Defending Life

When I came into the Church, I accepted that abortion was always wrong because I accepted the authority of the Church that taught me so. The book that first showed me why abortion is wrong and that it can be shown to be wrong without invoking the authority of the Church at all is The Unaborted Socrates: A Dramatic Debate on the Issues Surrounding Abortion, by Peter Kreeft. Despite the long title (Kreeft likes them), it is a very readable and at times even humorous discussion of the issue, featuring a fictional return of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates in dialogue with three fictional pro-choice advocates approaching the question from different angles.

Dr. Kreeft revisited the topic in Three Approaches to Abortion: A Thoughtful and Compassionate Guide to Today's Most Controversial Issue. It is more pointed than the earlier book, but then the problem didn’t get any better during the 19 years between the two books. If you try the other book and find the dialogue format off-putting, you might try this book, only one third of which is in the dialogue format.

The most comprehensive reply to pro-choice arguments I know of is Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice, by Francis Beckwith (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Dr. Beckwith handles it and handles it well.

Finally, Abby Johnson's Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey across the Life Line is the very recently-released true story of Johnson's nine-year career with Planned Parenthood, starting as a volunteer and rising to clinic director, and her dramatic conversion to the cause of life. If you want to know what clinic workers think, how they justify what they do, and which approaches to evangelization and conversion are most effective (prayer and kindness: who would ever have suspected that?), this is the book for you.

After abortion:

Abortion always has at least two victims: the child and the mother. Often there is a third: the father. If your life has been touched by abortion and you need more help than you can get in the confessional, or if you have not yet even gotten to the point of being able to confess it, there is still hope and help for you.

Project Rachel is the Catholic Church’s national ministry for those who have been touched by abortion. The website is http://www.hopeafterabortion.com and their toll-free number is 1-800-5WE-CARE. Further local contact information can be found on the “contact us” portion of their web site.