The Life Challenges Podcast

What’s Trending? Defunding Planned Parenthood, Frozen Embryos, Postpartum Depression, and Anti-aging Pills for Dogs

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Join us for this month's What's Trending episode as we discuss:

Postpartum depression isn't just a chemical imbalance—it physically changes women's brains. This startling discovery helps explain why so many mothers struggle after childbirth without even recognizing they're depressed. "It becomes your new normal," explains Pastor Jeff. "You're not really thinking 'I'm depressed,' you're just thinking 'I don't have a good life.'" The podcast explores how these physical brain changes reveal the profound impact pregnancy has on a woman's body and mind.

Meanwhile, a pivotal Supreme Court case could determine whether states can defund Planned Parenthood, potentially changing the landscape of reproductive healthcare across America. The hosts explore the complex implications of this case, where South Carolina's decision highlights the argument that money is "fungible"—even funding earmarked for non-abortion services indirectly supports abortion provision.

The conversation shifts to another legal battle where a Virginia judge ruled that frozen embryos cannot be treated as property during divorce proceedings. Drawing parallels to historical arguments against human commodification, this case adds to growing questions about how our society views and protects nascent human life. "You can't treat human beings as property," the judge asserted, creating a precedent that may eventually demand Supreme Court intervention.

The podcast concludes with a fascinating discussion about a new anti-aging pill for dogs that's received preliminary FDA approval—potentially foreshadowing similar interventions for humans. These ethical dilemmas reflect our society's evolving relationship with life, death, and the technologies that increasingly blur the boundaries between them.

Have questions or comments? We'd love to hear from you at lifechallenges.us or email us at podcast@christianliferesources.com.

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Jeff Samelson:

On today's episode cases of women who did some horrible things or who just went into almost a permanent state of depression. People didn't understand it so well back then, but that's one of the things about depression is very often you can be in it for a long time and not even realize you're in it. It's just because this becomes your new normal. You're not really thinking, oh, I'm depressed. You're just thinking I don't have a good life.

Paul Snamiska:

Welcome to the Life Challenges podcast from Christian Life Resources. Not really thinking, oh, I'm depressed.

Christa Potratz:

You're just thinking I don't have a good life biblical perspective to these issues and more. Join us now for Life Challenges. Hi and welcome back. I'm Krista Potratz and I'm here today with Pastors Bob Fleischman and Jeff Samuelson, and today we are going to be talking about our current events, our April current events here, and we are going to start with the Supreme Court might look at a case to defund Planned Parenthood.

Jeff Samelson:

Yeah. Well, in this case it's whether or not states have the right to, on their own, decide to defund Planned Parenthood for whatever reasons they might have. And by the time any of our listeners hear this episode, the arguments will already have been heard and we'll be waiting for a decision. But it's scheduled for April 2nd that the Supreme Court will hear the case. It's Medina versus Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, and the basic idea is that South Carolina has said that well, we're not going to give any money to Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, and the basic idea is that South Carolina has said that well, we're not going to give any money to Planned Parenthood anymore because too much trouble with too many different issues, so we don't want to give any money to that organization. It's basically South Carolina saying what everyone on the pro-life side has been saying forever Even if you just give Planned Parenthood money for family planning and you're not saying we're paying for abortions, you're still paying for abortions because money is fungible. You're giving your money to them for this one thing. It's going to help them move money over to the other thing, and so forth.

Jeff Samelson:

And the person in the case that was listed in the article was basically claiming well, my preferred provider for this service and I think it was just for obtaining birth control is Planned Parenthood, and by the state defunding this, they're limiting my right to receive Medicaid care from the organization that I prefer, even though apparently this person could travel just a mile further and get the same care from a different provider. It's basically a manufactured case, but it is a big one, because if the Supreme Court were to decide that, yes, states do have the right to decide where their federal Medicaid funding can go, that they have the right to decide that, then it would open up to many other states that are more pro-life in perspective to say, okay, yeah, we're not going to give any money to Planned Parenthood anymore, and they'd be safe from suit in doing so go to the court.

Bob Fleischmann:

Because technically you know, counties make this decision all the time. They have to provide certain mandated programs under the Medicaid rules and one is indigent birth control services. They also do some other health services and Planned Parenthood has kind of been the. Regardless of how you feel about them ideologically, they were always like an easy choice. They kind of were the full service shop and they can kind of pick and choose what services that you're looking for, and so they were an easy choice for everybody.

Bob Fleischmann:

So I would imagine and I'm just projecting out, but I'm imagining the courts, even the liberal justices, saying counties have the right to do this, to do this. What counties don't have the right to do is you cannot deprive Medicaid patients from these mandated services. That's an act of Congress. So unless you've got somebody else to do it, the liberals, at least on the court, are going to probably want to say then you have to use Planned Parenthood. But I mean I can't imagine a viable argument being made that the county can't pick and choose who to do it. The problem is is there's never another choice? You know that I see. Well rarely there are another choice.

Bob Fleischmann:

When I faced this 40-some years ago, brown County up in the Green Bay area, there was apparently a nurses coalition that was willing to provide this.

Bob Fleischmann:

But you have to understand that when the federal government provides for mandating some of these services for the indigent community, some of those services are problematic, you know, like birth control, you're not going to get, you know, the Catholic Nurses Group standing in line to do this, because the Catholic Church has a problem with birth control outside of natural family planning, and so you've got a problem there. Now you have to go to the evangelical community, the Protestant community, and some of us have a problem with some forms of birth control. So you know we're not going to be standing in line to be doing that. And so it presents some real issues and it does seem to kind of fit with the whole retooling argument that seems to be going on with the current administration. And you know we just have to look at a different way of doing this stuff and, of course, maybe there's something fundamentally wrong with the way that we mandate some of these Medicaid monies.

Jeff Samelson:

I suspect that the argument that would come across on the other side there would be that, well, part of the reason that Planned Parenthood is the only game in town is because they're the only game in town. If a decision at a state level were made was like no, planned Parenthood isn't going to get any money from this, then maybe somebody else would be stepping forward and saying, oh okay, here's an opportunity, whereas previously they'd say, well, planned Parenthood is doing it. Why would we?

Bob Fleischmann:

get into providing birth control and things like that. Yeah, and the pro-life community would have a problem with it, because pro-life community doesn't like forms of birth control that have an abortifacient function. So I mean just pro-life, even, regardless of religious persuasion. They're just going to have trouble with it.

Christa Potratz:

No, it's really interesting, and I know we talked about Planned Parenthood too in our Planned Parenthood episode as well, but they just really have seemed to have just done… maybe a great job over the years, just with their marketing and just how they are able to get their mark in what they do.

Bob Fleischmann:

Planned Parenthood now has kind of fallen victim to some bad press, with the whole business of clinics being in poor condition and so forth. There was that huge New York Times article which really was an expose. It just shows an organization that is really starting to struggle. So if they were to lose this case it very realistically could be the demise you know the beginning of the demise of Planned Parenthood, because people are going to be looking for an alternative agency and right now this is the devil we know and just to be clear, we would shed no tears at Planned Parenthood's demise.

Bob Fleischmann:

Yeah, and the reason is is they still remain the largest single abortion provider in the United States, if not the world.

Christa Potratz:

Well, a lot to look out for and to watch how that case goes and stuff too in the future. So the next article topic that we wanted to talk about is frozen embryos and how they are considered. Now I guess or a Virginia judge has ruled that a divorce happens and a couple has frozen embryos, that they can't be considered property. Can someone expand a little bit on that?

Jeff Samelson:

Well, this is one of those cases that may very well end up at the Supreme Court someday, because different states, different judges, have decided things differently. And there have been some other cases, the recent one in Alabama, for instance, that got a lot of attention what is a year, year and a half ago, something like that. But this was a case. A couple had gone through IVF. They had two frozen embryos and then they got divorced and, as it was, the wife was unable to do anything with those because they were joint property and if her ex-husband said, no, I don't release those to you, she was in a bind and her ex-wife, basically, was suing. She wanted to get possession of those two embryos so that she could use them to possibly have one or two more children, and she was even willing to accept a partition, which would basically be she gets one and the husband gets the other, which of course raises the question of what's he going to do with it. You kind of wonder what's going on with the husband as to why he would stand in the way of this in any way. Although he says that I don't want to become a father without having a choice in the matter, we'd say, of course he already is a father. He had a choice that was made previously.

Jeff Samelson:

But anyway, the interesting thing about this was that the judge in this case says no, these are not property. And he actually referenced some stuff, going back to references to slavery and slavery law, and saying no, we can't treat human beings as property. Embryos are not property in the same sense that a piece of land would be or an automobile would be. These are not things to be divided in that way, and so they can't be decided in this way, because the way that she put this suit forward was in terms of treating it as property and not as, like a family court type of situation. And so it's a very interesting case and it'll be very it looks like it will probably be appealed and be very interesting to see how far up the chain it goes and what decision is made.

Bob Fleischmann:

And this is not the first time something like this has happened. I've been involved in cases like this where they had frozen embryos, a divorce occurred and again the ex-wife wanted to protect them, felt that they were human life and the husband wanted them divided. And there were five embryos. In the one case that I was involved with which, of course, raised the question about the fifth embryo and the husband the ex-husband had made it pretty clear he was going to destroy them. Why? Because he didn't want to have this woman's children now that he was divorcing.

Bob Fleischmann:

And I remember invoking something a high-powered attorney told me 25 years ago, and that is. Everybody thinks that adjudication's about justice. He goes, it's not. It's about winning. You need to find the meanest lawyer, the most aggressive lawyer, and so I did. I helped the family find someone who was pro-life, who understood, and this lady came in swinging because up until then it looked like the ex-husband was going to win the day and the wife the ex-wife ended up getting possession of all of them and I don't know what happened since then.

Bob Fleischmann:

But this happens and people have—everyone kind of knows how I feel about IVF. You can even tease me about it on occasion here, but I've never been a fan. But this is one of the reasons why because when you understand again, if you think simply about it, you're not going to get it when you start thinking about the complexities of it. So now you've got embryos. Now they develop to a point they're frozen. All of a sudden there's a falling out. The other falling out that occurs is even if the couple stays together. All of a sudden they realize I can't handle more than one child. It was much more than I imagined it would be. Now, what do you do with them? And I always thought Alabama just said the emperor is naked. That's really what happened in.

Bob Fleischmann:

Alabama, and now you're seeing these other cases. So I agree with Jeff. I think at some point the Supreme Court is going to have to weigh in on it.

Christa Potratz:

Well, another thing that we wanted to talk about today was an article, bob, I believe you had found it on postpartum depression and the way it changes the brain.

Bob Fleischmann:

Well, first of all, I don't know maybe I'm speaking for myself, but just any father never giving an ounce of thought to postpartum All of a sudden they have their first child and they find their wife sitting in the tub crying and they don't know what's going on. That was my first introduction to postpartum, and when we started New Beginnings back in 93, postpartum was like super real. Not only super real, but super intense. And we had a number of residents who would come to New Beginnings, who were also medically diagnosed to be bipolar. And then it raises questions about should they be on the medication, not on the medication? Is the medication causing it?

Bob Fleischmann:

So I found this article really interesting in that there are chemical changes that occur and, like we've talked about when we've talked about hormonal birth control or just medicines in general, once your body's chemistry is tampered with in one way, whether naturally or unnaturally, there's sometimes unforeseen consequences. And one of the difficulties of dealing with the postpartum topic I've had when I've spoken about it publicly is you're always going to get the people who are going to come up to you and go. I didn't have a problem.

Bob Fleischmann:

Therefore, why are they having a problem? You got to understand. Everyone's chemistry is different and we're on high alert at New Beginnings, after there's been a delivery, because, depending on the seriousness of postpartum, it could become dangerous for the mother, for the child, for other people around them. And at New Beginnings, our mothers room together. Two mothers share an apartment. We have to always be vigilant for the safety of everyone, so it's a real concern. I'm happy when discoveries like this are made and more research is done, because in our world this is very real, very real.

Jeff Samelson:

Now, one of the interesting things about this article was that it wasn't just talking about chemical changes. There was actual physical changes in the brain that were displayed. Things went back to normal after a period of time or whatever, but these were actual, lasting physical changes in women's brains as a result of pregnancy, delivery and then postpartum period. And it's just kind of fascinating and I was thinking as I read it all the people who, like the people, would say well, I never had it, so why is anyone else having it? The people would say just get over it.

Jeff Samelson:

To a woman who's experienced postpartum depression, it's like, well, it is all in my head, physically in my head.

Jeff Samelson:

You just can't speak about it that way or think about it that way. And it also underscores you know pregnancy really is a big deal. You know it's not just because of the child that comes as a result of pregnancy, that is born as a result of pregnancy, but everything about the process as God designed it. It causes these changes. It's a big deal, and both mothers and fathers I think perhaps fathers especially need to understand that these kinds of changes are going on in the women that they marry and that they are spending their lives with, who have ended their pregnancies with abortion. Because you can't help but wonder if, okay, this change happens as the pregnancy happened, but then there was no birth. So what happened? Did things change back? Was something permanent happen as a result? Be very interesting to see if anyone ever follows that up. I think it would be worth following up.

Christa Potratz:

But I do think that is with some of the cases, with people that say, oh, I never experienced that. You might have maybe forgotten in some ways that you kind of experienced that too, because I born too and just how I was dealing with things and just you know, and sometimes what kind of happens too is, I think whatever situation you're in can also amplify that too, or vice versa. So I mean, when you were saying, bob too, I mean you know, in New Beginnings you're dealing with women that already don't have the thinking of, on top of what their body is going through with the changes too, from that.

Bob Fleischmann:

You know, a number of years ago I did a workshop on just the changes that occur with pregnancy, how pregnancy occurs, and it was major detail and I use PowerPoint so I had images and I could describe and I can talk about different things triggering and how it cycles through and everything. I got all done and I had a nurse come up afterwards and she said I have never heard that thorough of an explanation. I learned things I never realized and so a lot of times you think that these things are covered in detail.

Bob Fleischmann:

I learn things I never realized and so a lot of times you think that these things are covered in detail. But the point I want to make is what I found really interesting about this. As you might imagine, you know in this household almost any article that's dealing with changes in the brain I'm paying closer attention to, and this morning actually, I was reading an article on a new discovery about glioblastoma, which is what my wife is going through, and in that story they just discovered that the very thing that they thought was the problem is not the problem and that there's something else that was the problem and there's nothing that's going to help us in the very short run. But what I found fascinating about the article is just how sensitive the brain is to even the mildest of changes, and you'll hear stories of people all of a sudden acting unusual and then they find that there was pressure, there was a buildup of fluid in a portion of the brain and just a little pressure. Find that there was pressure, there was a buildup of fluid in a portion of the brain and just a little pressure.

Bob Fleischmann:

And when you read this story about postpartum, the physical changes of the brain has to have consequences, and I just found it valuable for us to learn so that it helps us understand when people will argue well, because of these physical changes, they do sinful things, so therefore we've explained away sin. No, you don't explain away sin. You might understand why it happens, but the kinds of things that occur, with the massive impact that a pregnancy has on a woman's body, does change the brain.

Jeff Samelson:

There's just no doubt about it, and it affects some more than others and, krista, what you were saying about, you know your own experience. You know, did I have this, Did I not? It's like I'm pretty sure I've heard this comment from somebody. Well, you know, back in my day we were too busy as mothers to have depression, and particularly before birth control, and you know family planning and things like that it's like. But when you look at history, there are plenty of well-recorded cases of women who did some horrible things or who just went into almost a permanent state of depression as people didn't understand it so well back then. But that's one of the things about depression is very often you can be in it for a long time and not even realize you're in it.

Jeff Samelson:

It's just because this becomes your new normal. You're not really thinking, oh, I'm depressed, you're just thinking I don't have a good life. You know, I'm busy, I'm getting things done, but it's just the minimum and there's no joy in it. Well, you know, that actually kind of defines depression. But if you don't stop and think about it or you don't get any kind of help that would help you define it you may not really realize you're in it Right.

Bob Fleischmann:

The other thing too is we have so many other chemicals that we ingest today that we didn't and I'm not an anti-pill guy or anything like that but when you look at the chemicals we ingest and the chemicals they find in the house, I was just watching an advertisement yesterday saying you know, have you had your house checked for radon? You know, nobody thought about radon, you know, years ago. And there's just other. You know things that are in the atmosphere and so forth?

Christa Potratz:

Yeah, how is this basement, Bob? Yeah, I don't know. I should probably have it checked.

Bob Fleischmann:

I do know everything is sealed off, so we're in good shape that way I have it checked, but I do know everything is sealed off, so we're in good shape that way.

Bob Fleischmann:

But the point is that when I reported this to my board about the postpartum thing I just said, you know, at New Beginnings we have a lot of mothers coming in who are on different medications and so forth, and our experience has been it seems to magnify it to some degree when they get it. You know, we put the doctors on notice that we've had this history of postpartum at the house and so forth, and so we're especially vigilant on it, and so I think this was a giant step in the right direction for understanding you know what's going on and hopefully, what can be done about it in the future.

Christa Potratz:

Well, the last article that we wanted to talk about is this anti-aging pill for dogs. Well, maybe a little humorous, but we've talked about pets before on the show and how people have kind of put their just a lot of maybe importance in their pets, even to rival of human importance as well, and so what do we kind of know about this anti-aging pill for dogs?

Jeff Samelson:

Well, it's a biotech company doing this called Loyal. They're based, as so many startups are, in San Francisco and they announced that they've developed a drug to increase canine lifespan and they've passed a significant milestone on the way to getting approval from the FDA for prescribing it for dogs. Let's see. Fda certified the pill as having a reasonable expectation of effectiveness at extending senior dogs' lifespans. I didn't delve deep enough into it to understand the actual mechanisms of it, but it is kind of an interesting thought to realize. Wow, a pill can help extend life. It certainly raises some questions, not just about well, is this going to be a good idea for my dog? I really love my dog, do I want him or her to have this pill? But, of course, if it's being proved in concept with dogs, then the question is is it going to be then moved over into humans with the same kind of technologies, and is that a good thing, and what will the effects of that be? So it's one of those things. It's an interesting news article. Perhaps more interesting is what it means.

Bob Fleischmann:

Well, and that's why I included it, because I thought I've shared with my board a lot of articles on efforts to increase the lifespan of humans and going all the way from injectables using placenta and stuff like that.

Bob Fleischmann:

There's all sorts of experiments to try to kind of create a fountain of youth for people and all the way to the extreme of transhumanism taking your consciousness and putting it into a machine. There's a lot of that stuff going on, so I thought it was only a matter of time that it was going to affect animals was only a matter of time that it was going to affect animals. And I think I've said, even on a previous podcast, that I don't have any pets because I would get close to a pet, and so I always said that the only pet that I think I would ever have is like a tortoise, because they live like 125 years. They would outlive me. I wouldn't have to mourn the loss of my pet, or it has to be a pet I can flush down the toilet, which is back when I used to have tropical fish. I found that I didn't get emotionally attached to any of my fish, except maybe when I had a piranha.

Bob Fleischmann:

But that's maybe a different story and a different psychological discussion, but the point is is that the idea of life-enhancing medication for animals is always a precursor to what we can do with humans. You know that they're working on it and I found it fascinating, so hopefully my board have found it entertaining as well.

Jeff Samelson:

One of the things I picked up on it wasn't a major point in the article was that I talked about. You know a proven method is calorie restriction. You know they've established that the kind of diet, well, that that's normal for for dogs is is the kind that you know it does eventual kind of long-term damage, kind of on a genetic level, to um, on a cellular level, and it? Um decreases lifespan because basically it, it, it overworks the system and you know. But if you end up reducing calorie intake and with the right kind of calories it tends to expend life. And that that registers with me because my grandmother ate like a bird, a tiny little thing, tiny appetite. I didn't know her very well but particularly toward the end of my life, the few times I, you know, I, you know, I had a chance to, you know, share a meal with her or anything like that, it's like that's all you're eating. She lived to 105.

Bob Fleischmann:

Yeah.

Jeff Samelson:

It's pretty easy because the statistics have come out since then and I've seen well, yeah, there is a relationship between that kind of appetite or that kind of diet and long life. But again I look at that and say I don't think I want to live that way. You know, I like food owners are generally not going to be comfortable reducing the calorie intake for their dogs because they don't have the quote in front of me, but at the very end of the article it quoted from somebody who was, I think what was?

Jeff Samelson:

he wrote screenplays or something like that Successful guy and he said everything that I do, I do for my dogs.

Christa Potratz:

Yeah. I mean, I definitely think there is a market for this out there.

Bob Fleischmann:

Well, just look at how the pet market has exploded in the last I don't know four decades. Pet insurance, right, all right.

Christa Potratz:

Well, thank you both for discussing these articles and topics with us today, and we thank all of our listeners, too, for joining us. We encourage everybody to share this episode and subscribe to the podcast. If you have any questions on this topic or any others, you can reach us at lifechallengesus. We'll see you back next time. Bye.

Paul Snamiska:

Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Life Challenges podcast from Christian Life Resources. Please consider subscribing to this podcast, giving us a review wherever you access it and sharing it with friends. We're sure you have questions on today's topic or other life issues. Our goal is to help you through these tough topics and we want you to know we're here to help. You can submit your questions, as well as comments or suggestions for future episodes, at lifechallengesus or email us at podcast at christianliferesourcescom. In addition to the podcasts, we include other valuable information at lifechallengesus, so be sure to check it out. For more about our parent organization, please visit ChristianLifeResourcescom. May God give you wisdom, love, strength and peace in Christ for every life challenge.

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