And Now for Something Completely Different: A Moderate Voice on Abortion
November 15, 2009
I’m both a feminist and a prolife advocate, and I mourn the almost total loss of the early linkage between those two movements (e.g., guess which babies, once their sex is ascertained, are more likely to be aborted?). So I am delighted to come across a thoughtful, fairminded interview with a thoughtful, fairminded prochoice scholar who advocates regard and respect for the prolife movement as a genuine heir to the civil rights movement. And in The New Yorker—a magazine I enjoy, but one not noted for its patience with a prolife outlook.
November 17, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Thanks. I find myself caught betwixt and between too.
November 18, 2009 at 7:22 am
After reading the New Yorker article, I am left with two impressions. One, confusion about the statement regarding pacifists. “Instead, the military is defended as a positive, collective good that we all benefit from. Pacifists are dismissed as an irrational and small minority.”
I can’t tell if this is his position or a theoretical argumentative position, but it certainly is a quick brush-off of pacifism.
Two, a thrill at the Truth-like echoes when he considers the possibility of the intrinsic value of humans. “I suppose I was particularly moved by the claim that human organisms might have an intrinsic value independent of their characteristics.”
The respectful tone is a welcome and a refreshing contrast to the condemning attitude illustrated in some comments right after the article, an attitude sadly found on both sides of this painful issue.
November 18, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Poetreehugger, I agree that the characterization of pacifism is very disappointing.
Mark, I’m not sure what you mean by being caught betwixt and between…?