The World and Everything in It: December 18, 2024

NICK EICHER, HOST: Good morning! We’re about halfway through our Year End Giving Drive, and we still need you! December is the crucial month for us. So friendly reminder, we’re here for you every day, only because you’re here for us. So, please consider what this program means to you and take the extra step of translating that into a dollar figure that you can afford.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Please make your gift today at WNG.org/YearEndGift. That’s WNG.org/YearEndGift. Now, let’s get to what we’re here for.

EICHER: Yeah, let’s! 

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning!

Congress prepares to punt another government funding deadline…

BOB GOOD: Most Republicans, they don't want the responsibility of having to cut spending when they can't blame the Democrats anymore.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Parting words from a conservative member of the House on Washington Wednesday. Also today, news from around the world on WORLD Tour.

Later, the thrill of victory as families compete to build gingerbread houses and local community.

And WORLD’s Ray Hacke on athletic courage and standing for what’s right.

MAST: It’s Wednesday, December 18th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

MAST: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Russian general killed » A senior Russian general is dead after a bomb hidden inside a scooter detonated outside his apartment in Moscow.

A Ukrainian official reportedly confirmed that its intelligence service carried out Tuesday’s attack killing Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov.

And Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev confirmed Gen. Kirllov death.

MEDVEDEV: [Speaking Russian]

He said investigators are working to find the operatives who carried out the attack.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters …

RYDER: We were not aware of this operation in advance. We do not support or enable those kinds of activities. 

Kirllov was the chief of the Russian military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces.

He was under sanctions from several Western countries for his actions in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

SOUND: [Lighting of the Menorah]

Israel-Gaza latest » On Capitol Hill, members of Congress gathered Tuesday for the lighting of the menorah. The ceremony marks the opening of the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah.

House Speaker Mike Johnson noted that this Hannukah—like the one before—has not been easy for the Jewish people.

JOHNSON: We all know that 2024 was a very difficult year for Jewish Americans on college campuses, and of course in the land of Israel itself. Yet in the face of vitriol and war, the Jewish people have shown unshakable strength and optimism and resilience.

Meanwhile, negotiators are in Cairo trying to secure a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says a deal is close.

KIRBY: We are working at this very, very hard. Our special coordinator for the Middle East is still in the region. We're trying to get it over the finish line, but we're gonna have to see. But Hamas is gonna have to come to the table and negotiate in good faith and they've really been the obstacle.

Officials are hopeful that any deal to halt the 14-month war would secure the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas.

UHC shooter charged with terrorism » The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO is being charged with murder as an act of terrorism.

New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that’s because it seems clear to him that the suspect intended to cause shock and terror.

BRAGG:  The statutory elements we can go into, but it's most basic term. That's what this is. This was not, uh, an ordinary, uh, killing.

Prosecutors disclosed the indictment Tuesday as they worked to bring Luigi Mangione to New York from a Pennsylvania jail.

The 26-year-old already had been charged with murder in the Dec. 4 killing of Brian Thompson. But the terror allegation is new.

Meantime, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch responded to the reaction by some on the left to Thompson’s murder.

TISCH:  In the nearly two weeks since Mr Thompson's killing, we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold blooded murder. Social media has erupted with praise for this cowardly attack.

Tisch said “there is no heroism in what Mangione did.”

AI House task force » After a yearlong investigation, a House task force is sharing its findings as to how Congress should handle artificial intelligence.

Among the recommendations: Pass legislation to protect the digital identity of Americans.

Democratic Congressman Bill Foster:

FOSTER:  This is, um, the ability for a person to prove they are who they say they are in an online environment and ultimately it's the only, um, method of really defending people against deepfake impersonation. We have to, um, deal with the privacy issues that AI will, um, also unleash on the public.

The report also recommends stricter policies to protect personal and sensitive data from misuse or breaches by AI systems.

But Republican task force member Congressman Jay Obernolte says it's important to strike a balance …

OBERNOLTE: Providing Americans with the protections that they deserve … against some of the malicious use of AI … with the need to make, uh, ensure that America remains the place where cutting edge artificial intelligence is developed and deployed.

The next step is for relevant House committees to review the report before moving forward on crafting legislation.

Trump TikTok meeting » President-elect Donald Trump has changed his mind about a possible ban of the social media app TikTok. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Earlier this year, Congress passed a bill that President Biden signed into law that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or face a nationwide ban. That was due to security concerns related to the app.

Donald Trump, during his first term, was in favor of a potential ban.

But the president-elect now sees it differently.

He hosted TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew this week at his Mar-a-Lago estate. And Trump said banning the platform might hand too much power to Facebook and Instagram.

He also said he has a soft spot for the app because he believes it helped him win support among young voters.

Enforcement of any ban would be up to the discretion of the Justice Department, and Trump’s remarks could signal that TikTok would be safe under the new Trump administration.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Pig kidney transplant » An Alabama woman received a pig kidney transplant last month and is free from dialysis for the first time in eight years. Towana Looney is the fifth American given a gene-edited pig organ in a quest to make animal-to-human transplants a reality.

Surgeon Dr. Jayme Locke:

LOCKE: It was remarkable. The kidney pinked up and looked just like a human kidney. It made urine within just a few minutes.

Importantly, Looney wasn’t as sick as prior patients who received pig kidneys or hearts. The others died within two months.

Doctors said Looney was recovering well after the Nov. 25th transplant. That’s a step toward formal studies of pig organs that could begin next year.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: a conversation with an outgoing member of Congress on Washington Wednesday. Plus, building edible structures out of gingerbread, frosting, and gumdrops.

This is The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 18th of December.

This is WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today. Good morning, I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Washington Wednesday.

With just days left in the 118th Congress, lawmakers are scrambling to fund government into the New Year or risk a shutdown.

MAST: When this session of Congress started back in 2022, Republican leaders had high hopes: They set out to restore so-called normal order meaning they intended to pass annual appropriations bills one by one instead of rolling everything together into one massive last-minute bill.

EICHER: That didn’t quite work out. One of the House Republicans on the front lines of this issue has been Virginia Congressman Bob Good, the now former Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. Good was one of the Republicans who worked to push out Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker.

MAST: Good served two terms in Congress but then this summer he got pushed out, losing a Republican primary. His last day in office is Friday. WORLD’s Carolina Lumetta has the story.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: Virginia Congressman Bob Good has no qualms about saying no.

GOOD: We literally, with just the House, can stop and block anything. It's all about the money. All we have to do is not fund the policies we campaign against, the things we say we’re fighting against, the things we say we want to overturn or undo, or what have you. We’ll just not give you the money.

Good was first elected to Congress in 2020…representing a conservative-leaning district that includes the cities of Charlottesville and Lynchburg.

GOOD: Cutting our federal spending: is that a campaign talking point or is that real? Securing the border: is that a campaign slogan or is that real? Protecting our constitutional freedoms: are we really going to do that or are we just going to talk about it? All Republicans talk about those things, some of us have been willing to risk everything.

While in Congress, Good has often spent more time grappling with his own colleagues than with Democrats across the aisle.

GOOD: We can bring things to a screeching halt and force the Democrats to negotiate. I knew Kevin McCarthy wouldn't do that. He didn't do that. And that's why I was part of voting to remove him as speaker and to bring in Speaker Johnson.

Good and his conservative colleagues were hopeful that Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson would lead the chamber in a new direction. Good and the House Freedom Caucus were pleased when Johnson listened to their recommendation to separate an Israel aid bill from a Ukraine aid bill. He called it the “high water mark.”

GOOD: We elected a speaker in October of '23 who believed the right things, at least the way he expressed them. But I saw the speakership change him almost immediately.

Johnson’s approach to government funding ran afoul of the Freedom Caucus’s priorities. He did get rid of the omnibus system, but not short term funding.

GOOD: I watched him change his views on Ukraine funding, which he said we would – We tried to get him to use the spending battles to secure the border. And he wouldn't, he refused to do that. He said, no, we're going to use the Democrats’ desire for Ukraine money to fight for border security. And then he changed his position on that. And he became in favor of Ukraine funding. And we didn't get any border security for it…

In the face of criticism, Johnson has defended his funding methods…as in this news conference yesterday where he discussed the latest continuing resolution to keep the government open.

JOHNSON: So it is not an omnibus, okay. It’s a small CR that we had to add things to. … We’re not doing an approps bill, we’re doing a short term CR to get us into next year, so we can put our fingerprints on what those final spending bills are.

The bill also contains a farm bill extension and supplemental disaster relief…for Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Hardline conservatives like Good say stopgap funding like this is why they disapproved of McCarthy. For the 2024 funding, Johnson grouped the 12 appropriations bills into two batches, which lawmakers called “minibuses” instead.

GOOD: Abandoning his own stated position, and again, every major, six major funding bills, CRs or the minibuses, were passed with predominantly Democrat votes. So he has failed us. He's failed the country. He's failed Republicans.

Speaker Johnson’s office did not respond to WORLD’s request for comment. The GOP’s single-digit majority means Johnson can only afford to lose 3 or 4 Republicans for simple majority votes. And with his conference split on issues related to government funding, Johnson has negotiated with Democrats in order to pass short-term funding bills. In September, 209 Democrats supported a package that 82 Republicans opposed. Johnson secured that support by removing a provision that would have required proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. Congressman Good finds Johnson’s approach unacceptable.

GOOD: He thinks it's worse to not do anything than he is to do something bad… We've got to be willing to say no. We've got to be willing to exercise walk-away leadership, where you're willing to walk away from a deal rather than do a bad deal and Republicans haven't shown a willingness to do that.

When Republicans reclaimed the House majority in 2022, Good hoped the coalition would operate on a more partisan basis. And with Republicans at the helm of all the committees, he wanted to leverage finances more.

GOOD: Most of what we fund is not an appropriate constitutional role to federal government. We could really cut our discretionary spending in half. We're spending about 1.7 trillion. About half of that's defense. Most of the rest is not justified.

Instead, Republicans negotiated. Good claims that working across the aisle compromises on conservative values.

GOOD: It's funny, Democrats don't talk about bipartisanship, nor do their media allies, when Democrats have full control of government. They unapologetically, unashamedly ram through their agenda. And this is not your parents and your grandparents' Democrat Party. The Democrat Party is an evil to be defeated politically.

Good cites common Democratic priorities like relaxed border security, COVID-19 lockdowns, and pro-LGBT ideology.

GOOD: And how do you compromise with that? If you have the majority and you have the power the people trusted you with, then utilize that to help the people, to save the country, to undo the harm that's been done… The American people don't want the things that they stand for. So, moderation or bipartisanship just means you don't stand for anything.

In the end, though, Good lost the support of members of his own caucus. Donald Trump, along with many Republicans in the House, endorsed Good’s primary opponent, John McGuire. Trump’s decision came after Good backed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the presidential primaries.

GOOD: I thought that we needed eight years instead of four. I was concerned because the polls indicated a year and a half ago when I made that endorsement that if President Trump were to be convicted by a crooked Atlanta, New York, or D.C. court that he would have trouble winning a general. Those polls were wrong, obviously.

McGuire defeated Good in a recount by fewer than 400 votes. After losing the recount, Good stepped down from his House Freedom Caucus leadership position. As an evangelical Christian, he says he’s been asking God about what to do next.

GOOD: His desire for all of us … is that we would bring him glory, that we would influence others for eternity, that he would utilize it to make us more like Christ. And I know that the journey that he's taken me through is consistent with that, what he has for me next is consistent with that. I'd like him to reveal the practical side of that on exactly what that looks like for me personally and professionally, and I honestly don't know yet.

But before he leaves Congress, Good has one last major vote this week…on keeping the government funded past Friday. With the federal deficit passing $1.8 trillion just for this fiscal year, Good says a shutdown might not be a bad thing.

GOOD: Just let there be a couple of weeks shut down into early January – who the heck cares if two weeks over Christmas the government's 85% of government continues operating anyway It's only the 15% that's considered non-essential. Probably most of what shouldn't even exist

In January, the GOP will have majorities in both the House and the Senate. With a trifecta of control between Congress and the White House, Republicans likely won’t want to burden the incoming president with a shutdown on his first day in office.

GOOD: Most Republicans, they don't want the responsibility of having to cut spending when they can't blame the Democrats anymore. If they have the House and the Senate and the White House, they can't blame the Democrats.

Now, House lawmakers have only days to address Speaker Johnson’s plan to fund the government through March. Republicans have complained that they are yet again ramming through last-minute funding legislation. But Johnson reassured his colleagues on Tuesday that working with divided government is almost over.

JOHNSON: We’re governing. Everybody knows we have difficult circumstances. We’re doing the very best we can under those circumstances…these are the hard choices that lawmakers have to make. But we will get the job done as we always do. We will keep moving forward, and in January we have a new lease on all this, so we’re excited about that. Looking forward to that opportunity.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: WORLD Tour with our reporter in Africa, Onize Oduah.

AUDIO: [Music and conversations]

ONIZE ODUAH: ECOWAS Military countries — We start today’s World Tour at a summit for the West African regional bloc in Abuja, Nigeria.

Leaders from the Economic Community of West African States—or ECOWAS—are trying to strengthen their alliance nearly one year after three member states announced their plans to leave the bloc.

Based on the group’s regulations, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger’s withdrawal should go into effect in January. But ECOWAS has asked the countries to reconsider their exit, offering an extension until July.

Omar Touray is the ECOWAS Commission president.

TOURAY: The Authority decides to set a period from 29 January 2025, to 29 July 2025, as a transitional period and to keep ECOWAS' doors open to the three countries during the transition period.

But the three countries now under military rule have told ECOWAS that their exit remains “irreversible.”

They have formed their own bloc—the Alliance of Sahel States—and condemned ECOWAS for remaining subservient to former colonial nation France.

Bangladesh elections — We head next to Bangladesh, where the caretaker government has announced plans for general elections.

AUDIO: [Protest]

Student-led protests back in August toppled the leadership of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and sent her fleeing to neighboring India.

Thousands of protesters notably stormed the prime minister’s palace in Dhaka after students opposed a quota system for civil service jobs. Opponents also accused Hasina’s government of rights abuses.

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus on Monday said general elections will now happen either late next year or early in 2026.

Here’s Yunus:

YUNUS: [BENGALI] I have emphasized that reforms should take place first before the arrangements for an election. If the political parties agree to hold the election on an earlier date with minimum reforms, such as having a flawless voter list, then perhaps it would be possible to hold the election by the end of 2025.

He says electoral and constitutional reforms need to happen ahead of any election. He promised to launch an investigation into rights violations during Hasina’s rule.

He also vowed to set up an election commission.

AUDIO: [People lined up to vote]

Bolivia elects top judges — Over in Bolivia, people queued up Sunday to cast their ballot for the country’s top judges.

Bolivia is the only nation that currently holds polls for its judicial posts.

Over a decade ago, the South American nation replaced its judicial nomination system with the current method of electing judges every six years.

The move continues to draw criticism that it favors the ruling party and reduces checks and balances.

David Gomez is a mechanical engineer who turned out for the vote.

GOMEZ: [SPANISH] I think it is with the best of intentions, but so far no results have been seen in changing the administration of justice.

He says the process might have the best intentions, but he has not seen any changes in how justice is administered.

Mexico is also set to begin a similar voting process for its judges next year.

AUDIO: [Countdown]

Kosovo Santa race — We wrap up at the start of an annual tradition in Kosovo.

More than 6,000 people donned red and white Santa costumes in the rain to join the nearly two-mile race in the capital city of Pristina.

The event raises funds for families in need.

Jusuf Islami is the race organizer.

ISLAMI: The cause is to help the pediatric oncology [clinic]. I am very proud of this campaign because I remember the first edition, when around 100 people [came]. This year we have around 5000 Santas.

He says the race has come a long way from its humble beginnings with just 100 runners. This year the funds will help support the city’s pediatric oncology clinic.

That’s it for this week’s World Tour. Reporting for WORLD, I’m Onize Oduah in Abuja, Nigeria.

NICK EICHER, HOST: This NBA season the LA Clippers unveiled a new secret weapon, if you can call 45-hundred screaming fans a “secret.”

It’s called “The Wall” and it’s reserved for the kind of fans who make soccer hooligans look tame.

The Wall is behind the basket and the fans are instructed to stay on their feet the whole game. It’s not called “the stands” for nothing, one sign reads.

They really make a difference at the free-throw line.

AUDIO: It’s definitely a different look than anything you’re going to see in an NBA arena of what that end looks like and clearly ? teams are going to be shooting into that over the second half.

Clippers owner Steve Balmer admits the purpose of The Wall is to make opponents miserable. And it’s working.

Statisticians found that opponents’ shooting percentage at the charity stripe drops dramatically when the lunatics of The Wall get their game on. Clippers opponents just tossing brick after brick.

All in all, it’s just another brick in The Wall.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 18th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day. Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: building Christmas memories.

Gingerbread house decorating is a fun tradition for many families. But for others it’s downright serious.

MAST: WORLD’s Mary Muncy caught up with a few gingerbread competitors trying to keep things in perspective when victory can be so sweet.

FAMILY: Sprinkle this in the frosting, like over the snow. It'll be like, it's sparkling snow.

MARY MUNCY: The Noffsinger family is huddled around their kitchen table very carefully assembling a gingerbread gym.

JONATHAN NOFFINGER: I'm Jonathan, and I'm 13.

RENEE: I'm Renee and I'm way old.

AIRY: I'm Airy, and I'm nine years old, and Renee is 39.

They entered the annual gingerbread house competition in South Bend, Indiana. They’ve been working on their creation for three days and this is the last night they’ll have time to work on it before next week’s competition.

RENEE: We had our little blue prints that we worked from. We wrote all the stuff we needed to buy, and then we kind of drew out what we wanted to do.

They’re combining a couple of store-bought kits and candy to make a gingerbread Planet Fitness. So far, they have a wafer, pretzel, and Life Saver bench press, a pretzel and marshmallow weight rack, and a wafer treadmill is in the works. But it’s all a dynamic process.

JONATHAN: So the Grinch is gonna be sitting back here, and the dog can be next to him, like, it's, no, he's like a homeless man behind the gym. You know, like living there.

RENEE: This is morphing into something entirely different.

JONATHAN: This is my best idea yet.

Renee grew up in South Bend and wanted to join the competition a few years before her kids were born. At that point, professional bakers were competing alongside community members. By the time Renee and Jonathan entered their first gingerbread house eight years ago, the competition had dwindled some and now professionals don’t compete anymore. But it’s still a big part of the Noffsingers’ family traditions.

MUNCY: Why you guys keep doing it every year?

AIRY: Because it's fun.

MUNCY: Yeah.

JONATHAN: I enjoy the experience of just working together and eating a ton of candy.

The competition has been in several different locations and gone through a few different phases over its 15 years.

Kylie Carter works for Downtown South Bend and has been helping with the competition and other downtown events for the past ten years.

CARTER: I think it kind of came out of the whole, like, decades ago, when everybody moved to the suburbs and downtown's kind of started to get, you know, to deteriorate.

The city’s population has been on a net decline since the 60s, but this year saw an increase from last year.

CARTER: We're on the up and up again. So that's exciting.

Carter says there are a lot of reasons for the city’s growth, but she likes to think her events could be part of it—pulling people together who would otherwise never meet. People like Deb Neumann.

She’s working on a gingerbread creation too. But she has a slightly different timeline and motivation than the Noffsingers.

DEB NEUMANN: Now I've got one week left, so it's usually about a three week project.

MUNCY: And what am I looking at?

NEUMANN: So this is like 14 batches of gingerbread. I have two more in the fridge that I will be using.

Neumann is crafty and pretty competitive. She’s won the nonprofessional adult category and the popular vote for the past two years. She thinks this might be her last year.

NEUMANN: I don't know, I feel like, maybe let someone else have a chance.

The rules say everything has to be edible and Neumann says the judges tend to like entries that aren’t houses. Last year, she made the Great Barrier Reef. That included dying lasagna noodles green and dehydrating them.

NEUMANN: I'm doing, kind of an Arctic theme this year. So there'll be some water, some cliffs, there'll be an igloo, and lots of Arctic animals, and then also some penguins, because I like penguins, and I know they're not Arctic, but I'm gonna add them in.

It’s a process of trial and error and sometimes failure and rebuilding. Last year, her gingerbread treehouse creation collapsed on her way to drop it off.

This year, she thinks everything is secure enough that there won’t be a problem, but the Noffsingers are not so sure about theirs.

AUDIO: [TRANSPORTING GINGERBREAD GYM]

On drop-off day, Renee puts the gingerbread gym into a box, sets it on Jonathan’s lap, and they’re off. They avoid a few potholes.

JONATHAN: Oh, very scary. Oh no, up ahead is worse.

After about 15 minutes, they get there and start transitioning from the car to the table where it will be judged. A few seconds later …

RENEE: We made it.

No major damage.

Neumann drops hers off the same day. Then, a week later.

CARTER: Welcome to the 2024 Gingerbread Village Competition award ceremony.

Neumann can’t make it to the awards ceremony, but the Noffsingers listen as event coordinator Kylie Carter announces the winners in each category.

CARTER: I think we had about 600 people come through in the past week to vote for your creations.

Neumann wins the nonprofessional adult category and the popular vote again.

CARTER: And then first place in the nonprofessional family or group category is the Noffsinger family. [Applause]

Carter sets the ribbon between Airy and Jonathan and they scramble for it.

AIRY: I want it.

And then they go take a picture with their winning creation, Jonathan points to a gingerbread gym goer with glitter overalls and a wonky eye.

JONATHAN: My gingerbread man did that. It's all mine.

The Noffsingers and Neumanns come downtown for events about once a month, but this is one of the only ones they participate in.

Renee Noffsinger says it’s nice to win, but even if they don’t, this event puts her in the holiday spirit and she knows if her family doesn’t participate, the competition just gets smaller.

RENEE: I know what it used to look like and sort of what's happened to it over time. So I feel like, okay, well, if I keep doing it, then maybe it'll inspire somebody else to take part in it, which is what I hope, you know?

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy in South Bend, Indiana.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, December 18th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

And I’m Lindsay Mast. Up next, making a stand for life.

Last month a handful of well-known collegiate athletes appealed to Nebraska voters to fight for the unborn. WORLD’s Ray Hacke says it was a courageous move, and one he hopes inspires others to speak up.

RAY HACKE: When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, prominent female athletes and women’s professional sports organizations responded loudly…screaming bloody murder. Some high-profile male athletes joined in…most notably Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrows, who opened his pro-abortion Instagram screed declaring that he wasn’t for murdering babies…he was for protecting women’s rights and their innocence.

On the other hand, not many sports figures have had the courage to use their platforms to advance the pro-life cause. Even fewer, from what I’ve seen, have been women. And whenever a male athlete is brave enough to stand up for the unborn, as Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker did earlier this year, voices on the left immediately bark that his maleness disqualifies him from opining on the matter.

That argument doesn’t fly with me for multiple reasons. One of them is that men who espouse the opposite viewpoint aren’t told to pipe down. In fact, they’re hailed as allies whose views are more enlightened than those of oppressive knuckle-draggers who supposedly want to control women’s bodies. More importantly, though, the loudest pro-abortion voices on the left seem intent on shouting down women who disagree with them, too.

So when six female University of Nebraska athletes joined forces in support of Nebraska’s recent pro-life ballot initiatives…it’s noteworthy.

Rebekah Allick, a 6-foot-4 junior middle blocker for the Cornhuskers’ nationally ranked women’s volleyball team, and softball players Jordyn Bahl, Hannah Camenzind, Lauren Camenzind, Abbie Squier, and Malia Thoms are all well known Nebraskans. They appeared in a television commercial—calling on fellow Nebraskans to support Initiative 434, which would amended the Nebraska Constitution to prohibit abortion after the first trimester with limited exceptions, and vote against Initiative 439, which would only have prohibited abortion after “fetal viability.”

And voters listened, adopting Initiative 434 and rejecting Initiative 439. By that standard, the athletes’ advocacy was successful. None of them were paid for their support.

The decision of these female Cornhuskers to speak out is worth celebrating. These brave women have lived out Proverbs chapter thirty one verse eight: they opened their “mouths for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die.”

I can’t help but think of the sad tale of Cherica Adams, whose ex-boyfriend, former Carolina Panthers receiver Rae Carruth, spent 17 years in prison for brutally murdering her when she wouldn’t abort their child. Their son, Chancellor Lee Adams, survived the attack and now lives with cerebral palsy. Adams surely isn’t the first woman to suffer such a horrific fate at the hands of a man who didn’t want to pay child support. If it’s all about “choice,” where is the outpouring of support for women like Adams who chose life?

Rebekah Allick spoke up for such women in the commercial while wearing a red T-shirt prominently featuring a cross:

ALLICK: 434 defends women from abuse, sex trafficking, and coercion…

I also can’t help but think of athletes like former U.S. track star Sanya Richards-Ross. In her 2017 book, Chasing Grace, the four-time gold medalist confessed to aborting her unborn child just weeks before running in the 2008 Summer Olympics in China.

More than that, though, Richards-Ross wrote that nearly every track-and-field athlete she knows has also had an abortion. Female athletes should know that even though motherhood may require them to put their athletic plans on hold temporarily, it doesn’t have to derail their athletic dreams entirely. Having written multiple stories about college basketball players and even high school soccer players who played interscholastic sports after giving birth, I know this for a fact.

One memorable moment from the commercial includes Jordyn Bahl pounding her softball glove:

BAHL: Nebraska, it’s time to get off the bench.

She’s right. It’s high time Christian college and pro athletes—both male and female—answered that call when it comes to fighting for life and standing against abortion.

Unborn lives depend on it.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: A Georgia mom who was arrested because her son went for a walk by himself. We'll talk with her about parental rights and the long arm of the law.

That and more tomorrow.

Reminder, it’s our Year End Giving Drive and we need your support at WNG.org/YearEndGift.

I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is Biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says: “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.” —1 Peter 3:10, 11

Go now in grace and peace.

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