Bioethics Babe

What do you do when doctors tell you there’s “no hope”? When former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum and his wife Karen received a Trisomy 18 diagnosis for their daughter Bella, they were told she had a condition “incompatible with life.” They were encouraged to prepare for her death. But Bella lived. Now she’s turning 18 years old, something many doctors never expected she would see. In this deeply personal episode of Bioethics Babe, Sen. Rick Santorum shares the emotional and spiritual journey of raising Bella, the medical and cultural pressures families often face after a prenatal diagnosis, and how one little girl transformed their marriage, family, and understanding of human dignity. This conversation explores not only Trisomy Read More ›

What do you do when the questions never go away? Suicide doesn’t just leave grief in its wake. It leaves silence, confusion, and questions that don’t have clear answers. Could I have done something? Did I miss something? Where was God? In this deeply personal conversation, Dr. Brick Lantz, orthopedic surgeon, bioethicist, and author of Raw Musings: Journaling Following My Son’s Suicide, shares what it was like to lose his son, and what it means to keep living after the unthinkable. This is not a conversation with easy answers. It’s a conversation about grief that doesn’t resolve neatly, faith that wrestles, and the slow, difficult path forward. We discuss: If you or someone you know is struggling, you don’t have Read More ›

What happens when parents hear the words, “Something may be wrong with your baby?” In this episode of Bioethics Babe, we sit down with board-certified neonatologist and pediatrician Dr. Robin Pierucci to unpack what really happens after a prenatal diagnosis. From life expectancy predictions and medical uncertainty to the emotional shock families experience, this conversation exposes the hidden pressures shaping decisions before a child is even born. Are parents being fully informed or unintentionally influenced? Drawing on decades of experience in the NICU, Dr. Pierucci founded Navigating Fetal Concerns, and reveals how diagnoses are communicated, where bias can enter the conversation, and why a diagnosis is not the same as a prognosis. We also explore the trauma families face, the Read More ›

Did feminism actually leave women more vulnerable in birth? Modern medicine says birth has never been safer. So why are more women walking away feeling traumatized, disempowered, and unheard? After a delivery that almost wasn’t a live birth, Leah Jacobson says the biggest lesson wasn’t about control. It was about surrender. In this episode, we ask a deeper question: Did something break in the system or did something shift in how we understand the female body itself? We explored how modern birth became a managed process, why C-section and induction rates continue to rise, and how a culture built on control may be working against women’s health. Leah, founder of the Guiding Star Project and author of Wholistic Feminism, offers Read More ›

What if we have been getting death wrong? For decades, modern medicine has relied on the concept of brain death, the idea that when the brain irreversibly stops functioning, the person has died. But what if that is not true? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Paul Byrne, neonatologist, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, past president of the Catholic Medical Association, and one of the leading critics of brain death, for a conversation that challenges one of the most fundamental assumptions in modern medicine. Early in his career, Dr. Byrne encountered a patient labeled “consistent with cerebral death.” He continued treatment. That patient went on to live, marry, and have children. Since then, Dr. Byrne has spent over 40 Read More ›

If we’re just matter, why do we matter? Modern bioethics is built on a question most people never stop to ask: What is a human being? Because the answer to that question isn’t abstract, it determines how we treat the most vulnerable people among us. From IVF and embryo selection, to assisted suicide and end-of-life care, to gene editing and transhumanism. We are already making decisions about who counts and who doesn’t. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Ashley Fernandes, a physician, bioethicist, Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Associate Director of the Center for Bioethics at the Ohio State University, College of Medicine — to expose the deeper philosophical divide shaping modern medicine: Read More ›

Did birth control give women freedom or did it fundamentally change feminism itself? Before the 1960s sexual revolution, before the Pill became mainstream, Margaret Sanger was already advancing a radical idea: that women could not be free unless their fertility was controlled. She didn’t just promote contraception, she reframed it as essential to freedom, autonomy, and progress. But what if that idea didn’t actually expand freedom…what if it redefined womanhood? In this episode of Bioethics Babe, I sit down with Dr. Angela Franks, theologian, author of Margaret Sanger’s Eugenic Legacy: The Control of Female Fertility, to uncover the deeper story behind the birth control movement. We explore: This isn’t just about history. It’s about the ideas that shaped our culture Read More ›

Do cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is in jeopardy justify abortion? These are the hardest questions in the abortion debate: emotionally charged, deeply tragic, and often used to challenge the pro-life position. But how should we think about these cases from a medical, ethical, and human perspective? In this episode of Bioethics Babe, I sit down with Fr. Tad Pacholczyk, priest, neuroscientist, and Senior Ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, to take on these difficult questions head-on. We explore: If you’ve ever wondered how to think clearly and compassionately about the hardest cases, tune in to this discussion. For Episode Resources, please visit the episode page here. For more information, the latest episodes, and additional Read More ›

In an age of IVF, embryo selection, and a rapidly expanding fertility industry, couples facing infertility are often given a clear message: if you want a child badly enough, technology can make it happen. But what if that’s not the whole story? What if infertility is not just a medical condition to be solved but a profound personal, relational, and even spiritual trial? And what if a life without biological children can still be deeply meaningful and truly fruitful? In this episode of Bioethics Babe, I sit down with Leigh Snead, author of Infertile but Fruitful, fellow with the Catholic Association, and co-host of the nationally syndicated show Conversations with Consequences to explore the deeper questions surrounding infertility in the Read More ›

What is death? It’s the moment a human being ceases to exist. But when is that exactly? We tend to think we know the answer, but what if the question is not that simple, especially when it comes to brain death? In this episode of Bioethics Babe, pediatric neurologist Dr. Christopher DeCock examines one of the most important questions in medicine, law, and bioethics: What if the medical criteria used to declare someone brain dead are not actually proving what we think they are proving? Current brain death determinations are largely based on clinical brain death criteria developed by the American Academy of Neurology, including coma, absence of brainstem reflexes, and apnea testing. But do these tests truly demonstrate the Read More ›