Allie Beth Stuckey opened AmericaFest 2023 on Monday morning by sharing what she called her four most controversial opinions. She cautioned that some people, even in the room, may disagree with her. But over the last few years, she’s become more conservative as the world has become more progressive.
“I have become what I hope to be radically pro-human, radically pro-child, radically pro-American society, radically pro-family,” she said. “I have become entirely uncompromising on these things – on the things conservatives are told that we must compromise on in order to win, in order to conform, even by the Right sometimes we are told we have to bow down in order to win elections.”
Her four most controversial opinions:
- Abortion is always wrong;
- Children have a right to a mom and a dad;
- Pornography should be banned;
- Christians should leave the public school system.
Abortion is always wrong: Stuckey said there were many years during which she called herself staunchly pro-life, but supported exceptions for abortion. Then, she was challenged with a question from a random comment on Facebook – why should circumstances surrounding someone’s conception or diagnosis of a mother’s situation justify a child’s murder.
“By believing in all kinds of exceptions, I was actually rejecting the premise of the pro-life argument, which is that babies in the womb are humans and therefore they are entitled to human rights, the most fundamental of which is the right not to be murdered.”
Stuckey mentioned the case in Texas where a woman is suing the state after her child was diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a condition which sometimes is fatal in hours and weeks after birth. But some of the babies diagnosed with Trisomy 18 grow to be toddlers and teenagers.
Doctors offered the Texas mom multiple options to deliver the baby whole, but she instead chose a D&E abortion in another state, which Stuckey said is a “very brutal procedure” where the baby is “dismembered” before being removed.
“I hold the radical belief that that baby was human and therefore had the right to life,” Stuckey said. “(That baby) had the right to not be torn apart by forceps. Either way, babies have to come out. The choice is really between the baby coming out whole or in pieces. I am of the radical position that babies deserve to be born whole.”
Pro-life conservatives are sometimes criticized by fellow conservatives because that position to “too extreme” and will lose elections. But Stuckey said conservatives lose because they compromise too much, not because they do not compromise enough.
“Maybe if we could all unite behind this radical idea that babies are people and shouldn’t be murdered it wouldn’t be so polarizing,” Stuckey said.
Conservatives, though, have fallen into what she calls the empathy trap, feeling the need to be empathetic for the woman by affirming her choice to abort a baby.
“While we should and can have compassion for her, we can do so without supporting the choice to end a child’s life,” she said. “Where is the empathy for the child in the womb? An unborn baby is always human, therefore abortion is always wrong.”
Children deserve a mom and a dad: Stuckey said children are entitled to a mom and a dad, but conservatives are told not to care about the Obergefell decision anymore. But only God can “redefine” marriage because He created it in Genesis, she said.
“This is a fundamental issue on which the future of America rises or falls,” she said.
Conservatives are mostly on the same page regarding the transgender debate. Most agree women are women and men are men and one cannot be the other because of biological differences and the fact biology matters.
“But it doesn’t just matter when it comes to sports. It doesn’t just matter when it comes to gender. It matters in marriage,” Stuckey said. “Marriage is meant to be in principle a child-creating, a child-rearing, a child-protecting institution between the only two kinds of individuals that can make babies – a man and a woman. That biology that we recognize differentiates a man and a woman also differentiates a mom and a dad.”
Stuckey said two men may be able to be good dads, but neither can be a mother. Two women may be able to be good moms, but neither will be a dad.
“Children need both,” she said. “Children need their moms and their dads equally but for different reasons and different stages.”
Stuckey said she has birthed and breastfed three children, something her husband cannot do. But when those children want to be chased around the house, they call for their dad. When they are sick or tired, they call for her.
“They come to me for comfort and their dad for adventure,” she said. “This isn’t due to personality differences, but because of our biological differences. Only moms can teach girls how to become women. Only dads can teach boys how to become men.”
We have decades of data that warn about the tragedies that often follow a fatherless home. Children often find themselves in delinquency, teen pregnancy, poverty, etc., but in the name of “inclusion” we are purposefully creating fatherless children. In the name of “inclusion” we are purposefully creating motherless children. Meanwhile, the reproductive industry profits from it.
“We are creating motherless and fatherless children in a grand dystopian social experiment the results of which will be harmful on both an individual and a societal level,” she said.
We hear the saying that trans women are women and we scoff because it is a circular motto that doesn’t mean anything, Stuckey said.
“But guess what – love is love is just as circular and is meaningless and destructive,” she said.
Pornography should be banned: Stuckey said there have always been limitations on legal speech. And while we should advocate for the freedom of expression of unpopular or controversial things, pornography does not fall into that category.
“It has destroyed lives, minds, hearts, relationships and incentivizes sex trafficking, pedophilia, sexual violence and traps people in addiction,” she said.
Porn Hub employees were caught on camera admitting they suggest transgender content users to try to change their interests and attractions. Stuckey said many men who begin to identify as women were influenced by the darkest corners of pornography. The director of The Matrix is a man who now identifies as a woman. He admitted in a speech that porn made him realize he was transgender.
“There is no benefit to pornography,” Stuckey said. “It only harms. It only destroys. It only exploits. It only hurts. It should be banned.”
Christians should leave the public school system: Stuckey said the opinion that Christians should leave the public school system does not mean Christians should not be involved in trying to change public education for the better, but she said kids do not have to be the victims of the system.
She said all education, for better or worse, is indoctrination. All education places doctrines in its students.
“The question is, what doctrines,” she said. “The only question is what doctrines do you want your children to learn and who do you want teaching them these doctrines.”
Children are in school for 40 hours a week for most of the year for all their youth, Stuckey said in those 40 hours, children can either learn doctrines completely opposed to your worldview or doctrines in alignment with your worldview.
“We know that education is no longer neutral,” she said. “Ultimately, yes, parents are responsible for discipling our children. But we want our child’s education to complement that discipleship.”
She cautioned against thinking it is important to have your child in the public school to “fight battles.”
“Look, your child isn’t even big enough to hold their shield,” she said. “We don’t put them on the frontlines before they can even carry their own sword. We use these years while they are in our care to prepare them, to teach them, to lay a biblical foundation for their life that will equip them to fight the battles out there. There is plenty of time for that. We train missionaries for years before we send them into the field. We should not place the burden of mission work in the public school system on our untrained 9-year-old third-grader.”
Stuckey said every opportunity has to be used to teach children the ways of the Lord whether it is through homeschooling or some form of Christian education.
“That is our responsibility as parents,” Stuckey said. “We do not outsource discipleship to an education system that hates us. The connection in all of these, in four of my most controversial opinions – and there are plenty more – is my desire to protect children, to protect the family, to raise healthy, wise, courageous kids who are raised by healthy, loving parents. If we want to see change, if we want to make a difference, we have to look beyond the pragmatism that we are told will win the next election.”
Stuckey said we must look for generational change. That will not be due to one politician or one election, instead, it will be through decades of obedience and boldness of Christians who are willing to raise up the next generation courageous enough to protect kids.
“That’s how God works,” she said. “The change we are looking for might not happen tomorrow. It might not happen in the next election cycle. But by God’s grace and His providence, change can happen. If you want to see change, if you want to make a difference, love God, honor His design, love your spouse, love and protect children, support the family, nurture and raise a new generation of brave, truth-loving adults who will be agents of clarity and courage in a culture of cowardice, chaos and confusion.”
