April 25, 2002 By MICHAEL S. GAZZANIGA HANOVER, N.H. When President Bush convened his advisory panel on bioethics in January, he told those of us serving on it to engage in that age-old technique of intellectual exploration called debate. "That's what I want," he said.…
by Elizabeth Benton Summer 2001 As temperatures in Washington rose, so did the debate over pre-marital sex and abstinence-until-marriage education. On June 28, Surgeon General David Satcher issued his, "Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior." The comprehensive report urges a…
Anti-choice advocates have been irresponsibly touting a link between abortion and breast cancer for years. Careless scientists have published questionable studies which anti-choice politicians have used as excuses to pass hostile legislation. Currently Louisiana, Kansas, and Mississippi have bills mandating doctors to warn patients of…
A Wave of Catholic Hospital Mergers Is Curtailing Medical Services, Especially for Women Susan Jacoby is a freelance writer and former reporter for the Washington Post. A fellow at the Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library, she is working on…
By Polly Rothstein In Connecticut, where I grew up, birth control was illegal. Feminists had lobbied to repeal the law for decades, but lawmakers refused. I wondered how women-in-the-know avoided pregnancy. Some men used condoms (where did they get them?), but many women had shotgun…
by Polly Rothstein Abortion rights have been clobbered by a ruse of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Christian Coalition. Departing from their usual attacks on legal abortion and support for restrictions on access, they have attacked a method of abortion, dilation and…
A North Dakota judge has ruled that there is no established link between abortion and breast cancer. Ruling in favor of the Red River Women's Clinic (Fargo, ND) After a three-day trial in state court, he asserted that it is reasonable for the clinic to…
This piece was written almost 30 years ago and should be considered to be a historical document. However, instead, most points are still relevant today. Anti-Choice (RTL) Pro-choice Human life begins at conception. Therefore, abortion is murder of a person. Personhood at conception is a…
Edited by Estella Johnson In “The Conservative Case for Abortion” (The New Republic, August 21/28), Jerry Z. Muller discusses a third view of abortion that is neither “right to choose” nor “right-to-life” [sic]. Muller’s third position is “essentially conservative and pro-family,” yet favors abortion as…