Jun 1, 2026

The Atheist who Makes the Secular Case against Abortion (Monica Snyder)

Why and When Does Human Life Have Value?

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec

Summary

Monica Snyder is the executive director of Secular Pro Life and makes the case for the value of human life from conception based on empirical biology and not on revealed religion. She’s also an atheist, statistically the demographic category most in favor of abortion.

Abortion is about as contentious a political topic as we have. It’s also one where we often talk past each other. We don’t even agree on the terms: we don’t even say I am for or against ‘abortion’ but rather we are in favor of ‘life’ or of choice’ as if our opponents were therefore perforce against life or choice! Remember the old Tom Lehrer joke about sixties folk song singers—perhaps the antecedent to today’s social justice warriors—“It takes a certain amount of courage to get up in a coffee house or a college auditorium and come out in favor of the things that everybody else in the audience is against, like peace and justice and brotherhood and so on.”

Of course, everyone is in favor of ‘life’ and of ‘choice’. And whether or not you believe in God, you are still a product of the Judeo-Christian world you grew up in. For this reason, it is wonderful to hear what an atheist who believes in the fundamental value of human life has to say about the practice of abortion.