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Chicago Tribune
by Eric Zorn
ABORTION DEBATE UNLIKELY TO FIND MIDDLE GROUND

February 13, 2001

Is it true, as I often ruefully observe, that my grandchildren will engage in
exactly the same debates over abortion that I've been engaging in since
junior high? That they will get into the familiar "an embryo should have full
human rights!" "should not!" "should too!" wrangle that divides us as a
nation and is back in the news again in the early days of the Bush presidency?

To explore this possibility, I've invited Nora O'Callaghan into the Rhubarb
Patch. O'Callaghan is director of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago's
Respect Life Office, and the Rhubarb Patch is this column's series of
conversations with advocates that begin in the newspaper and continue in
greater depth on the Internet.

I asked her to start by addressing the question, "What sort of compromise or
civic settlement of the abortion issue, if any, do you see in this nation's
future?"

To Eric Zorn: The resolution of the abortion issue will grow from the same
sources that have advanced all human rights struggles in our country: respect
for the fundamental equality of all human beings; a recognition of the
inherent dignity and inalienable rights held by every human being; and a
generous desire to act in accordance with justice and truth even when doing
so entails sacrifices.

It has taken incredible effort to translate these values into just conditions
for groups who have been historically devalued. For instance, the civil
rights movement has slowly changed attitudes, laws and customs that oppress
African-Americans. There is a growing acknowledgment that everyone benefits
when all racial groups are welcomed into the community of those who are
valued and protected.

The pro-life movement seeks to build on this legacy by including those on the
margins of life, the unborn, the elderly and the physically or mentally
challenged, into the community of our common humanity. A culture of life
shares the burdens of both mothers facing difficulties and their children and
refuses to accept a situation where women feel pressured to choose between
their own future and their child's.

It will take time and effort to build such a culture. Most pro-life work,
comprising about three-fifths of all activities, focuses on providing
alternatives to abortion through thousands of pregnancy help centers. Other
efforts focus on education, prayer, and legislative initiatives. Assistance
to women and men suffering emotionally and spiritually in the aftermath of an
abortion constitutes one of the greatest needs to which the pro-life movement
is increasingly responding.

I don't know how long it will take, but I do believe that these kinds of
efforts will produce a just society where all human beings are valued and
cared for.

To Nora O'Callaghan: To summarize, your answer is "No compromise. This issue
will someday be settled with a total victory for my side."

As a political, technological and social matter I have to disagree: I see no
sign and have no reason to believe that we will ever have an overwhelming
consensus of opinion supporting either extreme on the abortion issue.

Independent of your strong feelings on the matter, you will never persuade
even close to half the public that it should be a punishable offense for,
say, a 13-year-old girl who's been impregnated by her father to have an
early-term abortion.

And, to go to the other extreme, those who hold an absolute pro-choice
position will never persuade more than a handful of zealots that a healthy,
married woman one week from the due date of a healthy baby should be allowed
to terminate that baby's life in the womb because she's decided the whole
parenthood thing isn't for her after all.

In between these polar positions is a vast set of real-life mitigating and
aggravating circumstances related to abortion.

Most people tend to see a continuum, just as our laws do, and plant their
ideological flag somewhere from zero to 40 weeks gestation, with exceptions
for certain circumstances.

Media Coverage 
St. George Pro-Life | Parkview Christian Church