A leading authority on reproductive rights — and the Roe v. Wade case specifically — is the guest on FFRF’s TV show this Sunday.
Mary Ziegler, who has been called the nation’s foremost historian of abortion law, is the Martin Luther King Jr. professor of law at University of California-Davis. She’s a contributor to The New York Times, The Atlantic, PBS NewsHour, CNN and The Washington Post. Ziegler is the author of multiple books on the law, history and politics of abortion and American conservatism, most recently Dollars For Life: The Anti-Abortion Movement and the Fall of the Republican Establishment in 2022 and Roe: The History of a National Obsession, published this year by Yale University Press. Ziegler will be at FFRF’s 46th Annual National Convention in Madison, Wis., on Oct. 13 and 14, where she’ll be receiving FFRF’s Forward Award, reserved for those who are moving society forward.
“Roe rose an issue of religious freedom in part because as states ban abortion, they’re silencing both people who see their secular commitments as as important as religion and people whose religion tells them that abortion is required or permitted in certain instances,” Ziegler explains to “Freethought Matters” co-hosts Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor — “States are essentially saying there’s only one religious perspective on abortion and it’s ours.”
Reminder: This is the last show of the season, since “Freethought Matters” takes a hiatus every summer.
If you don’t live in the quarter-plus viewership of the nation where the show broadcasts on Sunday (see below), you can already catch the interview on FFRF’s YouTube channel. New shows go up every Thursday.
“Freethought Matters” airs in:
- Chicago, WPWR-CW (Ch. 50), Sundays at 9 a.m.
- Denver, KWGN-CW (Ch. 2), Sundays at 7 a.m.
- Houston, KIAH-CW (Ch. 39), Sundays at 11 a.m.
- Los Angeles, KCOP-MY (Ch. 13), Sundays at 8:30 a.m.
- Madison, Wis., WISC-TV (Ch. 3), Sundays at 11 p.m.
- Minneapolis, WFTC-29, Sundays at 7:30 a.m.
- New York City, WPIX-IND (Ch. 11), Sundays at 10 a.m.
- Phoenix, KASW-CW (Ch. 61, or 6 or 1006 for HD), Sundays at 8:30 a.m.
- Portland, Ore., KRCW-CW (Ch. 32), Sundays at 9 a.m. Comcast channel 703 for high def, or Channel 3.
- Sacramento, KQCA-MY (Ch. 58), Sundays at 8:30 a.m.
- San Francisco, KICU-IND (Ch. 36), Sundays at 10 a.m.
- Seattle, KONG-IND (Ch. 16 or Ch. 106 on Comcast). Sundays at 8 a.m.
- Washington, D.C., WDCW-CW (Ch. 50 or Ch. 23 or Ch. 3), Sundays at 8 a.m.
Upcoming guests include interviews with Robert Jones, CEO of PRRI, and Peter Eisly, a lifelong, nationally known activist against priest abuse. You can catch interviews from past seasons here, including the fall 2022 season with author John Irving, actor John “Q” de Lancie and Washington Post columnist Kate Cohen. Previous interviews include Julia Sweeney and Reps. Jared Huffman, Jamie Raskin, Hank Johnson and Eleanor Holmes Norton, among many other notable authors, activists and freethinkers.
Please tune in to “Freethought Matters” . . . because freethought matters.
P.S. Please tune in or record according to the times given above regardless of what is listed in your TV guide (it may be listed simply as “paid programming” or even be misidentified). To set up an automatic weekly recording, try taping manually by time or channel. And spread the word to freethinking friends, family or colleagues about a TV show, finally, that is dedicated to providing programming for freethinkers — your antidote to religion on Sunday morning!
