Here is how I buried the body of my fifth child: I took myself to the emergency room because I was in labor and bleeding. The baby on the ultrasound screen lay still in the curve of my belly, its heart silent. Fetal demise resulting from spontaneous abortion, the medical term for miscarriage. The . . . . Continue Reading »
The overwhelming rejection of the attempt to remove “mother” from the Irish constitution shows that barriers will occasionally fly up when liberalization encroaches. Continue Reading »
The proposed changes to the Irish constitution seem to be inviting Ireland to advance further into an era of cognitive dissonance about motherhood. Continue Reading »
While abortion was a constitutional right, there seemed little reason to wrestle with the issue in depth. One could be pro-life or pro-choice, but in practice this did not affect most individuals’ engagement in the wider life of the nation. That is no longer the case. Continue Reading »
Most people who believe abortion to be wrong believe it to be wrong intrinsically. By contrast, those who do not believe abortion to be wrong make a utilitarian deduction: A child at the wrong time can be a bad thing. Therefore, ending its life can be a good thing. A right to abortion, they believe, . . . . Continue Reading »