Recently commentators have been going back and forth about Pope Francis’s comments that seemed to some to downplay the Church’s position on some issues, such as abortion, contraception, homosexuality, and divorce. What I found bizarre was the assertion by some people that all the issues the pope mentioned were “pelvic issues,” or “pelvic zone issues,” implying, for instance, that those who were concerned about the effect of the pope’s remarks on the pro-life movement were obsessed with sex. An example can be seen in this Chicago Tribune commentary by Eric Zorn.
Abortion is not a pelvic issue or even a pelvic zone. It is a life issue. It is only accidental (in the philosophical sense) that abortion occurs in a reproductive organ or that it follows a sexual act. It is no more a pelvic issue that infanticide or euthanasia.