Eugenics in Roe v. Wade
by John Cavanaugh-O’Keefe Editor’s note: this is an excerpt from the book The Roots of Racism and Abortion: An Exploration of Eugenics, pp. 151-153. The 1973 Supreme Court decisions that ended all legal protection of unborn children were based on eugenics. Despite that, comments about the decisions usually focus on privacy and women’s rights,…
How Ableism Led (and Leads) to Abortion
by Sarah Terzo Part 1 of 2; Part 2 is How Euthanasia and Poverty Threaten the Disabled. To be truly pro-life is to value all human beings. People are valuable not because of what we can do but because of what we are: human beings. For pro-lifers, people are not judged by how…
Post-World War II Eugenics
by John Cavanaugh-O’Keefe Editor’s note: this is an excerpt from the book The Roots of Racism and Abortion: An Exploration of Eugenics, pp. 114-116. The dominant figure in American eugenics after World War II was a complex individual, Frederick Osborn (1889-1981). He is credited with reforming eugenics, removing the taint of racism and putting the…
Valentine Friends: Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass
by Carol Crossed These were remarks delivered by Carol Crossed at a February 18, 2018 event at the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, a CLN member group. This week is not only the birthday of Susan B. Anthony, but also the 200th birthday of her good friend Frederick Douglass. Because of illiteracy, the birth…
The Darkest Hour – “Glorifying” War?
by Rachel MacNair All posts represent only the opinion of their authors. We pride ourselves on presenting a diversity of views, and opinions about movies are something people will have wide differences on. This is my own opinion – and only my current opinion at that, easily changed. I recently wrote in Peace…
Three Nonviolent Lessons from Doctor Who
By Andrew Hocking of asyourpoetshavesaid.com Andrew Hocking writes about spirituality in movies, TV, and books, frequently discussing politics and occasionally Doctor Who. While television, and especially science fiction, typically glamorizes violence as a solution to problems, the titular Doctor in Doctor Who continually seeks peaceful resolutions and guides others to do the same. Viewers committed…
Sterilizing the “Unfit”
by John Cavanaugh-O’Keefe Editor’s note: this is an excerpt from the book The Roots of Racism and Abortion: An Exploration of Eugenics, pp. 64-66 In the 1920s, eugenicists in the United States and elsewhere pressed hard for sterilization laws, to give physicians and the heads of institutions the authority to sterilize their patients, with…
Amnesty International’s Blind Spot
by Julia Smucker Human rights watchdog Amnesty International is well known for its advocacy on behalf of vulnerable and marginalized people around the world. Amnesty’s goal is a worthy one, and many of its efforts are to be commended. The organization’s laudable work in defense of human rights makes it all the more unfortunate that…
“Is It Too Late?” 1971 Speech of Fannie Lou Hamer
In honor of Black History Month, we offer a speech by civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977). Fannie Lou Hamer was a leading civil rights activist in the 1960s and 1970s. Among her many accomplishments was co-founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which challenged the right of the all-white segregationist Democratic Party…
Seeking Peaceful Coexistence: The Varied Ways of Supporting a Consistent Life Ethic
by John Whitehead That consistent ethic of life advocates are at odds with more conventional American political categories—conservative, liberal, libertarian—is well recognized. Less often recognized are the ways different consistent life ethic advocates diverge from each other and the tensions this can cause. People can understand the consistent life ethic in different ways and have…