Category Archives: Contraception and abortion

sciseekclaimtoken-4f7059467bc85 Over on Slate, a debate is raging about whether the “What if I’d never been born?” argument is a valid line of reasoning in the abortion debate. I understand the argument: I value my life, and if my Mom … Continue reading →

Yesterday Dr. George Tiller was shot down in cold blood as he served as an usher in his own church in Wichita, Kansas. Dr. Tiller was a hero. He was a hero because he helped women who were facing death … Continue reading →

PZ Myers brings up another chestnut from the seemingly endless vault of “pro-life” arguments: From a biology or human embryology textbook in use on an accredited university campus (your own University of Minnesota-Morris campus would be fine), please cite chapter … Continue reading →

The picture, from the August National Geographic, says it all: Shameful.

PZ Myers has a great post explaining the mechanism for Plan B, the emergency contraceptive that is the pro-life bickering point du jour. a spike in LH levels triggers ovulation and progesterone suppresses LH. Hmmm. This suggests an idea. If … Continue reading →

Pro-lifers want to know: when does life begin? Is it at conception? What about birth? Somewhere inbetween? Biologists have trouble defining life, too. Is a virus alive? What about a toenail? The difficulty for biologists is constructing a definition that … Continue reading →

Just got this e-mail from NARAL pro-choice America: South Dakota’s ban is just the beginning. Twelve more states have considered similar bans – Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia are … Continue reading →

A pro-lifer has put up “20 questions” for pro-choicers. Here are my answers. 1. At what point do you think that a human being, with human rights, comes into existence? Is it at birth, or earlier? The first point that … Continue reading →

Alas, A Blog has posted a handy table showing how pro-life positions tend to correspond a different motivation than what they claim — that these positions aren’t consistent with a belief that abortion is murder, but are consistent with a … Continue reading →

First, I just wanted to let readers know that the comments threads are still quite active in two of my posts on the pro-life movement (here and here — I really need to get a “recent comments” plugin set up … Continue reading →

So Mollie Ziegler of the New York Sun has reviewed How the Pro-Choice Movement Saved America, which I also reviewed last week. Let’s take it paragraph by paragraph: NARAL Pro-Choice New York’s Cristina Page writes a book that fails to … Continue reading →

I’m having quite a debate with “Deep Thought” in the comments about some of the finer points of abortion. I don’t want to pick on Deep Thought in particular, but I have noticed a few things. Pro-lifers like to think … Continue reading →

I’ve just been reading through the comments on this post. Clearly there are lots of people who believe abortion is murder. How can it not be, one commenter asks, if you’re destroying a person with brainwaves and a beating heart? … Continue reading →

I’ve argued for a long time on Word Munger that the “pro-life” movement is really an anti-sex movement. I think most Americans realize that the anti-abortion aspect of the “pro-life” campaign isn’t so much about preserving life as it is … Continue reading →

Jane Galt’s at it again: Back in the good old days, she argues, women got abortions so their lives wouldn’t be destroyed from the shame of being unwed mothers. By contrast, we are now having abortions so that we can … Continue reading →

As if I haven’t ranted enough about the abortion debate (which I prefer to refer to as the pro/anti sex debate), I want to rant a little more. Now Jane Galt’s got a long piece about why sex education isn’t … Continue reading →

William Saletan wants pro-choicers to declare war on abortion. William Saletan is wrong. First off, where do we get off declaring war on a concept? You declare war on a country, not a concept (and no one even bothers with … Continue reading →