Winter Spring 2011 Cover

the HUMAN LIFE REVIEW WINTER/SPRING 2011 Featured in this issue: William Murchison • Paul B. Linton • Brian Caulfield James Hitchcock • Christopher White • David Quinn Nicholas Dunn • Wesley J. Smith • Donald DeMarco Christopher & Joan Bell • Thomas M. Clark FROM THE A RCHIVES: J. P. McFadden on: What the Difference Is (1979) Also in this issue: Paul Greenberg • Anne Conlon • William McGurn • Seth Lipsky • Helen Alvaré, Greg Pfundstein, Matthew Schmitz & Ryan T. Anderson • Carol Crossed • Maggie Gallagher Robert P. George • Lord Nicholas Windsor • Michael J. New Published by: The Human Life Foundation, Inc. New York, New York Vol. XXXVII, Nos. 1 & 2 $10.00 a copy ABOUT THIS ISSUE . writing on the 10th anniversary of the Review, founding editor J.P. McFadden recounted his concern at the outset about finding “the ‘good copy’ we needed.” That didn’t last long, however, as editors “were soon inundated with a huge catch of good stuff. Our problem,” he continued, “was (and remains) to choose the best.” Twenty-six years later, that problem happily remains as we continue to be “inundated with good stuff,” much of it now arriving via email from all over the cyber world. Case in point: “The Problem with Perry” (page 97), an invaluable analysis of the federal district court decision that tabled (at least for now) California citi- zens’ vote (in Proposition 8) to prohibit same-sex marriage in their state. The article’s author, Thomas M. Clark, is a corporate lawyer currently working in Tokyo—it’s a pleasure to welcome him to our pages. Two other newcomers in this issue embody the energetic commitment twenty- somethings are bringing to the pro-life movement. Nicholas Dunn, who will soon graduate from The King’s College here in New York City, wrote “Abortion, Ijtihad & the Rise of Progressive Islam” (page 53) while interning this year at the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam). Christopher White (“Report on the March for Life,” page 44) graduated from King’s a couple of years ago and is now the International Director of Operations for the World Youth Alliance. Christopher and Joan Andrews Bell, also making their first appearance here, are long-time pro-life stalwarts: He started (along with Fr. Benedict Groeschel) and runs the Good Counsel Homes for pregnant women. His wife Joan, a legend in the movement, has been arrested scores of times for anti-abortion protesting and, in 1986, was sentenced to five years in jail by a judge who declared her “nonrepentant” because she refused to promise, as Nat Hentoff later related in a column about her case, “to stop trying to obstruct the lawful—and indeed constitutional—practice of abortion.” (Mr. Hentoff’s “The Prisoner Who Cannot Be Broken” was reprinted in the Fall 1988 Review.) The Bells were good friends of Dr. Bernard Nathanson, next to Norma McCorvey (AKA “Jane Roe”) perhaps the country’s most famous pro-life convert. Indeed, as you will read in the heartfelt reminiscence that appears here (page 83), Nathanson delivered the Bells’ daughter Mary, and asked Joan to be his godmother when he was accepted into the Catholic Church. Dr. Nathanson’s death in February moved many pro-lifers to reflect on his jour- ney from pro-abortion crusader—he was a founder of NARAL—to pro-life crusader—he made the movie The Silent Scream. We thank our friends at Public Discourse (www.thepublicdiscourse.com) for permission to reprint one such re- flection, Robert P. George’s “Bernard Nathanson: A Life Transformed by Truth” (page 151). Readers will also learn more about Bernard Nathanson—and specifi- cally his important book, Aborting America—in “What the Difference Is,” the 1979 article by J.P. McFadden featured in From the Archives. ANNE CONLON MANAGING EDITOR THE HUMAN LIFE REVIEW the HUMAN LIFE REVIEW Winter/Spring 2011 Vol. XXXVII, Nos. 1&2 Introduction . 2 Maria McFadden The Fight Continues . 7 Editor William Murchison Maria McFadden The Problem of Pain (Legislation) . 14 Senior Editors Paul Benjamin Linton Ellen Wilson Fielding Civil Rights Revisited . 25 Faith Abbott McFadden Mary Meehan Brian Caulfield William Murchison Catholic Liberals & Abortion: Managing Editor Chapter Two . 31 Anne Conlon James Hitchcock Consulting Editor, Europe Report on the March for Life . 44 Mary Kenny, London Christopher White Contributors Lynette Burrows Ireland Continues the Good Fight . 47 James Hitchcock David Quinn Rita L. Marker Abortion, Ijtihad & the Rise William McGurn of Progressive Islam . 53 George McKenna Nicholas Dunn David Quinn The Bioethics Threat . 63 Wesley J. Smith Business Manager Wesley J. Smith Rose Flynn DeMaio The Role of Chance in the Production Manager Emergence of Life . 73 Christina McFadden Donald DeMarco Publishing Consultant Dr. Bernard Nathanson, R.I.P. 83 Edward A. Capano Christopher & Joan Bell Founding Editor J.P. McFadden From the Archives: 1979 What the Difference Is . 89 Published by THE HUMAN LIFE FOUNDATION, J.P. McFadden INC. Editorial Office, 353 Lexington Av- enue, Suite 802, New York, N.Y. 10016. The Problems of Perry . 97 Phone: (212) 685-5210. The editors will consider all manuscripts submitted, but as- Thomas M. Clark sume no responsibility for unsolicited ma- Appendices . 129 terial. Editorial and subscription inquir- ies, and requests for reprint permission Paul Greenberg • Anne Conlon • William McGurn should be sent directly to our editorial office. Subscription price: $30 per year; Seth Lipsky • Helen Alvaré, Greg Pfundstein, Canada and other foreign countries: $40 Matthew Schmitz & Ryan T. Anderson • Carol (U.S. currency). ISSN 0097-9783. Crossed • Robert P. George • Lord Nicholas ©2011 by THE HUMAN LIFE FOUNDATION, INC. Windsor • Maggie Gallagher • Michael J. New New York, N.Y. Printed in the U.S.A. WINTER/SPRING 2011/1 WESLEY J. SMITH INTRODUCTION Total abolition of abortion is of course not possible. I know one isn’t supposed to put it this way, but it’s the best way to explain it: abortion is a sin, and will disappear at the same time, and not before, we do away with sin itself. Or evil, if you prefer. But the worst thing about sin is not its existence, but its denial. It is one thing to admit that abortion will always be with us, quite another to make it the official policy of our nation, with the support of our laws, the use of our money—to promote and encourage it with all the powers of state and society, at ruinous costs to both. The above is taken from “What the Difference Is” (in From the Archives, p. 89); it was written by my late father, founding editor J.P. McFadden, in 1979, almost seven years after the Roe v. Wade decision. “It seems clear that the Court intended a final solution to the problems involved” in abortion cases. However, that hadn’t happened; in fact, he noted, the “public perception is that anti-abortion sentiment is growing dramatically.” The sheer radical nature of the Roe decision—abortion-on- demand through all nine months of pregnancy, and the power of the states to interfere severely restricted—worked against the Court’s intention, as did the nature of the act of abortion itself. Why didn’t abortion become accepted? J.P. quotes Malcolm Muggeridge, who said it was because abortion “raises questions of the very destiny and purpose of life itself.” J.P. also noted the growing, “historically-implausible” alliance between Catholics and Evangelicals (the latter being then “far and away the largest and most vigorous American religious community”)—which, he thought, might just be the alliance that “overturns a new morality plausible only in a ‘post- Christian’ society.” Now, over thirty years later, it is remarkable to think how much of what J.P. wrote has been affirmed—a growing anti-abortion movement, even stronger unity among Catholics and Evangelicals. However, I don’t think even he envisioned what an agonizingly slow climb it would be, how many times the movement would appear to have lost its foothold and tumbled way down, seemingly to certain, crushing defeat. One cannot deny that, in lives lost and moral sense coarsened, the last three decades have seen tragedy on a massive scale. And yet: Abortion remains an issue that rankles, one which refuses to act like “settled law,” thank God. And, as senior editor William Murchison writes in our lead article: “The Fight Continues.” Just when things seemed the worst, points out Murchison, when the consequences of America’s electing Barack Obama to the presidency seemed to result in damage to the pro-life cause “so extensive that recuperation could take decades,” came the November 2010 elections, and a heartening “Republican resurgence” on both state and national levels. By late winter of 2011, things were looking very different: on the national level, in the movement to defund Planned Parenthood (an ingenious way of “addressing simultaneously the nation’s two deficits—financial and moral”) and at the grassroots, in the culture itself. In an echo of McFadden, Murchison remembers what it was like when Roe was decided: In 1973, “there was a general expectation 2/WINTER/SPRING 2011 THE HUMAN LIFE REVIEW that resistance to the ruling would rage for a while, then die away.” He continues: The Court itself seemed to render such a judgment: People would do thus-and-so because the justices commanded them to do thus-and-so, and that would be the end of a sentiment that we find, instead, in 2011, to be large , vital, crackling, and resurgent, if not yet in a position to command the landscape. Yes, the fight continues, and in this hefty double issue we visit multiple aspects of the ongoing struggles. Murchison outlines many promising instances of pro-life “legislative gumption” on the state level; there are always, however, conflicting opinions among the ranks as to the wisdom of tactics.

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