John Legend Debates Abortion With Christian YouTuber Ruslan

Chruch Leaders ^ | November 1, 2024 | Jessica Lea

[Morgana]

R&B singer and songwriter John Legend responded to a video that Christian YouTuber Ruslan made addressing the singer’s views on abortion. Ruslan was reacting to comments Legend made in a conversation with former pro football player and commentator Shannon Sharpe in which Legend shared about a miscarriage his wife, Chrissy Teigen, had.

“I was always pro-choice,” Legend told Sharpe in the interview on Sharpe’s podcast, “Club Shay Shay,” on Oct. 23. “Actually, not always. I grew up in the church, and we were taught that, you know, we were supposed to be pro-life.”

“As soon as I became an adult, I just realized that we need that choice,” he continued. “We don’t need the government telling us what to do, and women don’t need the government telling them what to do with their bodies. And life is complicated, and there are all kinds of reasons why people might want or need an abortion, and the government has no place in that decision.” John Legend Engages With Ruslan on Instagram

John Legend, whose real name is John Roger Stephens, has won 12 Grammy Awards and received 36 Grammy Award nominations. Legend has served as a coach on “The Voice” and became the first Black man to achieve the prestigious EGOT, meaning he has won at least one Emmy (he has two), Grammy, Oscar and Tony.

Sharpe is a former NFL tight end and football analyst. He is a three-time Super Bowl champion and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame whom many view as one of the best tight ends of all time. During his conversation with Legend, Sharpe brought up that at one time Teigen had a “life-saving abortion” and asked if that event, in addition to the reversal of Roe v. Wade, impacted Legend’s views on abortion.

Legend shared that he and his wife had four of their children through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and that they lost their son, Jack, the only child they conceived naturally. Teigen initially spoke of the loss of their son as a miscarriage but later said it was “an abortion to save my life for a baby that had absolutely no chance.”

“When we went through all these fertility struggles and had a miscarriage, it made it even more clear to me how personal everything [is] that happens in that room with your OBGYN,” said Legend. “Everything that happens in that room is private, and it’s so intensely personal and intensely physical, a woman feels every aspect of this thing.”

He said that “forcing [women] to carry something for nine months” if they don’t want to is “crazy to me.” Regarding restricting abortions to no later than 15 weeks, Legend said, “People that have an abortion after 15 weeks, almost always, they wanted to keep the baby, but there’s some kind of complication that came up that they have to have an abortion.”

In his wife’s case, Legend said “she was well past 15 weeks when she had to have an abortion. She was miscarrying and bleeding out. All these things were happening. Her life was in danger.”

He expressed shock at the idea that the government would “need to evaluate this to make sure you’re sufficiently dying before you can have an abortion.”

John Legend also dismissed former President Donald Trump‘s posture toward abortion, saying that the former president “wants to claim credit” for overturning Roe while putting decisions about abortion into the hands of the states.

But conservative states such as Texas, Georgia, and Alabama are “where most Black women live…in the South,” said the singer. “So that means the majority of Black women are in regimes that would rather possibly let them die before giving them the lifesaving treatment that they need.”

On Oct. 30, Christian YouTube influencer Ruslan posted a clip of a video to his Instagram account showing part of Legend’s comments where the artist stated that Teigen “was well past 15 weeks when she had to have an abortion. She was miscarrying and bleeding out.”

Ruslan tagged Legend and Sharpe and reacted to the clip, saying, “You know that the pro-life position is about elective abortions. Your baby was tragically dying; your wife was miscarrying. She needed a surgical procedure called a D&C to take the tragedy of a dead baby inside of her out.”

Ruslan continued by explaining that pro-abortion advocates are deliberately confusing terms to refer to medically necessary procedures as “abortions” in order to make the case that “women need this. But we all know that is not what we’re fighting against.”

John Legend, surprisingly, took the time to engage with Ruslan in the comments on the Instagram post. “The ‘pro-life’ position is that the government should be involved in the most intimate decisions any woman could make,” said Legend. “Making something illegal means the government has to enforce and adjudicate these intimate decisions and procedures. The government has the power to force someone to carry for 9 months. It has the authority to adjudicate whether or not a woman meets whatever exceptions are granted by law.”

“So, after rape or incest, rather than just having the abortion, she would also have to prove that this occurred so that she and her doctor don’t get arrested,” he continued. “If her doctor thinks she needs a procedure to save her life, they still have to feel super confident that the government will agree with their assessment that the woman is sufficiently on death’s door before they intervene to help her.”

“The government has no place in the conversation,” Legend concluded his comment. “Does this not make sense to everyone? Especially conservatives who don’t trust the government in their lives in so many other realms.”

Multiple people replied, including one person who said he was a doctor and that physicians do not withhold D&C procedures “in the case of what’s called an incompetent miscarriage, where tragically, the baby isn’t alive anymore but there are products left in the uterus.” The commenter told Legend the singer was making a straw man argument.

“No sir, the pro life position is that unborn babies should be left alone to fully develop and get a shot at life,” Ruslan replied in part. “‘Making something illegal’ is the same thing we do with murder, drunk driving and a variety of other laws that protect people and… LEGISLATE what you’re allowed to do with your own base. So yes, the government enforces all sorts of laws.”

“I said nothing about rape and incest in this video,” he added. “I’m speaking to you specifically using the tragedy of a miscarriage to argue for [abortion] on demand. And you, probably knowing that the [vast] amount of [abortions] are not for the mother’s health, rape or incest. Can we agree [abortion] as birth control is wrong. Yes or no?”

John Legend replied again, stating he and Ruslan were at a “moral stalemate” and saying that Ruslan believes a “fetus” has “equal or more rights than that woman,” adding, “I simply don’t believe that and don’t believe the government should force that belief on the public against their will.”

Ruslan responded by asking when Legend believes a human has rights. He cited Psalm 139: 13-14, which says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Ruslan also addressed Legend’s view that “most Americans” agree with him by giving examples from history, such as slavery, when most Americans supported something wrong.

The YouTuber posted a follow-up video on Oct. 31 summarizing the exchange between John Legend and himself and saying he welcomed the singer to come on his YouTube channel and have a “human to human” conversation with him that would not be “contentious.”

***video on link

[Morgana]

FReepers I hate to ask, again, but who is John Legend?

[kiryandil]

john legend and his life-size sex doll, chrissy teigen

scum of the earth.

[philman_36]

A grain of sand on the beach, just like everybody else in this world.

[philman_36]

The friend of P Diddy wiping his brow at his wife's reply

[SaveFerris]

They're pretty awful - Democrat Yahoo loved them

We already saw what Democrat Kamala Harris will do with born-again Christians; have them thrown out, just like she had done at her abortion rally.

Democrat Kamala Harris immediately freaking out over "Jesus is Lord!" is absolutely a clear warning to REAL Christians

Now, let's play "spot the tattoo" and "identify the tattoo"......at first I thought "Does this apply?" but figured it did and was CERTAIN that it did - and now this thread confirms what I already knew about Timmy Boy





Do NO harm Christians but pray, pray, pray!!!

[Morgana]

A friend of Puff Daddy? That is all I need to know.

No wonder he supports abortion.

[SaveFerris]

Well, not "this thread" - that was a cut-and-paste from a Tim Walz pro-abortion thread - but let's give equal time to Tim Walz

[Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN)]

[Morgana]

We really need a meme of Tim’s Tampons

[SaveFerris]

Well....I better not do that one....

I already freaked out one friend with the top one

But hey, Kamala wanted to IMMEDIATELY GET RID OF the born-again Christians

That tells me very clearly that she was quite disturbed by “Jesus is Lord!”

And so were her followers, cursing at, mocking the Christians.

It was like a Satanic Abortion Rally where the Devil must be served, apparently

[SaveFerris]

HEY, DEMOCRAT KAMALA HARRIS:

JESUS CHRIST IS LORD

JESUS CHRIST IS
THE SON OF GOD

[Trump_Triumphant]

Amen!

[SaveFerris]

Maybe John Legend still has a Bible handy. Here's something for him and his wife to read 🛐🛐🛐🙏🙏🙏🛐🛐🛐:

[MNDude]

His wife, if it's really a woman, is a big pedo.

[Sarcazmo]

Well, chalk one up to my theory. Partakers are supporters.

Mighty convenient story there John, buttresses the talking points of the day. Very rare situation. Pure toss-up whether he is telling the truth or not.

[MD Expat in PA]

Multiple people replied, including one person who said he was a doctor and that physicians do not withhold D&C procedures “in the case of what’s called an incompetent miscarriage, where tragically, the baby isn’t alive anymore but there are products left in the uterus.” The commenter told Legend the singer was making a straw man argument.

I do not think he (John Legend) is completely wrong in this and here is why.

The problem is that in some cases is that there is an irreversible miscarriage in progress but it is early enough in the pregnancy that the fetus, even if delivered, will have absolutely no chance of survival, but if a fetal heart beat is detected, under how the poorly written Texas abortion law is written, a physician is in great fear of terminating the pregnancy of a non-viable fetus that still has even a faint heartbeat because of how the law is written, the “heartbeat laws” as they can face prosecution and up to 99 years in jail for terminating a pregnancy with a fetal heartbeat, even if needed to save the mother’s life.

When a woman is having an incomplete miscarriage and before viability, the fetus may still be technically “alive” but with no chance of survival. The mother’s cervix will be dilated, opening her up to a greater risk of infection and life threatening and life ending sepsis.

Delaying treatment in those cases results in mothers dying. And that is IMO, not pro-life.

[Dr. Thorne]

His real name is John Stephens. He's a music industry creation like Taylor Swift, a man of very modest talent who leapt into national recognition when he changed his last name to "Legend". Now his publicists are the most important element to his celebrity since his singing and piano playing are unimpressive at best.

Not surprisingly, he's a Hollywood leftist even though he's raking in the dough, mostly through TV commercials.

[ShadowAce]

I wish people would acknowledge the difference between an elective abortion, and one that is medically necessary--tubal pregnancies, baby dies in the womb, etc.

Those are very different, and should be identified as such--especially when writing law.

[Kharis13]

Dirty little secret #1: Men who claim to be “pro-choice” couldn’t care less about a woman’s “right” to choose. They only care that they have an ace in the hole if they “mess up”. Men don’t want the embarrassment, if they’re married they don’t want their wife finding out and then losing everything, and they don’t want to pay for a child for 18 years.

Here’s the dirty little secret #2: Women feel pretty much the same as the aforementioned men. They want an ace in the hole if they have an affair, or if they get drunk and take some guy home. They don’t care about “rights”, they care about embarrassment, shame, and having to take care of a child.

[dfwgator]

With all the other problems going on in the world, the issue of abortion should be way down on the list.

If it wasn’t for abortion, Kamala gets wiped out in this election.

[Organic Panic]

Terminating a stillborn baby is not an abortion of choice. It is terrible but not a choice the mother had to kill it.

Second... ““As soon as I became an adult, I just realized that we need that choice,””

What he means by that is.... He was pro choice until he became a famous wealthy musician and was getting all kinds of ‘strange’ from groupies and didn’t want any bastard children if he knocked some up.

Third. His wife has an unhealthy attraction to little kids.