Beyond Pro-life and Pro-choice : Moral Diversity in the Abortion Debate

Beyond Pro-Life and Pro-Choice is a gift to all who want to expand their understanding of the religious, moral, and philosophical aspects of the abortion debate. Ethicist Kathy Rudy examines four systems of belief - Catholicism, evangelical Protestantism, feminism, and classical liberalism as expressed in the medical profession - and reveals the role abortion plays in each. She shows why, in each case, ideas, about abortion are unlikely to change - because they emerge from each community's deeply held values and concerns, which vary from community to community. She demonstrates that constructing the abortion debate as a choice between "pro-life" and "pro-choice" has distorted and misrepresented the ways that many people relate to the issue of abortion, and has obscured the diversity of belief both among and within communities and individuals. Finally, she offers a provocative alternative that would allow every community involved to more freely develop and express its views about the morality of abortion.… (more)