On today’s program: Warren Davidson, U.S. Representative for Ohio’s 8th District, reacts to the increased pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine and Trump’s executive order to stop the practice of debanking. Chris Mitchell, Middle East Bureau
SPEAKER 05 :
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, good afternoon. Welcome to this August 8th edition of Washington Watch. Can’t believe it’s already Friday, but it is and we’re glad to have you on board. I’m Jody Heiss, Senior Fellow here at the Family Research Council and your Friday host. Thank you for joining us. Coming up on today’s program. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are planning to hold a summit at the end of next week to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine. And the Kremlin so far is opposed to the idea of Ukraine’s president being there.
SPEAKER 04 :
They would like to meet with me and I’ll do whatever I can to stop the killings.
SPEAKER 14 :
That was, of course, President Trump speaking yesterday with some Q&A with reporters, and I’ll be discussing this topic in just a moment when I’m joined by Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson, who’s a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And Israel’s security cabinet has approved a major expansion of its campaign in Gaza with the goal of demilitarizing that region. And of course, the United Nations is not happy about it, while the U.S. is leaving the decision entirely in the hands of Israel.
SPEAKER 24 :
Our three focuses, as the Secretary outlined yesterday, remain getting humanitarian aid into Gaza without it being looted by Hamas, remains seeing the hostages released, and remains making sure that Hamas cannot continue to exist because there can be no long-term prosperity with Hamas as a governing force or otherwise within Gaza. So that’s what our policy is. That’s where our focus is.
SPEAKER 14 :
That was State Department Principal Spokesperson Tommy Piggott yesterday when he was asked about Israel’s plans. And I’ll discuss this later in the program when I’m joined by Chris Mitchell, who is the Middle East Bureau Chief at CBN News. And then here domestically. We have 22 state attorneys generals who are urging the FDA to reinstate some critical safety protocols for the abortion drug Mifepristone. And I’ll discuss this with one of those attorneys generals, Marty Jackley of South Dakota, a little bit later in today’s program. And then to close out the day, we will have our regular… weekly biblical worldview segment. Dr. Owen Strand will be joining me for that as we deal with the top headlines of the week from a biblical perspective. So as always, we’ve got a lot coming your way today. I want to encourage you to stay tuned for every part of it. But if you do miss a portion, you can always catch it by going to our website, TonyPerkins.com, where you’ll find a host of other archive programs. as well as tons of resources available there for you. And I’ll hit on this a little bit later as well, but don’t forget we have our PrayVote Stand Summit coming up October 17th and 18th in Chino Hills, California. We urge you strongly to make plans now to be there. You can get more information by going to PrayVoteStand.org. All right, let’s jump into our first topic for today. Yesterday, the Kremlin announced that they do plan to meet with President Trump and Vladimir Putin. And obviously, the overall principle is to deal with the ceasefire, and they plan to meet just coming up in the next few days. Is this a genuine step forward as it relates to peace? with the Russians in Ukraine. Well, joining me now to discuss this and much more is Congressman Warren Davidson. He’s a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Financial Services Committee. He represents the 8th Congressional District of the great state of Ohio. Congressman Davidson, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to see you, my friend.
SPEAKER 12 :
Definitely an honor to join you and great that you’re hosting today. Nice to spend time with you.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, thank you, Warren. Let’s start with your thoughts on this potential, at least, face-to-face meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin. Do you think this is a genuine good faith effort towards peace?
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, it’s really encouraging. I mean, President Trump came in and, look, peace through strength. He was a very strong president in his first term. He’s been even stronger in his second term. But he laid out a very clear objective in Ukraine. He just wants peace. He wants to restore a state of peace. He wants people to stop dying. Under the Biden administration, you had everything from that on the one hand to regime change in Russia on the other. No Russians in Ukraine, no Russians in Ukraine or Crimea. And we kept doing this hollow slogan, as much as it takes, as long as it takes, which is a great way to fund an endless war. If we’re not going to fight it, we seemed committed to at least cutting the checks for it. So thankfully, President Trump’s brought real leadership here. I know he’s been frustrated, particularly with President Putin lately, but he had a lot of wrestling to get Zelensky to the negotiating table and in a negotiating state of mind as well. I hope that they can restore peace, and I think it’s a good thing when President Trump sits down with people. I mean, I know you’ve been in the room with him. No one negotiates a deal and makes people want to say yes more effectively than I’ve met. I mean, I think he was going to give every chance for it to work.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, I agree with you on that. Yeah, I agree with you too about the frustration. There’s got to be frustration. It seems like, to be honest, Russia just seems to be all over the map and Putin seems to be all over the place. How do you think the Trump administration has so far approached Russia? Do you think it’s been effective, would you say?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I think, look, he’s made it very clear that he’s got expectations for Zelensky, too. And I think Russia didn’t want to come to a negotiation where they felt like it was all give by Russia. And they had already tried to have some state of peace. And Western governments basically scuttled an effort for peace in the early stages of the war. Russia’s mostly been clear in saying that they don’t want Ukraine to be part of NATO. They would prefer that Ukraine’s not part of the European Union, but they’re very committed that they don’t become part of NATO. And a lot of NATO countries want Ukraine to be part of NATO. Ukraine says they want to be part of NATO. But I think President Trump’s very clear that’s not going to happen on his watch, and certainly not when there’s a state of war there. So that at least has Putin receptive. But the other thing, when you look at economic interest there, Russia’s export is energy. President Trump wants to export energy. So you’re like, well, we’re kind of wanting to do the same things here. Russia would— has plenty of rare earth minerals, but to the extent there are some, it’s in areas where Russia was invading Ukraine. The United States basically negotiated a deal for those rare earth minerals to take that out of reach and off the table without drawing the United States into conflict with Russia. But on the other side, both of those kinds of things serve as opportunities for Russia to do something different. And then lastly, note that this comes at a time when President Trump started squeezing India. And India is one of the key export markets for Russia. for Russian energy. So, they’ve been cut off from a lot of energy, they’ve lost a lot of business, and they’ve lost every kind of connection to the Western world in the wake of this war. So, President Trump has said, look, I think we should find a way to include Russia into the world trade framework, and we should have a way to have some forgiveness and restoration of these relationships. And I think that’s the olive branch. And President Trump’s also made clear with the strike in Iran, he’s got sticks, too.
SPEAKER 14 :
Very interesting, connecting some of those dots. We’ll see how all these pieces come together. While I have you, Congressman Davidson, more domestic news. You’re a part of financial services, and I’m sure you’re keenly aware that President Trump signed a new executive order guaranteeing fair banking. For all Americans, I know this is something that you’ve been involved with for quite some time. Give me your thoughts on this debanking executive order.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, it’s necessary. The reality is people were losing access to banking and particularly conservatives. Basically, it was the Biden enemies list. And this wasn’t new. It was termed Chokepoint 2.0 because under President Obama, they had Operation Chokepoint. This is a code word for basically directing the bank regulators who have coercive power over banks to say, well, we don’t want to bank those people. And sadly, if you think about it from a civil rights perspective, people from across the political spectrum and racial, religious lines, things like that, have been those people. And they were denied access to banking. But in the case here, it wasn’t just you weren’t getting loans. They wouldn’t even take deposits from conservatives. They were literally closing off access. And it wasn’t just like conservatives, but it was crypto in particular. Barney Frank, who was the Democrat from Massachusetts, pretty far left to center Democrat, but he was chairman of the House Financial Services Committee when Democrats were in the majority for the Dodd-Frank Act. And he was on the board of a signature bank. And they were basically shut down by the Biden administration. And he said, it wasn’t because we weren’t solvent. It was because we were banking crypto. So this kind of war on the Biden enemies list needs to end. And we need to follow up in the House Financial Services Committee and pass laws that make it impossible for bank regulators to do this without somebody going to jail.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, I’m really glad to see this taking place. I personally have known folks impacted by this, as I’m sure you have as well. And frankly, there ought to be bipartisan support. Everyone ought to, your colleagues on the other side of the aisle, as you mentioned, Barney Franks, there ought to be agreement now on this, you would think. We’ll see how that comes up. If I can, let me hit another big issue President Trump has been making waves about also with this mid-decade census that he’s putting together. This time, of course, it will be excluding illegal immigrants. You agree with this? Why is this a necessary move?
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, Jody, I’m so excited about this. I’ve had a bill since I’ve been in Congress trying to get the census so that when they count it, they at least count everybody. I want you to count the illegals because I want to know where they are. We can ship them on out. But when you draw maps for Congress, it needs to be based on U.S. citizens only. I represent U.S. citizens. I don’t care even if you’re here legally, personally, you’ve got an embassy or a consulate that represents you. I represent U.S. citizens, and so does everyone else in the United States Congress. But right now, the map’s based on everyone who happens to be here, and California is picking up I don’t know, six or seven extra seats. That’s more than a lot of states have for representatives. And to be fair, Arizona and Texas and other states are picking up because they have large non-citizen populations as well. And you need an honest map. The honest map has U.S. citizens drawn in it. And to get an honest map, you’ve got to be able to do an honest census. And President Trump tried to set the conditions for this in his first term. He was blocked by the courts. And we need to really… It highlights the urgency that Congress really should be looking at President Trump’s leadership and his executive orders. And we ought to be voting on two or three of those executive orders every week we’re in session. But this is one of the most urgent things. And I will say I’ll commend my colleague Chuck Edwards, who’s been a great ally on this since he got to Congress.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I wish we had more time to hit on all of this, Congressman Davidson, but real quickly, and we’ve only got about a minute or so left, but the Texas State House is making all sorts of big news with Democrats there fleeing to Illinois to prevent a quorum so that that state can move forward on redistricting, as you brought up. Real quickly, what’s your thoughts on that? Where is this all going to go? What impact could it have nationally?
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, look, district maps can be partisan. In Ohio, our Constitution recognizes they can be partisan. If there’s a bipartisan agreement on the maps when the first census is done, then the maps hold for 10 years. But if there’s not bipartisan consensus— then the maps are only good for four years. So Ohio’s in the process of redrawing them. That’s our constitution. But if it weren’t for double standards, Democrats wouldn’t have any. Illinois’ maps are very gerrymandered, very skewed for Democrats. And Texas is basically saying, well, we can do that too. Wow.
SPEAKER 14 :
Congressman Warren Davidson of Ohio, always great to see you. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy district time right now and traveling schedule with CODELS and so forth. Thank you for joining us on Washington Watch. Great to have you.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, definitely an honor. God bless you and all your listeners and viewers.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you. All right, friends, on the other side of the break, CBN’s Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell is here with all the latest regarding the war between Israel and Hamas. So stay tuned. We’ll be back right after this.
SPEAKER 22 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss, your Friday host, and we’re thrilled to have you joining us this evening. All right, there’s a major development in the war between Israel and the Hamas terror group. Earlier today, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s cabinet voted in favor of expanding its operations in Gaza and with the ultimate goal of demilitarizing the entire region. So what could this new development mean for the whole war? Well, joining me now to discuss this is Chris Mitchell. He’s the Middle East Bureau Chief at CBN News. Chris, great to have you. Welcome back to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 02 :
Judy, great to be with you once again.
SPEAKER 14 :
So tell us about this vote in favor of temporarily taking over Gaza City. Was it a close vote or what are your thoughts on this?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I think most of the cabinet, the security cabinet, voted to go ahead and do this. Israel has been at the crossroads of what to do, whether or not to have a negotiated settlement with Hamas, whether to free more of the hostages, maybe have a ceasefire. Hamas wanted certainly the end of the war and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops out of Gaza Strip. That was something Israel is unwilling to do. So this is a major step, Jody, in the war against Hamas. They plan to take over Gaza City. They also are asking most of the residents there to go south to humanitarian areas where even now they’re setting up hospitals and camps. for people to get out of harm’s way and to be safe. This is a policy that the IDF has done throughout the war, giving evacuation notices to people to get them out of harm’s way. In the meantime, this is like one of the last phases of the war to be able to surround Gaza City, to eliminate this, one of the last strongholds of Hamas, so they can achieve the goals of the war, which is to defeat Hamas militarily, and to make sure that Hamas is never able to rule the Gaza Strip ever again.
SPEAKER 14 :
Wow. So what kind of timeline do we know? When is this all going to get underway? I’m assuming, as you just mentioned, they’re giving time for people to evacuate, but I’m assuming the timeline is going to be pretty rapid.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, well, I’ve heard a couple of weeks or a month to prepare these humanitarian centers for the people of Gaza. And then the major military operation will begin while they’re amassing troops and equipment to go into Gaza City. It’ll be a very difficult situation. military operation because there is many Hamas fighters in Gaza City, many tunnels, many booby traps. Urban warfare is the most difficult warfare there is. But compounding that, Jody, is the fact that there is a labyrinth of tunnels under Gaza City, as in most of Gaza that the IDF has discovered. The good news is that IDF has been fighting this kind of warfare for nearly two years. They know how to do it. Sometime last year, I had the opportunity to go in with a number of other journalists into one of those tunnels. And just that kind of warfare, fighting above ground and below ground, is extremely dangerous and extremely difficult. One reason why they want all the people of Gaza to leave that are not related to Hamas and why they also want to— Finally, eliminate Hamas as a military threat. One other thing they’re doing, Jody, is they are preparing humanitarian areas. They’re trying to quadruple the number of humanitarian sites where they’re distributing food and medical supplies to the people of Gaza from four to 16,000. What that is going to do, Jodi, is eliminate this aid that Hamas has been using as a weapon against their own people, as a weapon against Israel by selling the food and by using it to control the population. This is very key to the operation, is the humanitarian aid that can usurp the control away from Hamas by using this humanitarian aid.
SPEAKER 14 :
So when you consider the humanitarian aid and all that Israel has and continues to do in that regard, were you at all surprised by Germany’s decision to stop military exports in protest to this whole attempt to go into Gaza? Did that at all come as a surprise to you?
SPEAKER 02 :
To some people it had, because Germany had been supportive of Israel in its fight against Hamas. So the decision to stop arms sales to Israel was a surprise to some people. There was another German issue in the last few days, Jody, and that has to do with the German publication Bild. which exposed some of the PR campaign by Hamas talking about a starvation campaign in Gaza. And what Bild had done was to show sort of behind the scenes, they pulled back the curtain on Hamas has been using some of these staged photos of, of these children that are clamoring for food. And that’s part of the campaign that Israel has been facing by Hamas, a really orchestrated and coordinated campaign that Israel is deliberately trying to starve the people of Gaza. On the contrary, they are trying to pour massive amounts of humanitarian aid. Almost two million tons of food have gone into Gaza since the beginning of the war. And even now, there’s literally hundreds of trucks waiting to go into Gaza, which undermines the whole notion of this deliberate starvation campaign by Israel.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, so I mean, just yourself as a longtime reporter, what do you make of all the legacy media’s seeming willful misinformation about all this starvation and all that sort of thing? Is the truth finally coming out?
SPEAKER 02 :
I think it is, and I’m glad for it. I would say, as I’ve been reporting here 25 years next week here in Israel, is that we’ve seen this movie before. We’ve seen the ways that Hamas or the Palestinian Authority or Islamic Jihad has tried to manipulate the images that people get in the news media. And I will also cite Jonathan Kanrikas. He’s the former IDF spokesman for the IDF. Now he’s with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. He was telling us earlier this week that the international media, much of it, he calls them useful idiots because many times they have been used by Hamas to accelerate the campaign and these images that really provide a skewed version of what is really happening here. We also talked to Gil Hoffman. He’s with the honestreporting.com, and he said this is something that the news media has done. Everybody probably has seen that picture in the New York Times on the front cover of an emaciated child. Got to wrap it up, Chris. Okay, but that wasn’t a starving child. That was a child that also had a pre-existing medical campaign condition.
SPEAKER 14 :
Chris Mitchell, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it so much. Friends, don’t go away. Much more Washington Watch straight ahead.
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Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss. Glad to have you joining us today. All right, as we’ve been highlighting quite often here on Washington Watch, the majority of abortions today, as you well know, are done through the abortion drug mifepristone. And the dangers of this drug, obviously, that it posed to the unborn, but also to the mother. These dangers are well documented. But in spite of those flashing warning lights, the Food and Drug Administration slowly dismantled these safeguards over the years to the point where these drugs can now be mailed to your door with no in-person doctor’s visits involved whatsoever. With the second Trump administration now firmly in charge, a group of 22 state attorneys general have signed a letter calling on the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to reexamine the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug. And one of those state attorney generals joins me now to share more. South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley, welcome to Washington Watch. It’s great to have you.
SPEAKER 10 :
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER 14 :
So why did you feel it was so important to sign onto this letter?
SPEAKER 10 :
I think I and some of the other attorney generals felt it was about the safety of a pregnant woman. It was concerns how both under President Obama back in 2016, and then now Biden on his way out, put in place reduced restrictions and protections when it came to this drug. We felt we needed to be a strong voice. We’re responsible for enforcing our laws across our states. Here in South Dakota, it can be a felony if it’s not appropriately administered. And so we just felt now was the appropriate time that somebody would be listening and we could make a difference.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, I mean, we all know these abortion drugs killed an unborn baby, tragically, horribly so. But as you just brought up, it also is very harmful to women. Shouldn’t that concern everyone? I mean, what is the holdup? Why is this so easily made available to people?
SPEAKER 10 :
It certainly concerned the Attorney General community. We felt that some of the statistics show that there are adverse health effects in over 10% of the cases that this drug is administered. So we feel that there needs to be more clinical studies, that there needs to be more protections in place. We did not support removing those protections by either President Obama or President Biden, and we just feel now is the time. It’s why we wrote to Secretary Kennedy to have another look at this drug, how it’s being administered, the need to put in some protections, including physician visits, better record-keeping. Under the prior administration, they were only record-keeping if there was a death. Obviously, there can be more adverse health consequences. And we just feel now is the time we have an administration that’s listening and we can make a difference.
SPEAKER 14 :
So what do you make of these blue states right now, all the shield laws where they’re trying to protect the doctors and all those involved in mailing Mifepristone into states like yours? What’s your take on what they are attempting to do?
SPEAKER 10 :
I think this is about the health of the mother. I think when you reduce those standards and you begin mailing drugs to another state, I certainly don’t support that as Attorney General. I’ve been fortunate. Early on, when the Dobbs case decision came down, I wrote to and did releases to various pharmacies that were distributing the drug, asking them to stop pointing out that it would be illegal under South Dakota law. And they complied. And so it’s certainly a concern when a blue state or other states are mailing these illegal drugs to our state. It makes challenges, not just for enforcement, but it puts at issue the health and safety of a pregnant mother.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, and there’s laws. I mean, you have some pro-life laws on the books there. How does these other states mailing it in? I mean, it’s a conflict of laws. That’s got to be an extremely complicated issue on multiple fronts.
SPEAKER 10 :
It is. Certainly we are respectful of other states’ laws, but I take the position as Attorney General that it’s a felony in South Dakota to distribute illegal drugs under our laws. You’re not able to do that, which is why when I wrote to and did the release to the pharmacies in South Dakota, they graciously complied. We haven’t had any issues. But again, it’s my position as Attorney General that if an entity or a business is sending illegal drugs into our state, we would do enforcement action.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, and that’s where all this comes down to. I mean, it’s a state trampling the laws of another state, and that is where this whole issue comes in. For example, the Trump administration has often said that the life issue belongs to be left up to the states. But what is happening there in South Dakota and other states is illustrating the need for the federal government to speak into this. In fact, they’re going to have to speak into this, don’t you think?
SPEAKER 10 :
I do, and that’s why the attorney generals, the 22 of us, wrote to Secretary Kennedy and asking him to take a look at the dangerousness of this drug, to look at the additional studies that are out there, to put in the reasonable protections that were in place before, the 10-week gestational period, the three physician visits, the follow-up. Those are all designed to protect the health of the pregnant woman. And we felt those are important. You know, when you look at distributing the drugs from other states, I mean, we’ve had that experience in South Dakota, where when Colorado legalized marijuana, we took the position, that’s their decision, but you can’t bring those drugs into our state.
SPEAKER 14 :
Do you anticipate hearing back from Secretary Kennedy?
SPEAKER 10 :
We do. One thing that I can say as an attorney general, this Trump administration has been very responsive. When we write to the administration, whether it’s a Halt Fentanyl Act, whether it’s this, they’re very responsive. They ask for our input. At times, they will call some of the attorney generals in and ask us further details. So we fully expect they will take a serious look at this, and hopefully we’ll bring some changes that’ll bring back better public health and safety.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you so much, Attorney General Marty Jackley of South Dakota. Great work, and we appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you for having me. Coming up next, Dr. Owen Strand will join me for our weekly Biblical Worldview segment. So stay tuned. We’ll be back in a moment.
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Family Research Council is committed to advancing faith, family, and freedom from the East Coast to the West. So FRC is going to Southern California for this year’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit, October 17th and 18th at Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills. Join us for this powerful gathering of Christians desiring cultural renewal and spiritual revival. The Pray, Vote, Stand Summit brings together Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action. Together, we will seek God’s guidance for our nation and engage in meaningful discussions on the intersection of faith, government, and culture. If the spiritual foundations and the cultural walls of our nation are to be rebuilt, we all have a role to play. May we each find our place on the wall as we build for biblical truth. Register now at PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org.
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How should Christians think about the thorny issues shaping our culture? How should Christians address deceitful ideas like transgenderism, critical theory, or assisted suicide? How can Christians navigate raising children in a broken culture, the war on gender roles, or rebuilding our once great nation? Outstanding is a podcast from The Washington Stand dedicated to these critical conversations. Outstanding seeks to tear down what our corrupt culture lifts up with an aim to take every thought and every idea captive to the obedience of Christ. Whether policies or partisan politics, whether conflict in America or conflict abroad, join us and our guests as we examine the headlines through the lens of Scripture and explore how Christians can faithfully exalt Christ in all of life. Follow Outstanding on your favorite podcast app and look for new episodes each week.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. Great to have you. Before I dive into this final segment, I want to once again strongly encourage you to join FRC and other like-minded believers from across the nation for our upcoming PrayVote Stand Summit. It’s going to be taking place this year on October 17th and 18th in Chino Hills, California. Friends, this is a powerful, powerful, powerful event bringing together some of the movers and shakers within the Christian community, government officials, experts on various topics. There’ll be tons of inspiration, prayer, and action items to get involved. So I encourage you, if you’ve not already done so, hurry up and register for that, or you can get more information. Check it out at PrayVoteStand.org. All right. As we do each and every Friday, we love to end the program and the week by thinking about some of the headlines of the news through the lens of a biblical worldview. And even though Capitol Hill right now is in recess, there certainly is no shortage in the news. So I’d like to bring in Dr. Owen Strand. He’s the senior director of the Dobson Culture Center, which, of course, is a ministry of the James Dobson Family Institute. Owen, thank you so much for joining us again on Washington Watch. It’s always an honor to have you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you, Jody. Great to be back with you.
SPEAKER 14 :
All right, so let’s just start with all the controversies that have been swirling around the issue of surrogacy lately. We had a… And I’m shameful that this has not really seemingly picked up the news that it should have, but a convicted Pennsylvania sex offender was recently exposed for using surrogacy to produce a baby boy that he is currently raising. So what’s the way… just from a biblical worldview, how should we be looking at this?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, it’s a great question, Jody. Fundamentally, that episode kicked up a lot of dust online on social media, and that’s a rare moment where you’re thankful for social media, because sometimes the legacy media, the left wing of it, will not cover matters like this. But this got a lot of attention online, and rightly so, because here’s the deal. There is basically no regulation on of surrogacy. So you can sign up to buy a child and have a child created essentially, and you can then purchase that. And the person who is the surrogate will go on and gestate the baby within themselves, the woman, and then you will be given the baby at the end of that And here’s the amazing thing, Jody. There’s basically, again, no regulation whatsoever of the surrogacy industry. It’s like buying a pair of jeans. It’s like buying a turkey at the local grocery store. And this is a child. This is a living, breathing God child. made image-bearing human being. As Christians, we have all sorts of problems with this. There’s not going to be a Bible verse that gets into 21st century technology. Of course, the scripture was produced over thousands of years and completed as a canon just about 2,000 years ago. So again, we don’t have a verse that says, don’t buy us a baby from a surrogate. What we do have clearly lined out in Scripture is God’s means of bringing children into the world through a husband and a wife, a father and a mother united in covenantal marriage who create that child by the natural blessing of God and then go on to raise that child. Surrogacy is an entirely different reality than all of that. There is not necessarily a family in place, a marriage in place. There is not necessarily—there isn’t a natural means. There’s a strange process. often involving IVF, by which a baby is created. And then there are all sorts of resulting problems that flow from this kind of arrangement. This is entirely different from adoption. We sometimes hear about that thrown against us, those of us who critique surrogacy. Suffice it to say, Jodi, there’s no biblical support for this. And the Bible lines out how God wants children to be brought into this world, and it looks nothing like surrogacy.
SPEAKER 14 :
All right, so run down that path a little bit further because I think it’s a legitimate point where we may have some viewers or listeners right now saying, what’s the difference between this and adoption?
SPEAKER 06 :
Praise God, there are all kinds of checks in place for adoption. So some of your viewers, there’s a lot of viewers out there who engage adoption. Praise God, lots of Christians have adopted over the years. We love that. It’s impacted my own family in wonderful ways. And in adoption, again, as lots of folks will know, you go through a very rigorous process. You can’t just check a box and plunk down some money and go pick up your kid two days later. There are home studies. Caseworkers will interview you extensively. You have to go through background checks. There’s all sorts. of checks and balances in place with the adoption process. Not all of that has gone great over the years, of course. Family law has changed in America, but we are thankful, many of us as Christians, in common grace terms, that there are guidelines and requirements that are involved in adopting a child. There should be. I am here to state once more on public record that surrogacy is entirely different. Many Christians, by the way, Jodi, have no idea about this. They might have heard about Kim Kardashian or some celebrity like that having a baby through a surrogate because Kardashian had medical conditions and didn’t want to risk a pregnancy, these sorts of things. That made headlines just a few years ago. Surrogacy is treated as this kind of exotic issue out there somewhere. What believers need to know today is that this is increasing in frequency. It’s happening all around us. And again, there’s no regulation of it, basically. It’s the Wild West out there. And what results from that, last thing I’ll say, is a child out there who doesn’t know its father and mother. Oftentimes, there’s these heartbreaking stories, in fact, of IVF babies, surrogate babies, who then try to trace out who their father and mother were, especially the father, of course. And there’s all kinds of personal chaos and disorder that results from this process, which is exactly what happens when we go outside of God’s appointed means of childbearing and birth.
SPEAKER 14 :
So when you say it’s the Wild West out there, let me just put this in kind of simple layman’s terms and tell me if I’m right or wrong. What you’re saying with the Wild West, it is very possible, let’s put it this way, for, say, let’s say a pedophile to obtain a child through surrogacy, and then who knows what might be the life of that child, what they may experience.
SPEAKER 06 :
That is exactly what I’m saying. And that is what kicked up all this dust in this story that we started talking about a few minutes ago, because there is this convicted pedophile who adopted with his partner, in air quotes, or excuse me, Here I am making the situation better based on, you know, normal appointed means of having children in a family. This this man and his partner purchased a baby through a surrogate. Again, no regulation, no. No requirements, no guidelines. They just bought the child, had it gestated in a woman and then delivered to them. And then this breaks online and it turns out that, yeah, people are finding out that surrogacy basically is the Wild West and convicted pedophiles. These aren’t suspected pedophiles. A convicted pedophile man, in this case, brought a child into his home. And you weep at this. Your conscience is torn up at this, that this has happened once. What about this poor baby? is happening a lot. This is a major way now that gay couples, air quotes, same-sex marriage couples and these sorts of things are having children through surrogates. It’s happening all over the place. And the church needs to wake up to this, Jody. I don’t say that in an angry way or a hectoring way. Our conscience needs to wake us up to this. And we’ve got to get people to the front lines of this issue. And honestly, we need to ban surrogacy. We need to end surrogacy in our day.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, I think it’s important for us to put it down on a level that we can all just understand what’s happening there. And Owen, I thank you for just laying it out there with us. This is an issue that the Wild West is… I guess to some degree romanticized with the film industry. But we’re talking about real lives and potential enormous… danger through all of this. Oh, and if I can shift gears with you, another item that, you know, it just made huge news this week. I was actually kind of stunned at how big this became. Not necessarily earth-shaking news, but Sydney Sweeney has become the center of a swirling media storm as she appeared in an ad for American Eagle Jeans. Apparently, she’s a registered Republican and has just created all kinds of controversies within the pop culture. What would you say about that?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, here we are in 2025 talking about American Eagle. That’s maybe the first strange event of this whole case. I remember American Eagle from years ago being a teenager in America and would not have imagined that we’d be talking about this now. Fundamentally, it is a radical thing, apparently, for a young woman. to be a Republican, a celebrity. That is not in any sense a scandal, Jody. There is absolutely nothing for this young woman to be ashamed of in terms of that political affiliation. But yeah, the media doesn’t cover lots of stories it should, like we were just talking about. And then fans into flame stories that are a nothing burger. And that is what has happened with Sydney Sweeney. There are some different elements to this particular matter. And it gets a little delicate because Sydney Sweeney has been known for being immodest in some of her movies and even some of this ad campaign. And so it’s something that I want to handle with with care, because as Christians, we are very much for women being women. And there’s nothing to be ashamed about with regard to a girl being a girl and a woman having a woman’s body. And that is something we need to say very clearly. We also need to say as Christians, though, that we believe in modesty. And so, you know, when I see people rushing from the church to cheer a woman who’s immodestly dressed because, let’s say, she’s a red-blooded woman and she’s flaunting that. I’m not a schoolmarm over here, but I need to be very careful. Because you can lose your soul over immodesty. There are lots of young men and increasingly young women who are plunged deep into pornography and are sadly not being careful with their eyes and what they look at and what they think about. And we need the gospel of grace for all of that. And so we’re not pro immodesty. Anything that a red meat conservative, for example, out there, sometimes they’re called like a barstool conservative or something, would support. We are Christians. We’re a unique people. But we do also need to be clear that there’s nothing wrong with a woman who has, air quotes, white skin appearing in an advertisement for clothes. There was nothing Nazi coded about this ad. People said that about Sidney Sweeney in this American Eagle advertisement. So there are a lot of very strange things that are attached to this that we have no part of and that are just nonsense. On the other hand, we as Christians have a distinctive contribution here, and we want to urge the importance of modesty and feminine beauty in the right way, in a biblically shaped way.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well said. While we have just a little bit more time left, I want to shift gears with you once again. Headlines this week have abounded, if you will, with the legacy media about the so-called famine taking place in Gaza. or deliberately ignored who the true villains are in all of this. I’ve heard someone refer to it as an inversion of reality. So should we be surprised considering the disbelief there is these days in absolute truth?
SPEAKER 06 :
I don’t think we should, Jody. I agree with everything you said. This is the latest example of left is right, up is down. Fundamentally, the force known as Hamas a few years ago, almost two years ago, brutally attacked Israel and killed over 1500 people. There are still many hostages being held by Hamas, Israeli people. And so there is a tremendous amount of confusion in our world. over the nation state of Israel today. There’s increasingly confusion even among professing believers over the nation state of Israel. There’s a lot to say about eschatology and those sorts of things, and we could have that conversation another time. But here is what I believe. I believe that Israel is in the right here. I believe that Israel is a Middle Eastern democracy, that we are right to stand by, even as Israel is menaced. by Islamic powers on every side. Israel has been forced to fight for its very existence, basically since it came into existence as a nation state. And if America and Christians among American citizens cease to support Israel and stand up for it It could be the case that Israel could be obliterated. And so many things to say in many directions, but I am absolutely unequivocal in supporting the modern nation state, the democracy of Israel. I don’t think it’s a perfect country or something like that. I don’t think everything it does is pure or something like that, as with every nation state. But I believe, once again, we support it, and we do not support anti-Semitism. And I believe the word of God is extremely clear about the evil of partiality with regard to any ethnic group. And so anti-Semitism is on the rise as well. And we need to be a clear voice against it in our time.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, great points. You know, there are certainly many eschatological perspectives on all of this, and I wish we did have time to go into that because I believe that’s a valuable conversation that needs to occur. But the approach that you’re taking is just from the… more than just political. I mean, Israel was in the right here. They were wrong. They were attacked, and they have the right to defend themselves, and we as Christians ought to be able to recognize that readily if we even have some differing opinions as far as our eschatological views.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and we can say very—
SPEAKER 14 :
Go ahead, real quick.
SPEAKER 06 :
We can say very quickly, too, that there are terrible consequences of war, and we mourn that, and we don’t want those, and that’s why we want an end to hostilities and an end to brutal menacing of Israel.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. Dr. Owen Strand, Senior Director of the Dobson Culture Center, thank you so much for joining us today. All right, that wraps up this week on Washington Watch. Have a great weekend. We’ll see you next week right here.
SPEAKER 05 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
