Medicine’s Movement towards Abandonment
by Jim Hewes We trust ourselves to a doctor because we suppose he/she knows his/her profession. We judge they would not act as they do unless the remedy were necessary, and we must rely on their knowledge and skill. Yet both the medical community and the larger society are moving towards a place of…
Work and Life
by Ms. Boomer-ang Claims that having fewer children than one would like and that spending most of the day working away from one’s children (and other dependents) are necessary for the economy and good behavior rule out many occupations that are responsible, are not lazy or idle, and are for some people psychologically enjoyable. Instead,…
The Violence That Didn’t Happen
by Julia Smucker “As long as you can look at them as anything but human, you won’t have any problems.” This is what Richard “Mac” McKinney recalls being told in his Marine Corps training, recounted in the Oscar-nominated documentary short film “Stranger at the Gate.” (You can watch it here.) McKinney describes how this…
The Death Penalty and Abortion: Perspectives on Connections
Quotation collected by Rachel MacNair Helen Prejean Endorsing the book, Consistently Opposing Killing The societal wounds of racism, poverty, and a penchant for using violence to address problems are intimately connected to the death penalty, to war, to the killing of the old and demented, and to the killing of children, unborn and…
Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Full excerpt of the section on Wangari Maathi (1940-2011) from Pro-Life Feminism: Yesterday and Today. (all sections contain an introduction and at least one document) Introduction by Mary Krane Derr Wangari Muta Maathai, globally acclaimed environmentalist, human rights campaigner, feminist, and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, was born in 1940 to a farming…
Isolating Women and Encouraging Jerks
by Rachel MacNair I recently received an email from a fellow Quaker in response to my emails on the availability of insights at prolifequakers.org. I think she made points that are important to address. I mainly focus on her statement: “Preventing a woman who needs one from having an abortion is in many cases…
What Just Happened!?! Becoming Consistent Life Despite Myself, Part 2
by Thad Crouch This is the second part; the first part is: What Just Happened!?! Becoming Consistent Life Despite Myself. Part 1 Early May, 1988. Interstate 65, Alabama A Greyhound bus passenger asked about my “Airborne Infantry HOOAH!” t-shirt. I proudly inform him, “I’m an army infantryman and just graduated airborne…
Comprehending Horror through Animation: The Art of the Anti-War Animated Movie
by John Whitehead Animation fascinates me. Like painters, animators can create images of stunning beauty. Being free from the limitations of human actors or physical locations, animators can also depart from strict realism and create images that are fantastical, metaphorical, or otherwise stylized. Animation’s stylization can allow animated films to deal with darker, more serious…
Act Before We Reach “Midnight”: The Need to Seek a Cease-Fire in Ukraine
by John Whitehead Introduction The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently announced that they had adjusted their “Doomsday Clock,” a symbolic measure of threats to humanity, to 90 seconds to “midnight”—that is, global catastrophe. This current status is the closest to midnight the Doomsday Clock has been in its 75-odd-year history. This dire prediction, the…
The Danger of Coerced Euthanasia: Questions to Ask
by Ms. Boomer-ang Sometimes strong arguments for the Right to Life do not receive the attention they deserve. For example, an important argument against euthanasia and assisted suicide is that people can be coerced into ending their lives in these ways. I was recently reminded of this strong-yet-sometimes-neglected argument when reading a piece criticizing…