Volume > Issue > Consistently Pro-Choice

Consistently Pro-Choice

GUEST COLUMN

By Michael Pakaluk | March 1987
Michael Pakaluk, a graduate student in philosophy at Harvard, is married and has three sons.

I had a wild and strange dream last night – or at least I think it was a dream. Believe it or not, I dreamt that President Reagan switched his position on abortion and became a dedicated supporter of choice! The amazing thing is how logical it all seemed.

The way I dreamt it was that the President was making a statement to TV cameras from the Oval Office:

“…And so I have concluded that every argument I can consider points me toward a pro-choice stance. It’s the only one consistent for me. For instance, my opponents have criticized me for proposing, in my Strategic Defense Initiative plan, a technological instead of a political solution to the arms race. I have put my faith in science, my critics say, not co-operation, treaties, and goodwill. Well, abortion is likewise an ideal technological solution. It lets us bypass having to deal with or even think about problems like teenage pregnancy, the feminization of poverty, and promiscuity. Instead, can’t we just bring in the physicians with their scalpels and suction machines? The physicians of this country can build a protective net between us and any unwanted children that might try to slip by into our society.

“Oh yes, I know I’ve been criticized too for amassing large stockpiles of nuclear arms. Some have said that it’s immoral to hold civilians hostage with the threat of total annihilation. Well, putting morality aside, let’s just say that, if we are willing, in the national interest, to annihilate women and children overseas, what can keep us from destroying children here if they oppose our interests? Widespread abortion is totally consistent with my policy on nuclear arms.

Enjoyed reading this?

READ MORE! REGISTER TODAY

SUBSCRIBE

You May Also Enjoy

It’s Time the Church Declared the Personhood of the Unborn

With our advanced scientific knowledge of fertilization and fetal development, there is really nothing standing in the way of a definitive doctrinal affirmation.

Briefly: September 2018

Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality... The Maternal Face of God?: Explorations in Catholic Sophiology... Seeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of Abortion... An Introduction to Ethics: A Natural Law Approach

Conveying the Message of Humanae Vitae to the People of Today

Church doctrine regarding contraception is one of the least understood and accepted parts of her conjugal and sexual ethics.