There are prochoice people who take seriously the moral weight of killing a human fetus and nonetheless side with the right of the mother to do so. And then there are prochoice people who dehumanize and objectify the human fetus, recasting him/her as a “parasite”. This is the same rhetoric used to eradicate populations in […]
bioethics
Is abortion a genocide?
Dear fellow Pro-Lifers, Please do not refer to support for elective abortion as a “genocide”. The word “genocide” has a specific meaning in international law: it refers to the attempt to destroy an ethnic, religious, or cultural identity. To be sure, genocidaires may use abortion as a means to destroy an ethnic, religious and/or cultural […]
Elective abortion as the right to kill your children
There are few political and social issues as controverted and fraught with mutual animus as the debate over abortion rights. Unfortunately, the heat is only multiplied by the common retreat to unfortunate and misleading rhetoric. Consider, for example, the practice among some prolifers of referring to abortion as a genocide. This is language that I’ve […]
The Fight over the Fetus: Abortion, Ethics, and Politics
Today Norman Geisler apparently defended his continued support for Donald Trump by claiming that Hillary Clinton is worse than Adolf Hitler. The reason? Her support for abortion. I first learned about this from Hemant Mehta’s blog and so I’m going to quote the relevant passage from his article “Christian Theologian: I Still Support Donald Trump Because […]
Fetus as Parasite? A disturbing trend in pro-choice rhetoric
Throughout history attempts to justify killing members of outgroups has been carried out by invoking labels for members of the outgroups. David Livingstone Smith chronicles this lamentable aspect of human history in his book Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2012). And so, for example, the Nazis called Jews and […]
88. Euthanasia, Death, and the Good Life: A Conversation with Heidi Janz
“Euthanasia.” The word derives from the Greek prefix “eu” or good, and “thanatos” or death. Hence, euthanasia promises a good death. But what is a good death? And what right do medical practitioners have to bring it about? These questions press themselves upon us with increasing urgency as various jurisdictions consider the adoption of new […]
The right to die? You don’t know Jack. A review
My earliest memory of Jack Kevorkian came with a feature article in Cornerstone Magazine. The year was 1990 and Dr. Kevorkian had just entered the national spotlight after assisting in the suicide of Alzheimer’s patient Janet Adkins. The magazine’s feature interview left quite the impression. And it was deeply unsettling. Here was a man who was calling for […]
Why are you laughing? Reflections on the ethics of gallows humor
Fads come and go. And thirty years ago the fad on the playground was collecting stickers. So I followed the herd and got my photo album which I promptly filled with scratch and sniffs and various other stickers. I had quite a collection (indeed, I still have that album packed away somewhere). While the scratch […]
Till death do we part? Ethical reflection on marital vows
In my previous post I found myself in the surprising situation of defending Pat Robertson’s widely panned commentary on the morality of divorce in the case of advanced Alzheimer’s. I was not necessarily agreeing with Pat’s view, but I was certainly sympathetic to it. Not everyone was in agreement. A couple people offered reasonable […]
Abortion and the old Coat hanger Argument
“We tried universal illegal abortion and the results were quite horrific.” That statement was written by one of my faithful readers named Beetle and it is worth some reflection. It is worthy of that reflection because it provides a handy rehash of that most venerable and visceral of pro-choice arguments: the coat hanger argument. That argument seems […]
