The Ethics of Abortion: Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice

Should a woman be allowed to have an abortion? or to take birth-control pills, which do essentially the same thing, only sooner? In _The Ethics of Abortion_, we hear from both sides--four writers arguing against abortion, and seven in favor, not counting the mothers of Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and George W. Bush, whose opinion was evidently not consulted. (Besides, it's too late.) For the answer to the question, "Should Abortion be re-criminalized," don't bother to ask a Republican politician--those fellas will say anything just to get elected ("Life starts at the moment of conception," and blah-blah-blah, e.g., John McCain); but do they ever actually do anything to overthrow Roe v. Wade, or to outlaw the pill, or to prosecute briefly-pregnant female liberals for murder? Don't count on it. The very best way to solve this ethical dilemma is not to argue with one another; but rather, to ask, "WWTVMD?" (i.e., What would the Virgin Mary Do?" On 21 March, 1 BCE, came a day that forever altered the course of cosmic and human history: "Conception Day." That's when the Son of God and the holy Ghost of God came down from Heaven together - the Ghost to impregnate the Virgin Mary, and the Son (Jesus), to become her precious little fetus. Born in Bethlehem on Christmas morning, the Son of God remained on the planet for the next thirty years, preaching hellfire and performing wonders. At age 30, after an especially difficult weekend in Jerusalem, he said goodbye to his disciples and returned home, ascending skyward in a cumulus cloud, not to be seen again until the 21st century and the end of the world. Today, any fourteen-year old unmarried Jewish girl, upon learning she was pregnant, would sneak into a clinic and demand to have an abortion. If Mary had committed that sin, nipping her pregnancy in the bud, the Son of God would have been bounced safely back to Heaven, sparing him a lot of earthly suffering - but it would have cost humanity the greatest gift God ever gave to the world, which is the gift of potential forgiveness for sins if you just meet certain conditions. The whole Christian religion could have been snuffed out before it began! Which, in the view of many, is a strong argument against abortion. (Don't look at me: I'm "the devil," a feminist, and pro-choice.)

I'm an M.A. student in philosophy who has found this collection very useful and representative of the current state of the issue in American ethics. It contains landmark essays by landmark people and could be of much use both to the lay reader and in ethics classes. One must conclude that the gentleman who found the volume 'appualing' [sic] would be best served by english instruction and higher education before stumbling into untranslated Anglo-American philosophy.