Empathy and Abortion

[Greg Sisk]

That's an unfair accusation and paints with too broad a brush; it is
simply an inaccurate label attached to the pro-lifers that I know.

Just one responsive anecdote:  A  number of members and clergy,
including the charismatic monsignor, at St. Augustin Catholic Parish
in Des Moines were visible leaders in efforts to enact an abortion
waiting period and informed consent statute in Iowa last year.  The
legislature enacted the statute, but Governor Vilsak vetoed it.  In
response to the legislation's supports, and apparently specifically
addressed at leaders like those at the St. Augustin parish, Governor
Vilsak uttered that old canard about pro-lifers caring about children
only before birth and not afterward.  Ironically, but tellingly,
Governor Vilsak's wife the day before had presided over a ceremony at
which the St. Augustin parish received the award for its exceptional
work and support for at-risk children and services to poor children
in the community.

In sum, the abortion debate must be addressed on its own terms and
merits, not by ad hominem attacks on those on one or the other side.

>This political scientist thinks the discussion of pro-lifers could be
>improved with a little empirical knowledge.  The sociologist Kristin Luker
>does a good job of unmasking the ideology of women pro-life activists; the
>dispute between them and their pro-choice counterparts is not primarily over
>fetal status but over women's roles (ABORTION AND THE POLITICS OF
>MOTHERHOOD, 1984.)  And these are actually the more respectable pro-life
>activists; some of them are just antipoor and antiwoman.  And, if they're
>empathetic, it sure seems funny that their solicitude starts at conception
>and ends at birth.  See Jean Reith Schrodel, IS THE FETUS A PERSON? (2000.)
>
>Judy Baer
>Texas A&M

--
Gregory Sisk
Richard M. & Anita Calkins
   Distinguished Professor
Drake University Law School
2507 University Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa  50311-4505
515-271-4184
greg.sisk at drake.edu