God's blessings.
A Concern for the Elderly and Vulnerable
Rowland warns that a society willing to judge unborn children by convenience, health, or location may eventually judge other people the same way. He fears that older adults could one day be seen as too costly or too old to matter.
The hosts present that as a warning, not as a prediction supported by a specific policy proposal. Their point is that once society decides human worth depends on usefulness or independence, vulnerable people at every stage of life face greater risk.
Questions Raised by the Episode
The episode leaves readers with serious questions about public policy, moral language, and the church's response:
- What does it mean when abortion changes from something described as "rare" to something publicly celebrated?
- Should a child's location inside or outside the womb determine the child's legal protection?
- Can medical and political language make people less willing to confront the humanity of an unborn child?
- What do Psalm 139 and Jeremiah 1:5 teach about God's knowledge of people before birth?
- How clearly should churches speak about abortion and human dignity?
- What happens when a society treats human worth as dependent on age, health, ability, or location?
Human Dignity Cannot Depend on Location
The central claim of Episode 961 is clear: unborn children are human beings with value before birth. Rowland and Smith believe Massachusetts abortion policy, as described in the article they discuss, fails to protect that truth.
Their concern goes beyond one state or one political party. They argue that public applause for abortion reveals a culture that has lost sight of the sanctity of human life. Human dignity does not begin when a child crosses the threshold of birth.
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