The Price of Roe While we’ve long argued that abortion advocacy has sabotaged the goals of peace and justice activists, there seem to be more people noticing this point in places we wouldn’t expect. A recent example: Slate magazine, which generally covers abortion as a “right.” See the Quotation of the Week below. If anyone finds other examples of the point surfacing – that Roe v. Wade has sabotaged progressive goals – in sources that are otherwise pro-Roe, please send it to weekly@consistent-life.org.
Rehumanize International Conference – A Huge Success This member group held its annual conference October 12-14. It was as usual a smooth-running success, with eager participants, excellent presentations, and lots of friendliness and networking. Pictured is a plenary session with Rachel MacNair moderating at the podium, Thad Crouch (Veterans for Peace) speaking as a veteran, and Annette Lancaster (And Then There Were None), speaking as a former abortion worker. The topic was people who leave violent institutions, with Thad and Annette giving their personal experiences and noting where there were similarities. Rachel discussed an underlying point, how killing can be traumatic to those who do it.
Latest CLN Blog Post: Child Abuse There are quite a few sincere people, whose hearts are tender for the welfare of children, who’ve heard the argument that abortion reduces child abuse by reducing the number of unwanted children. They need to have this concern settled.
Rachel MacNair offers The Impact of Abortion on Child Abuse. She covers what the psychology studies say on the topic, on both sides of the debate. She shows how the consistent-life insight that different kinds of violence are connected to each other seems to best fit the scientific evidence we now have. This can be an especially useful post for individuals who find the child abuse argument a major stumbling block to understanding the pro-life case. So we encourage you to think about individuals and groups that could benefit from this information and send them the link. Also send the link to individuals and groups who’d like to spread the word in their networks about this post as a helpful resource.
Follow-up: Media Coverage on Missouri Democrats The New York Times ran an article on October 16 called Is It Possible to Be an Anti-Abortion Democrat? One Woman Tried to Find Out.
Quotation of the Week Christopher Jon Sprigman The Supreme Court Is a Historically Regressive and Presently Expendable Institution Slate, October 11, 2018 Editor’s Note: This is noteworthy for coming from a source with a strongly pro-abortion perspective; we don’t agree with every word, but it’s important people understand the basic point. The left views Roe as a victory that it must preserve, but Roe has actually been a slowly unfolding disaster for the left, and for the country. Unlike in Lawrence, where the court’s decision followed progressive democratic change, in Roe the court pre-empted it. Roe liberalized abortion law nationwide before the nation had achieved a democratic consensus favoring liberalization. As no less an advocate for reproductive rights as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has argued, the results have been politically catastrophic. Roe birthed a militant pro-life movement that has been completely co-opted by the right. The net result has been a durable rightward tilt in American politics. The left has Roe (for now). But it secured that victory at a terrible price. Opposition to Roe is the glue that holds together America’s dominant right-wing political coalition. The price of Roe is all the progressive change we gave up when Roe helped push the center of American politics to the right.
Responses/News Tips/Questions to share are all welcome.
Send to weekly@consistent-life.org.
