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Abortion Call for Papers Colleges and Universities University Faculty for Life

2012 UFL Scholarly Achievement Award & Essay Contest

University Faculty for Life is now accepting submissions from college or university students for its Scholarly Achievement Award. Students may submit work in three categories: Creative Writing, Literary Criticism, or Research. Work submitted in any category must demonstrate the application of a life-affirming perspective on abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, or related issues. Winners in each category […]

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Abortion Bioethics Philosophy

Waldron’s new article on moral absolutes

Jeremy Waldron has a new piece, What Are Moral Absolutes Life?, posted on SSRN. Exploration of this question is particularly important if we are to successfully persuade people that “do not kill the innocent” should be the law of the land, and that the unborn are among the innocent who must not be killed.

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Abortion Conscience protection Constitutionality Court cases

ACLU attacks KS law protecting consumers from forced insurance coverage of abortion

The ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri has sued Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger to stop implementation of a new law (KS House Bill 2075) that prohibits insurance coverage for elective abortions, unless coverage is limited to abortions procedures “necessary to save the life of the mother.” Individuals who wish to have abortion included in […]

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Abortion Feminism Opinion polls Politics

Are women legislators more liberal on abortion?

The Culture Wars Meet State Politics: Gender, Representation and Abortion Policy provides an interesting analysis of the fact that the number of women in a state legislature increases the likelihood that a state will have more liberal abortion policies. The authors find a difference in the manner in which women candidates are recruited in the […]

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Abortion Bioethics Chronic pain Fetal pain Philosophy

Pain as Fact and Heuristic

If you are like me, you aren’t sure what “heuristic” means. According to multiple sources, it is an experience-based technique for problem solving. In her new article,Pain as Fact and Heuristic: How Pain Neuroimaging Illuminates Moral Dimensions of Law, Professor Amanda C. Pustilnik argues against a simple understanding of physical pain as a justification for […]

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Abortion Constitutionality Court cases Late-term abortion Politics

How the Court Made Political Compromise Impossible

Randy Beck has just posted a new piece entitled Fueling Controversy on SSRN. He responds to a recent Yale Law Journal article by Linda Greenhouse and Reva Siegel, Before (and After) Roe v. Wade: New Questions about Backlash, in which they question the received wisdom that the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade generated […]

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Abortion Philosophy

Frank Beckwith’s commentary on Thomson’s “A Defense of Abortion”

Here is a link to Frank Beckwith’s recent column discussing Judith Jarvis Thomson’s famous article entitled “A Defense of Abortion.” http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/thomsons-defense-of-abortion-at-forty.html In the article, Thomson presented the violinist analogy.  Frank’s discussion in this column  criticizes Thomson’s analogy for “not really granting the pro-life view of persoonhood.” He concludes this column with this paragraph:  “Because of these institutions and ways […]

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Abortion Bioethics Contraception Health Care Reform Philosophy Politics Sexual practices

Contraception, health, and desire

Andrew Haines makes basically the same point apropos of Tollefson’s essay as I did the other day. And here’s just one more way of putting it that occurred to me this morning. I think it’s safe to say that we have a natural desire for health (and even a natural inclination to health – I […]

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Abortion Conferences Conscience protection Contraception International Medical schools Nursing schools Politics Professional education United Nations Women's health

Matercare International’s 8th Worldwide Conference Soon

Registration is still open for Matercare International’s Eighth Worldwide Conference. The conference theme is the “Dignity of Mothers and Obstetricians-Who on Earth Cares.” It will be held August 31-September 4, 2011 at the Instituto Maria Bambina, Rome. The conference schedule can be found here, and registration forms here. Matercare International is an international group of […]

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Abortion

NY Times magazine story on “selective reduction”

The New York Times magazine has a story entitled “The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy,” http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/14/magazine/the-two-minus-one-pregnancy.html?_r=1, which deals with “selective reduction. Here is a commentary from LifeNews. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/08/10/new-york-times-touts-selective-reduction-as-a-half-abortion/ Richard M.