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RELIGIOUS ARGUMENTS and the ABORTION DEBATE —William Murchison Mark S

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RELIGIOUS ARGUMENTS and the ABORTION DEBATE —William Murchison Mark S T H E H U M A N L I F E R E V I E W THE HUMAN LIFE REVIEW SPRING 2017 Vol. XLIII, No. 2 Vol. SPRING 2017 THE HUMAN LIFE REVIEW VOL. XLIII No. 2 ◆ Spring 2017 ◆ F E A T U R E D I N T H I S I S S U E ◆ David Quinn on LOOMING ABORTION IN IRELAND Vincenzina Santoro on RECEDING ABORTION IN ITALY It was never to be expected that cool suppositions, framed by William Murchison on judges, and having to do with “one’s own concept of existence,” THE AFFABLE ABORTIONIST OF LANCASTER AVENUE were going to override the itching of outstretched palms and the Paul Benjamin Linton on fevers of desire. The peril of tampering with civilization’s rules SHOULD WOMEN BE PROSECUTED FOR ABORTION? and precepts has never been so plain as in the aftermath of the Brian Caulfield on repetitive decisions throughout Western, ah, civilization to dis- STEVEN MCDONALD’S “LIFE WORTH LIVING” card protections for unborn life. When the principle—in the Stella Morabito on present case, Life is Good—has vanished, out pop the affable A TRIBUTE TO FAITH ABBOTT MCFADDEN Gosnells, and doubtless many, many more of their like, intent Donald DeMarco on on substituting personal advantage for continued adherence to WHO ARE THE REAL TROUBLEMAKERS? inconvenient truths. You can’t have Planned Parenthood, in other words, without a certain, and growing, share of Gosnell clinics. Charles K. Bellinger on RELIGIOUS ARGUMENTS AND THE ABORTION DEBATE —William Murchison Mark S. Milburn on “The Affable Abortionist of Lancaster Avenue” THE ABOLITION OF CHILDHOOD Chris Rostenberg on ◆ A L S O I N T H I S I S S U E ◆ THE DAY SOCRATES MET A PRO-CHOICER ◆ ALSO IN THIS ISSUE ◆ Film/Booknotes: Jason Morgan reviews Me Before You Maria McFadden Maffucci reviews You Carried Me From the HLR Blog: George McKenna • Nicholas Frankovich www.humanlifereview.com Appendices: Harold Cassidy • Kelsey Hazzard • Sister Mary Elizabeth, SV THE HUMAN LIFE FOUNDATION, INC. ◆ NEW YORK, NEW YORK $10.00 PER COPY ABOUT THIS ISSUE . “What do you call someone like Kermit Gosnell? How about serial killer?” So I posited in these pages six years ago, having read the stunning grand jury report which laid out the late-term abortionist’s crimes against infants in harrowing detail (“A Philadelpia Story,” HLR Spring/Summer 2011). Now Irish journalists and film- SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BOUND VOLUMES makers Ann McElhinney and Phelm McAleer have published Gosnell: The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer (Regnery). Finally, I thought when I saw the title, “Dr.” Gosnell is being branded the depraved murderer he was. That it took foreign journalists to write a book broadcasting this ugly truth attests to Subscriptions: the Human Life Review accepts regular subscriptions at the rate of America’s aggressive indifference to the abortion regime it harbors. In “The Af- $40 for a full year (four issues). Canadian and all other foreign subscriptions please fable Abortionist of Lancaster Avenue” (page 21), senior editor William Murchison add $10 (total: $50 U.S. currency). Please address all subscription orders to the ad- reviews “their intense and thorough account of a case that rightly shocks and horrifies.” dress below and enclose payment with order. You may enter gift subscriptions for The book was widely promoted by prolifers, but given the mainstream media’s friends, libraries, or schools at the same rates. lack of interest, it wouldn’t be a surprise if you haven’t heard of it. McElhinney and Additional Copies: this issue—No. 2, Volume XLIII—is available while the supply McAleer also made a film about Gosnell; it might be harder to ignore, that is, if they lasts at $10 per copy; 10 copies or more at $8 each. A limited number of back issues ever find a distributor. What we usually get from the global entertainment complex, from 1996 to this year are also available. We will pay all postage and handling. when it treats life issues, is progressive propaganda like Me Before You, a recent Bound Volumes: we now have available bound volumes of the years 1992 through British paean to euthanasia, reviewed by Jason Morgan in this issue (page 78). 2001 at $50 each. The volumes are indexed, and bound in permanent library-style The culture that salutes assisted suicide and abortion understandably seeks to hardcovers, complete with gold lettering, etc. (they will make handsome additions to censure religious authority. Charles K. Bellinger, a new contributor who teaches theol- your personal library). Please send payment with order to the address below. We will ogy at Texas Christian University, makes a strong case here against the current pay all postage and handling. fashion—indulged by many prolifers—to argue only from secular principles (“Re- Earlier Volumes: while several volumes are now in very short supply, we can still ligious Arguments and the Abortion Debate,” page 51.) Another new contributor, offer some of the volumes for the first 16 years (1975-1989) of this Review at $50 each. Vincenzina Santoro, who represents the American Family Association at the UN, shares encouraging statistics on Italian abortion rates (“Abortion Receding in Italy: The current issue of the Human Life Review is available in its entirety on our website, Heightened Anxiety in Europe and at the UN,” page 12). Mark Milburn, a midwestern www.humanlifereview.com. Regular subscribers may create (free) digital accounts businessman who vividly recalls growing up in the ’50s before “the Pill” (“The Aboli- in order to access and download articles from this and older issues on the site’s tion of Childhood,” page 59), is also new to these pages. Welcome all. Archives page. Digital subscriptions are also available at the cost of $20 per year. There’s something else new to these pages: FROM THE HUMAN LIFE REVIEW BLOG (page 80). Beginning now each issue will feature a selection of pieces written originally for our website (www.humanlifereview.com). While we encourage our print subscribers to activate a free digital account, we see from the numbers that Address all orders to this address: some of you haven’t done so and therefore may be missing excellent pieces like the The Human Life Foundation, Inc. two reprinted here, one by long-time Review contributor George McKenna, the other by Nicholas Frankovich, who started writing for us last year. 353 Lexington Avenue As for other reprints, our thanks to Public Discourse for permission to include Suite 802 “Remembering Jane Roe and Mary Doe” (page 85); Secular Prolife for Kelsey New York, New York 10016 Hazzard’s “Explainer” on defunding Planned Parenthood (page 89); and Sister Mary Phone: 212-685-5210 Elizabeth of the Sisters of Life for “The Need for Witnesses” (page 91). Thanks, too, to Nick Downes, whose inimitable humor we delight in sharing with you. [email protected] ANNE CONLON MANAGING EDITOR the HUMAN LIFE REVIEW Spring 2017 Vol. XLIII, No. 2 Editor Maria McFadden Maffucci Introduction . 2 Senior Editors Maria McFadden Maffucci Ellen Wilson Fielding Mary Meehan Abortion Looming in Ireland . 5 William Murchison David Quinn Managing Editor Receding Abortion in Italy . 12 Anne Conlon Vincenzina Santoro Consulting Editor, Europe Mary Kenny, London The Affable Abortionist of Lancaster Avenue . 21 Contributors William Murchison Lynette Burrows Should Women Be Prosecuted for Abortion? . 27 James Hitchcock Paul Benjamin Linton Rita L. Marker William McGurn Steven McDonald’s “Life Worth Living” . 34 George McKenna Brian Caulfield David Quinn A Tribute to Faith Abbott McFadden . 37 Wesley J. Smith Stella Morabito Business Manager Rose Flynn DeMaio Who Are the Real Troublemakers? . 47 Production Manager Donald DeMarco Christina Angelopoulos Religious Arguments & the Abortion Debate . 51 McFadden Fellow Charles K. Bellinger Ifeoma Anunkor Founding Editors The Abolition of Childhood . 59 J.P. McFadden Mark S. Milburn Faith Abbott McFadden The Day Socrates Met a Pro-choicer. 63 Published by THE HUMAN LIFE FOUNDATION, Chris Rostenberg INC. Editorial Office, 353 Lexington Av- enue, Suite 802, New York, N.Y. 10016. Film/Booknotes . .72 Phone: (212) 685-5210. The editors will consider all manuscripts submitted, but Jason Morgan reviews Me Before You assume no responsibility for unsolicited Maria Maffucci reviews You Carried Me material. Editorial and subscription in- quiries, and requests for reprint permis- From the HLR Blog . 80 sion should be sent directly to our edito- rial office. Subscription price: $40 per George McKenna • Nicholas Frankovich year; Canada and other foreign countries: $50 (U.S. currency). ISSN 0097-9783. Appendices . 85 Harold Cassidy • Kelsey Hazzard ©2017 by THE HUMAN LIFE FOUNDATION, INC. New York, N.Y. Printed in the U.S.A. Sister Mary Elizabeth, SV SPRING 2017/1 INTRODUCTION Irish journalist David Quinn leads our issue with a plea for the international pro- life movement to pay great attention to the ramped-up, massive effort to legalize abortion in Ireland. “Ireland is a last legal bastion of pro-life values in the West,” he writes, in “Abortion Looming in Ireland.” This fact is well-known by the pro- abortion forces who are agitating for repeal of the so-called 8th amendment of Ireland’s constitution, a strong pro-life clause voted in by referendum in 1983. And the pressure is coming from activists at home and overseas: Quinn reports that billionaire George Soros has given $500,000 to three pro-abortion groups. A leaked memo from Soros’ grant-making network, Open Society, says a win in Ireland “could impact other strongly Catholic countries in Europe and provide much needed proof that change is possible, even in highly conservative places.” Imagine, Quinn writes, “how the New York Times will gleefully report this should it ever happen.
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