connecting issues


Abortion Supporters Connect Abortion to War

Compiled by Rachel MacNair. If you know of other good quotations that fit this theme, please send them to CLNeditors@googlegroups.com   Dr. Frank Behrend, M.D., abortion doctor tape-recorded speech November 7, 1977 Reference was made to my agreeing that abortion is taking a human life, which it is.  However, let us remember that war is…


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…


January 22, Day of Horror & Hope: Reflections 2022

  Rachel MacNair The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) bans the use, possession, testing, and transfer of nuclear weapons under international law. I had been following its progress for some time, of course. I would get word this nation had ratified and that one had and we were getting close to the…


Abortion and Other Issues of Life: Connecting the Dots

by Father Jim Hewes Abortion is not only a foundational life issue, but also is analogous with the other life issues. War: A bomber pilot looks through a scope to target objects (the enemy) from a distance and destroy them; in the same way the abortionist looks through a “scope” to obliterate from a distance…


Elections 2020: Three Consistent-Life Approaches

by Rachel MacNair The Consistent Life Network takes no stand on specific candidates. This is my own personal take on how people who support the consistent life ethic view the U.S. presidential election of November 3, 2020. Three Categories Category 1: Trump is Out of the Question; Biden is Bearable People in this category are…


Is Abortion Different from Other Violence?

by Julia Smucker Four Ways of Isolating One Issue Any advocate of the consistent life ethic (CLE) can expect to encounter people who share their pro-nonviolence position on certain issues but depart from it on others. And among those working on various peace and life issues, including those of us who adhere to the CLE,…


Stewardship and the Consistent Life Ethic

by Tom Taylor Alarming reports about climate change and ecological damage along with John Whitehead’s recent blog post on climate change have led me to thinking about stewardship. The principle of stewardship, it seems to me, is inherent in the Consistent Life Ethic (CLE), has great value as a positive expression of CLE in practice,…


Rehumanize International – 6th Annual Conference

The 6th annual conference of our member group, Rehumanize International, happened October 18-20, 2019, in New Orleans. Consistent Life Network was a co-sponsor, and several of us attended. Sessions offered from CLN officers included: “Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress, Moral Injury, & the CLE” (Rachel MacNair) and “Apocalypse Never: Why We Must Reject Nuclear Weapons” (John Whitehead)….


Win-Lose is a Mirage

by Bill Samuel, Consistent Life Network Board member As I was taking a morning nature walk, I was thinking of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s insight in Braiding Sweetgrass of people loving the land and the land loving us back. The reciprocity is vital regardless of whether you are comfortable with using the emotional term “love” to…


Abby Johnson Remembers Dan Berrigan

Both Abby Johnson and Dan Berrigan are Consistent Life endorsers. Abby Johnson  ministers to abortion clinic workers to help them leave the industry and heal through her organization And Then There Were None and her book, Unplanned, recently adapted as a feature film, which tells the story of her conversion from Planned Parenthood Clinic Director…