James Talarico identifies as a Christian. Well, Bruce Jenner identifies as a woman. Don Lemon identifies as a journalist. And Thamsanqa Jantjie identified as a deaf interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service. Self-identity isn’t always reality. The Democratic representative from Texas flaunts his murky religious “identity” at every media opportunity. He’s proud to be a Presbyterian Seminarian!
Austin Presbyterian Seminary’s religion is less G-O-D and more D-E-I. It proclaims on its website: “The Seminary welcomes people of all races, cultures, abilities, sexual orientations, gender expressions, and socioeconomic status to learn and study at this school of the church. While we continue to strive for even greater racial and ethnic diversity, [note: not Biblical fidelity] the faculty and students we attract are a rich source of inspiration and challenge to the dominant culture.” The school is directly part of the Presbyterian USA denomination, which is, of course, pro-abortion, pro-BLM, pro-LGBTQ, and pro-illegal immigration.
Losing His Religion
Recently, Rep. Talarico was asked by New York Times columnist Ezra Klein a simple and straightforward question: “Do you believe Christianity to be more true than other religions?”
A Christ follower would have simply said “Yes.”
In John 14:6, Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Yet Talarico said, “I believe Christianity points to the truth. I also think other religions of love point to the same truth…And so, I see these beautiful faith traditions as circling the same truth about the universe, about the cosmos, and that truth is inherently a mystery.” The same truth about Jesus? Yeah. No. And if truth is such a mystery, how does one know when something points to it?
This is the same “seminarian” who falsely claimed on Joe Rogan’s show that “God asked Mary for consent.” He didn’t. But she did verbally submit to God’s beautifully compassionate plan for humankind’s salvation. Talarico pathetically tried to turn Christ’s conception into a pro-abortion narrative. Maybe he was smoking weed with Joe.
Aborting the Truth
It explains why truth is not Talarico’s forte. “Pro-choice policies lead to fewer abortions.” This is how the politician absurdly summed up his stance in a recent podcast interview. It’s about as insane as saying pro-slavery policies led to fewer slaves. His pro-abortion rhetoric is easily debunked. It’s such common propaganda, but he knows mainstream media and friendly podcasters won’t fact-check him on anything. Here are three key lies about Texas and abortion he tells.
Lie #1
“Women are being denied basic healthcare.” False. Abortion is not basic healthcare. Even the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies found that a “first trimester abortion is a known immutable medical risk factor associated with preterm birth.” (Of course, they stuffed it all the way back on page 625 of the 772-page study.) Preterm births, or babies born early, “have higher rates of deaths and disabilities” per the CDC. A new study in 2025 shockingly revealed that “abortion was associated with an 81% increase in hospitalizations for psychiatric disorders, a 157% increase in substance use disorders and 116% increase in suicide attempts compared with other pregnancies.”
Saying elective abortion is healthcare is like saying that slavery was jobcare. It may be euphemistically satisfying, but it’s a lie.
Lie #2
“Women are dying in ER parking lots because doctors are afraid to provide basic healthcare.” No, women are not. The actual issue is that a few women have tragically died because of medical folks choosing to be political instead of professional. Texas allows an “emergency abortion” to save a woman’s physical life. The law is not ambiguous, but several doctors and hospital systems have deliberately feigned ignorance of the clear exceptions language in the September 2021 Texas Heartbeat Act (SB8) which was reiterated in the June 2025 Life of the Mother Act (SB31): “This chapter does not require a physician to delay, alter or withhold medical treatment provided to a pregnant female if doing so would create a greater risk of the pregnant female’s death, or substantial impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant female.” This also includes “an ectopic pregnancy, or removing a dead, unborn child whose death was caused by a spontaneous abortion [miscarriage].”
Lie #3
“We have more black mothers dying in our state than in any other state in the country.” When Texas was forced to fund the nation’s largest abortion chain, Planned Parenthood, the Black maternal mortality rate (MMR) skyrocketed. Courts finally allowed Texas to defund the abortion giant in 2012, but from 2001-2012, Black MMR rates in the Lone Star state more than tripled from 27.1 to 92.8 deaths per 100,000 live births!
The Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022, and abortion became illegal in Texas. According to the CDC, the state’s overall MMR rate was 28.2 that year. Radically pro-abortion states like New Jersey, New Mexico, and my state of Virginia have similar and even higher rates: 26.0, 28.0, and 32.7, respectively. High MMR, regardless of color, is not because of lack of access to abortion but lack of access to the truth.
Older age and obesity are two leading factors in maternal mortality. In 2022-2023, women ages 35-39 had MMR rates more than twice as high (30) as women 25 and younger (12.9). The CDC reports that obesity rates were 14.5 percent for Asian women, 39.6 percent for White women, 45.7 percent for Hispanic women, and 57.9 percent for Black women.
Nationwide, there are an estimated 859 maternal deaths each year. In Texas, there were 102 total tragic pregnancy-associated deaths in 2019. Both Texas and the CDC report that 80 percent of those deaths were preventable. Abortion is never recommended as the solution. Better actual healthcare is.
It would have been accurate if Talarico had sounded the alarm that abortion is the number one killer in the Black community. It outnumbers the top ten causes of death, combined: 409,615 versus 301,243 in 2022. But that would be too truthful for a Democratic politician, whoops, Presbyterian seminarian, running for Congress.
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