Christian satire site The Babylon Bee has taken aim at VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer after Vischer said he supports abortion in cases where the mother’s life is in danger and probably in the case of rape, so long as the abortion is early in the pregnancy. The Bee responded by publishing an article on Oct. 4, titled, “Phil Vischer Pens Fun New VeggieTales Episode ‘Laura Carrot Gets An Abortion’.”
“The evangelical world is abuzz after VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer, who recently said he supports abortion in some cases, announced a brand new film in which beloved character Laura Carrot aborts her baby carrot,” said The Bee’s article. It continues, “The feature-length movie, entitled Laura Carrot gets an Abortion: A Lesson in Nuance, follows Laura Carrot as she’s faced with an unplanned pregnancy. After a positive pregnancy test, her friend Bob the Tomato takes her to a nearby Planned Carrothood to rid herself of the unwanted child.”
Phil Vischer Engages Christian Twitter on Abortion
Phil Vischer is an author, podcaster, filmmaker, and one of the creators of the popular children’s series, VeggieTales. He has been engaged this week in a back and forth with William Wolfe, as well as The Babylon Bee’s Joel Berry and several others, on the topic of abortion. Per his bio on the Standing for Freedom Center, Wolfe was a senior official in the Trump administration. Berry is The Bee’s managing editor.
The discussion on the ethics of abortion started in this thread in which Vischer took issue with the following Oct. 1 tweet from Wolfe: “Here’s a periodic reminder that ‘white Christian nationalism’ isn’t a real thing, doesn’t exist in America, and poses no threat to democracy. And the fearmongers who have built a cottage industry by pedaling fake ‘studies, social science, and history’ on this are mostly liars.”
“Serious question,” asked Vischer. “When Lauren Boebert says the ‘church’ should be directing the gov’t, how do you think she would feel if the black church or the Latino church was directing the US gov’t, towards the priorities of the black or Latino communities?”
Berry joined the ensuing exchange on government, race and church, later commenting that a “pro-choice church” bears rotten fruit, an allusion to a biblical concept expressed in Matthew 7:15-19.
Vischer addressed that idea, asking, “And can you tell me EXACTLY what the biblical position is on the permissibility of abortion? When is it allowable according to Scripture?” Wolfe responded, “Never. Easy. What’s your answer?” Several people challenged Vischer, seeing an implication that he was suggesting abortion was permissible in some cases.
A separate Twitter thread that began Oct. 4 led to a conversation between Phil Vischer and several other users regarding the exact moment life begins. During the conversation, Vischer stated he believes that bodily autonomy does not justify ending another person’s life. Noting that this was “too long a discussion to have on Twitter,” Vischer asked a user named Paul Shippy, “Is personhood granted upon fertilization? If so, at what stage of fertilization, since it’s a multi-stage process? Or is it gradual? The Bible isn’t clear on the details of ‘personhood.’”
Shippy responded, “God gave us brains/science to help here. As for what stage of fertilization I would say two things –1. When there is a living human organism with unique DNA, you are dealing with a person. 2. If there’s any doubt about when that occurs, we should err on the side of caution.”
