City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research CUNY School of Law 2009 The Meaning of Life: Belief and Reason in the Abortion Debate Caitlin Borgmann CUNY School of Law How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cl_pubs/143 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] THE MEANING OF "LIFE": BELIEF AND REASON IN THE ABORTION DEBATE CAITLIN E. BORGMANN* In 1993, a man named Michael Griffin killed David Gunn, a forty- seven-year-old doctor who provided abortions at a clinic in Pensacola, Florida. Before shooting Gunn three times in the back, Griffin yelled, "Don't kill any more babies!"' According to news reports, protestors present at the clinic that day, members of a "militant" anti-abortion-rights group, were elated, shouting, "Praise God! Praise God! One of the baby- killers is dead.",2 Yet "mainstream" anti-abortion-rights groups, who are more representative of the majority of abortion-rights opponents, were 3 4 quick to renounce the murder, sensing "a public-relations disaster." In August 2008, then-presidential nominees Senators Barack Obama and John McCain appeared separately at a religious forum hosted by best-selling author and evangelical pastor, Rick Warren. Warren asked * Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law; B.A., Yale University; J.D., New York University School of Law. I am grateful for the helpful comments of Albert Borgmann, Jeff Kirchmeier, Margaret Little, John D.