Beyond the Abortion Wars: A Way Forward for a New Generation

by Charles C. Camosy

Overview

Cuts through the mass confusion surrounding abortion and lays out solid common ground

The abortion debate in the United States is confused. Ratings-driven media coverage highlights extreme views and creates the illusion that we are stuck in a hopeless stalemate. In this book Charles Camosy argues that our polarized public discourse hides the fact that most Americans actually agree on the major issues at stake in abortion morality and law.

Unpacking the complexity of the abortion issue, Camosy shows that placing oneself on either side of the typical polarizations -- pro-life vs. pro-choice, liberal vs. conservative, Democrat vs. Republican -- only serves to further confuse the debate and limits our ability to have fruitful dialogue. Camosy then proposes a new public policy that he believes is consistent with the beliefs of the broad majority of Americans and supported by the best ideas and arguments about abortion from both secular and religious sources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802871282
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	03/12/2015
Pages:	221
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Charles C. Camosy is associate professor of theological and social ethics at Fordham University. He is also the author of Peter Singer and Christian Ethics: Beyond Polarization and For Love of Animals: Christian Ethics, Consistent Action, which was featured on The Dish and in The New York Times.

Table of Contents

Foreword Melinda Henneberger viii

Preface and Acknowledgments xii

Introduction: Is There Anything Left to Say? 1

1 Shifting Abortion Politics 16

2 Who or What Is the Fetus? 41

3 Aiming at Death or Ceasing to Aid? 59

4 The Challenge of Public Policy 85

5 Abortion and Women 110

6 A Way Forward 130

Conclusion: Beyond Polarization 159

Notes 168

Bibliography 191

Index 204

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal
"Readers interested in bioethics and public policy will find this a valuable source of information and arguments on abortion."

Ethika Politika
"Beyond the Abortion Wars really is a valuable contribution to the way forward, past 1970s binary, partisan perspectives often entrenched in political narratives that separate mothers from children, men from women, and conservatives from liberals. . . . An accessible but challenging and provocative book that everyone with an interest in abortion ought to read."

Gospel Coalition
"Wrestles not only with the morality of abortion, but also the social structures that make abortion so common."

National Catholic Reporter
"Camosy consistently, determinedly, and even with an occasional touch of delectatio morosa, challenges each and all on this issue about which we all think we know what we believe. In any field of controversy, there is a 'must read' book. . . . On the issue of abortion, Camosy's book instantly becomes the must read text if one wishes to seriously engage the issue, or to be taken seriously."

Sidney Callahan
-- Hastings Center Distinguished Scholar
“This accessible work may well transform the American abortion debate. Charles Camosy gives full weight to both pro-choice feminist concerns and pro-life feminism. . . . An excellent book for everyone concerned with the questions surrounding abortion.”

David P. Gushee, author of The Sacredness of Human Life
-- Mercer University
“This book offers a deeply significant new proposal in moral theology and public policy in regard to the contested issue of abortion. Cutting through the fog of incoherence and inanity that characterizes our contemporary ‘discussion’ of abortion, Charles Camosy clarifies the key issues with his focus on the moral status and well-being of both women and prenatal children. . . . Camosy again demonstrates his utter fearlessness in addressing the most important moral issues of our time.”

Jason T. Eberl
-- Semler Endowed Chair for Medical Ethics, Marian University
“Well-argued and highly accessible. . . . Giving more than just a theoretical analysis of the complex subject of abortion, Camosy offers practical guidelines for a balanced and reasonable pro-life ethic that acknowledges where those on both sides of this perennial debate are right.”

Richard W. Garnett
-- University of Notre Dame Law School
“For too long, our arguments and policies relating to abortion have been driven and distorted by the interests of parties and partisans. In this admirably charitable book, Camosy invites us to view the issue less in individualistic or libertarian ways and more in terms of solidarity, flourishing, and community. With both humility and urgency, he proposes a way forward that aims not merely for electoral advantage but instead highlights the dignity and worth of the marginalized and the vulnerable at all stages of life.”

Rev. Wm. Michael Mulvey, STL, DD
-- Bishop of Corpus Christi
“The abortion debate has created unprecedented division among people of the same country, within families, and even within the Church. In keeping with Pope Francis’s call for open dialogue among peoples, Camosy challenges us to open doors to greater understanding of the abortion debate on multiple sides of the issue. Courageously pointing the way toward a renewed respect and love for all human life, Camosy’s proposal promises to foster greater unity and communion on a large scale.”

Karen Swallow Prior
-- author of Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More -- Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist
“Beyond the Abortion Wars will challenge the intellectually honest on both sides of the abortion debate as well as those in the middle. With extensive research, nuanced reasoning, and humane insights, Camosy undertakes the necessary but seemingly impossible task of dismantling the current stalemate on the issue -- and then forges a way forward. This book is a game-changer.”

William Saletan, author of Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War
-- National Correspondent at Slate.com
“Many of us who support the right to abortion have challenged pro-lifers to put their money where their mouth is -- on equal pay, pregnancy discrimination, parental leave, health care, and child care. Camosy here does all that and more."

From the Publisher

04/01/2015
Camosy (theology, Fordham Univ.; For Love of Animals) argues that the polarization between pro-choice and pro-life positions on abortion can be overcome. The trend in popular thinking, he suggests, has moved away from abortion on demand, but by no means do most people favor a total ban on the procedure. Camosy maintains that philosophical arguments support what he takes to be the emerging dominant view: the fetus has a right to existence because it has a natural potential to human life. As such, direct killing of the fetus is, in general, morally wrong. (However, a pregnancy owing to sexual assault or one in which the mother's life is at stake are exceptions.) Camosy favors a broad program of aid to women through government programs in order to alleviate the burden a pregnancy often imposes. He contends that the plan he favors (restrictions on abortion combined with aid to women) will do more to help women than unlimited access to abortion and provocatively suggests that it is men, not women, who benefit from liberal policies. VERDICT Readers interested in bioethics and public policy will find this a valuable source of information and arguments on abortion; it compares favorably with Christopher Kaczor's The Ethics of Abortion and is likely to be viewed, though, as an intervention on the pro-life side rather than as the compromise the author presents it as being.—David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., OH

Library Journal

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