“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” -Mark Twain A common rejoinder that is leveled at pro-life advocates has to do with our insistence on legal protections for the unborn. It is often asserted that countries with tougher restrictions on legal abortion have either similar abortion rates to countries with more [...]
Abortion and the Meaning Of "Life" "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."1 It’s amusing how a children’s book from the 19th Century can have relevance to one of the most contentious ethical issues in history. In [...]
As the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic raises new questions and challenges for the future of the United States, a unique new dispute has arisen in the abortion debate. State governors began issuing orders telling medical centers and outpatient surgery clinics to either shut down for the duration of the crisis, or to postpone or cancel elective [...]
There are two problems to address with this argument: A moral one, and an empirical one. The moral problem is obvious. It is wrong to intentionally kill innocent human beings to benefit others.
Does recognizing such an obligation in the context of pregnancy involve treating women as incubators or ‘fetal containers’? Surely not: If I am a pregnant woman, it is no more treating me as an incubator to expect me to respect my baby’s body and allow it to remain within my own than it is treating the baby’s father as a cradle to expect him to avoid violent, reckless or negligent treatment of the baby after birth. At least until such time as other carers can take over, it is reasonable to expect those supporting a child to continue to do so, and in any case, to avoid deliberate harm and/or harmful bodily incursions on the child.
