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When, God willing, the abortion controversy is behind us, partisans of the pro-life and pro-choice positions are going to have to live together in this society. That is why, sloganeering and passionate polemics are inevitable, civil conversation is essential. And that is why
The Silent Subject is such a gift to all of us at this point in the controversy. (From the foreword by Richard John Neuhaus) The essays in this work constitute a sensitive, public argument for a reconstruction of the confused-yet dominant-popular attitudes toward nascent human life and its value. Unlike most pro-life arguments, it offers no strictly religious or exclusively sectarian warrants for its assertions - instead bearing a more secular cast, speaking to a generalized and pluralistic audience. As a whole,
The Silent Subject embraces no specific, particular political ideology. Its contributors have a broad spectrum of professional interests, political perspectives and social philosophies - all of which indicates the fundamentally humanistic and apolitical nature of concern for the unborn and the degree to which they are esteemed. This unusual book is a refreshingly candid and morally compelling analysis of the social forces that superintend our cultural outlook toward unborn human life.
List of contents
Foreword by Richard John Neuhaus
Preface
Introduction by Brad Stetson
Ethical PerspectivesSubstances, Property-Things and Human Persons: The Moral Status of Fetuses and Embryos by John A. Mitchell and Scott B. Rae
Ignorance of Fetal Status as a Justification For Abortion by Francis J. Beckwith
Moral Duty to the Unborn and Its Significance by Sidney Callahan
The "Medicalizing" of Abortion Decisions by Thomas Murphy Goodwin
Cultural PerspectivesFeminism and Imaging the Unborn by Camille S. Williams
Sex and Consequences: An Anthropological View by Olivia Vlahos
Personal PerspectivesMotherhood in the 90's: To Have or Have Not by Maria McFadden
Pregnancy Care Centers: Sisterhood is Powerful by Frederica Mathewes-Green
Women Who Abort: Their Reflections on the Unborn by David C. Reardon
Religious PerspectivesWhen Good Men Do Nothing: Reflections From a Modern-Day Burgermeister by Michael Mckenzie
The Catholic Debate on the Moral Status of the Embryo by Tom Poundstone
Legal PerspectivesThe Effective Enforcement of Abortion Law Before Roe v. Wade by Clarke D. Forsythe
Supreme Court Jurisprudence and Prenatal Life by Tom Poundstone
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
BRAD STETSON is Director of The David Institute, a social research group in southern California. He holds a Ph.D. in Social Ethics from the University of Southern California and has written widely on political and religious topics. Brad Stetson lectures in the Religious Studies Department at California State University Long Beach, where he has taught since 1995. He has written widely on religious and social topics, including
Pluralism and Particularity in Religious Belief (Praeger, 1994) and
Human Dignity and Contemporary Liberalism (Praeger, 1998).
BRAD STETSON is director of the David Institute, a social research organization. Stetson received his Ph.D. in Social Ethics from the University of Southern California. His previous books include:
Challenging the Civil Rights Establishment, coauthored by Joseph G. Conti (Praeger, 1993) and
Pluralism and Particularity in Religious Belief (Praeger, 1994).
