Abortion
The March issue of First Things was an anniversary issue reprinting various pieces from past iterations, and a 1994 article by Russell Hittinger reconsidering the state of the political battlefield prior to the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision sheds some light on the process of progressives implementation of policies with which the American people…
Any attempt to mitigate this scene, from an Economist article, is necessarily founded in either evil or self-delusion: XINRAN XUE, a Chinese writer, describes visiting a peasant family in the Yimeng area of Shandong province. The wife was giving birth. “We had scarcely sat down in the kitchen”, she writes, “when we heard a moan…
Sandra Lavin, writing about coming to grips with having an abortion, makes an important point: If I had to say why I had an abortion it would all begin with the decision to begin that illicit relationship and then all of the nets of sin that suffocate you without you even knowing it. One sin…
Among the magnificent effects of the Internet is that people in dramatically different cultural environments can interact in real time, offering proclamations of principle that may or may not require adjustment. Mark Shea, for example, expresses what is likely a common gripe among pro-lifers across the country about local reactions to the Scott Brown victory:…
A new poll finds that “56% of all Americans and 58% of those 18-29 years old say abortion ‘morally wrong’.” “Millennials” (those 18-29) consider abortion to be “morally wrong” even more (58%) than Baby Boomers (those 45-64) (51%). Generation X (those 30-44) are similar to Millennials (60% see abortion as “morally wrong”). More than 6…
Joseph Bottum places two anecdotes side by side: It’s hard to keep up the illusion of abortion as a positive good when the ugly reality of it is always lurking just behind the abstract idea. The wall of illusion came crashing down for Abby Johnson when, after working for Planned Parenthood in Texas for eight…
Not to pick on gubernatorial candidate Frank Caprio, but he’s been providing a lot of material, lately, such as the following, from Ed Fitzpatrick’s recent column about the politician’s experience as an unwed teenage father: Did that experience inform his views on abortion? “I’m pro-choice because of all the experiences I’ve had in my life…
There it is again — that incredible, morally repugnant admission that a human life begins at conception but need not include a right for that life to continue along its natural course. From a National Review interview with Charles Krauthammer by Jay Nordlinger: Readers may want to know Krauthammer’s position on abortion–it is slightly complicated.…
Four points, on the continuing discussion spurred by Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s statement that a true pro-life position requires the Catholic Church to support a healthcare plan that includes public funding for abortions:Cribbing a large dose of Robert George’s exposition on philosophy and theology (Backfill: By which I mean I’m doing some cribbing from Robert George,…
Bishop of Providence Thomas Tobin and Rhode Island First District Congressman Kennedy are offering two different versions of the latest consequences resulting from Congressman Kennedy’s public statement that a true pro-life position requires the Catholic Church to support a healthcare plan that includes public funding for abortions (h/t commenter “Tim”, who pointed to this Ray…