PRO-LIFE READING LIST: A little while ago, The Rat asked if I had any ideas about what people should read if they want to understand the pro-life position and see the best possible case(s) for it. She had three suggestions, which reflect the way she became pro-life:

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov. This book hammers home the reality of tragedy. I agree with Ratty that the abortion-rights position is often motivated by a reluctance to accept the existence of tragic conflicts–it just can’t be true that the world is so awful that a mother’s interests or intense desires could ever conflict with her baby’s interests. And so in order to avoid recognizing the conflict, we convince ourselves that one party does not exist. The child can’t even speak, so our work of denying his or her humanity is made easier. …Not to mention, TBK is amazing and you should read it for its own reasons.

Maggie Gallagher, Enemies of Eros, especially “Abortion and the Children of Choice.” People are probably sick of hearing me recommend this book. You should read it. The second and third sections are the best. If I could give just one piece of writing to supporters of legal abortion, it would be “Abortion and the Children of Choice.”

Frederica Mathewes-Green, Real Choices: Listening to Women, Looking for Alternatives to Abortion. Basically Mathewes-Green’s interviews with women suffering post-abortive grief: What led them to abort? What would have prevented their abortions? This is a heartfelt and very practical book, which includes chapters with advice for pregnancy center counselors. You can read two chapters from the book here and here. …I’ll add that several of Mathewes-Green’s essays on abortion are much worth your time–for example, “The Heart of the Matter” and “Her Flesh and Blood” (be forewarned, I can’t read this without crying and I am not very tear-y).

It’s probably no accident that both Gallagher and Mathewes-Green–like the Rat, and like me–are women who used to support legal abortion.

Here are some places where I’ve blogged about abortion: the moral status of the fetus, parts one and two. Response to the claim that abortion makes women equal. (For those who remember the long “babies: they’re what’s for dinner!” debate between me and Julian Sanchez, I’m not linking it here b/c it’s fairly esoteric and High-Philosophical, not really necessary for most people trying to figure this stuff out.)

Find a pro-life pregnancy center in your area.

The absolute best online resource I know of for post-abortive women is the After Abortion blog. Emily, who runs the site, is pro-life, but she includes links to many post-abortion forums and sites, several of which make no claims about the moral nature of abortion. They’re for women who want to discuss their experiences without having to deal with political or moral debates, or other people’s agendas. Emily also links to fiction and poetry about the experience of abortion, and new, peer-reviewed research on possible health risks (including mental health) of abortion.

A moving, powerful piece for Christians.

For the legal issues, honestly, the best thing to do is just read the Supreme Court decisions that brought us to the legal position we’re in today: Roe v. Wade.

The section of Doe v. Bolton that makes pro-lifers so leery of “health exceptions.” It’s obviously true that emotional, psychological, and familial circumstances affect health; it’s also obviously true that if abortion is allowed for emotional, psychological, and familial reasons, uh, which reasons are left? “Health” then covers virtually every reason anybody might abort, ever.

Planned Parenthood v. Casey a.k.a. Law to End All Law: everybody. Main opinion. Scalia’s dissent.

Stenberg v. Carhart, the partial-birth abortion case: everybody. Main opinion. Kennedy’s dissent (includes an abortionist’s description of the procedure). Thomas’s dissent. Scalia’s dissent.

There’s also a federalism issue, which I personally have not followed enough to feel like I understand. The Corner and Ampersand are good places to go to follow that debate.

I should note that the law is, like, not the only, or even the most important, thing to work on if you do read these books and whatnot and become convinced that abortion is unjust. In Frederica Mathewes-Green’s words, “[I]f we miraculously padlocked all the abortion clinics tomorrow, without making any changes in our support system, all we’d have is women banging on the locked doors and crying.” The law is a big deal; but there are a hundred things you can do to oppose abortion before you even get around to law-related stuff. So I guess I just want to encourage everyone who reads this site and supports abortion to take a good long look at the stuff I’ve linked; and to encourage those who already oppose abortion to try to do some of those hundred things. This is a social justice issue if ever there was one.