WEBVTT - Timeless Wisdom: Abortion: The Case For Compromise 0:00:21.500 --> 0:00:25.820 Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Here thousands of 0:00:25.860 --> 0:00:29.460 hours of Dennis's lectures courses in classic radio programs. Had 0:00:29.500 --> 0:00:39.580 to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to Dennisprager dot com. 0:00:39.900 --> 0:00:43.860 Okay, my friends, I have never, in twenty one years 0:00:43.900 --> 0:00:49.380 of lecturing, spoken publicly on abortion. You may understand why. 0:00:49.740 --> 0:00:54.780 In about an hour this may be the last time 0:00:55.060 --> 0:01:00.459 for another twenty one years. Stick a lot of preparation emotionally, 0:01:00.500 --> 0:01:06.420 intellectually and morally, and I have good news for you. 0:01:06.940 --> 0:01:11.819 I think I have a I think it will help 0:01:11.860 --> 0:01:18.020 you because I do have I have an answer. I 0:01:18.020 --> 0:01:21.260 don't have the answer that much kutzpook, but I have 0:01:21.300 --> 0:01:28.620 an answer, an answer which will not satisfy either extreme 0:01:28.980 --> 0:01:35.459 and on no issue is my self definition of centrist 0:01:35.820 --> 0:01:40.780 passionate centrist as accurate as the issue of abortion. I 0:01:40.820 --> 0:01:45.900 am absolutely equally distant from the right and the left 0:01:46.100 --> 0:01:50.100 on this issue. I am the perfect person to talk 0:01:50.140 --> 0:01:54.340 about abortion. I have zip agenda. I don't agree with 0:01:54.460 --> 0:02:00.340 either of them at all. And the irony is when 0:02:00.460 --> 0:02:03.900 I will present to you what those positions are and 0:02:03.900 --> 0:02:07.860 what a middle position could be. You'll, probably most of 0:02:07.900 --> 0:02:12.459 you will probably identify with the middle position. Certainly, poll 0:02:12.579 --> 0:02:17.620 after Poland America has revealed that most Americans hold a 0:02:17.780 --> 0:02:23.780 fully centrist position, a position which I will describe in 0:02:23.780 --> 0:02:27.179 a moment. Before that, let me just give you two 0:02:27.220 --> 0:02:30.980 book bibliography for your interest. Though there is a huge 0:02:31.060 --> 0:02:35.380 library of books on abortion, there is one short masterpiece 0:02:35.540 --> 0:02:38.740 written by a professor of law at Harvard. This woman 0:02:38.780 --> 0:02:44.420 has written something brilliant, Abortion and Divorce in Western Law. 0:02:45.420 --> 0:02:51.820 It's a Harvard paperback. Quite aside from her what the 0:02:51.900 --> 0:02:57.100 evidence she brings and her own I think highly illuminating thoughts, 0:02:57.740 --> 0:03:03.540 it's just fascinating and easily read, okay. The other one 0:03:04.020 --> 0:03:09.459 is scholarly work which is a classic of Judaica Marital relations, 0:03:09.620 --> 0:03:14.460 birth control, and Abortion in Jewish Law by David Feldman. 0:03:15.460 --> 0:03:18.220 It's been out for years. I read it in college, 0:03:18.980 --> 0:03:21.220 so and I don't even think of is new. Then 0:03:22.980 --> 0:03:25.900 those are two that I would bring to just for 0:03:26.020 --> 0:03:31.620 your own edification. The two extremes are. The left extreme 0:03:32.540 --> 0:03:34.220 is a woman can do what she wants with her 0:03:34.300 --> 0:03:39.460 own body, to use their own rhetoric. The right extreme 0:03:39.740 --> 0:03:48.340 is that abortion is murdered. The reason that the left 0:03:48.380 --> 0:03:51.660 one I characterize as an extreme is because it reduces 0:03:51.700 --> 0:03:57.180 the fetus to a worthless piece of appendage to a woman. 0:03:58.500 --> 0:04:00.500 The statement a woman can do what she wants with 0:04:00.540 --> 0:04:06.820 her own body, which legally is a fact. A woman can, 0:04:07.100 --> 0:04:10.180 after all, mutilate herself. She can cut her fingers off. 0:04:10.940 --> 0:04:13.420 There is no law against the woman cutting her fingers 0:04:13.460 --> 0:04:17.620 off or tattooing her body. To give a more innocuous 0:04:17.659 --> 0:04:21.539 example in and of itself, a woman certainly can do 0:04:21.620 --> 0:04:24.979 what she wants with her own body. The question is 0:04:25.140 --> 0:04:28.099 this her own body, the same way a decayed tooth 0:04:28.180 --> 0:04:33.619 is her body. The statement that a woman can do 0:04:33.700 --> 0:04:36.419 what she wants with her own body is equivalent to 0:04:36.500 --> 0:04:41.620 saying that the fetus the unborn. Call it what you wish, 0:04:41.980 --> 0:04:44.460 and I don't have a preference on what term we use. 0:04:46.300 --> 0:04:51.540 Is the moral equivalent of a decayed tooth. A woman 0:04:51.580 --> 0:04:55.220 has a decayed tooth, she removes it. The society have 0:04:55.300 --> 0:04:56.940 any right to tell a woman what to do with 0:04:56.980 --> 0:04:59.740 her teeth, of course not so why do we have 0:04:59.780 --> 0:05:01.460 any right to tell a woman what she should do 0:05:01.500 --> 0:05:05.180 with her fetus? With her unborn? It's the same. That's 0:05:05.220 --> 0:05:08.980 the way the argument works. When I've debated that point 0:05:09.300 --> 0:05:12.100 with people, to the left of me. They've gotten annoyed. 0:05:13.460 --> 0:05:17.780 They get annoyed, but they don't have an answer. That's 0:05:17.860 --> 0:05:20.260 what doing what you want with your own body means, 0:05:20.420 --> 0:05:25.940 means the fetus is identical to a decayed tooth. I 0:05:25.980 --> 0:05:30.099 appreciated when one gentleman who took this position on a 0:05:30.140 --> 0:05:34.500 TV show TV debate that we had, said, you're right that. 0:05:34.700 --> 0:05:37.660 I'll be honest, that's exactly how I view a fetus 0:05:37.940 --> 0:05:43.460 like a decayed tooth. Okay, what at least I appreciated 0:05:43.500 --> 0:05:46.780 the intellectual honesty. I don't appreciate the position, but I 0:05:46.820 --> 0:05:50.700 appreciated the honesty. What I don't appreciate is someone who 0:05:50.740 --> 0:05:52.380 says a woman can do what she wants with her 0:05:52.420 --> 0:05:57.339 own body. Then you tell the person what that means, 0:05:57.460 --> 0:05:59.580 and they say, no, I don't look at it that way. 0:05:59.980 --> 0:06:02.820 But then don't use that rhetoric. You can't have it 0:06:02.860 --> 0:06:07.780 both ways. And of course logic itself tells you it's 0:06:07.820 --> 0:06:10.940 not possible. It's not your body. It's in your body. 0:06:12.900 --> 0:06:16.500 It's the proof is that if you want the child, 0:06:16.620 --> 0:06:19.860 you would never say it's your body. Nobody goes over 0:06:19.900 --> 0:06:22.740 to a pregnant wie who wants to give birth and says, hey, 0:06:22.780 --> 0:06:27.779 how's your body? Of course not they say how's the child? 0:06:28.300 --> 0:06:33.940 How's the kid? Nobody even says how's the fetus? They 0:06:33.940 --> 0:06:37.380 say how's the child? Or how's the Baby's the baby kicking? 0:06:37.940 --> 0:06:40.339 Did you hear the baby? Did you get a sonogram 0:06:40.380 --> 0:06:45.339 of the baby. We use rhetoric that we like for 0:06:45.420 --> 0:06:48.180 our own position. Jerry Folwell made me aware of this 0:06:48.580 --> 0:06:51.099 in a public dialogue. I give him credit for that. 0:06:51.980 --> 0:06:54.340 I always try to remember the sources of good points 0:06:54.340 --> 0:06:57.700 that I hear said. When a woman wants the child, 0:06:57.740 --> 0:07:00.540 she calls it a child. When she doesn't, she calls 0:07:00.580 --> 0:07:05.540 it a fetus. It's the same exact thing, and it's 0:07:05.540 --> 0:07:08.060 the same thing here. It's her body when she doesn't 0:07:08.100 --> 0:07:10.540 want it. It's not our body when she does want it. 0:07:11.380 --> 0:07:14.220 So let's not fool ourselves. It's a radical position that 0:07:14.300 --> 0:07:19.140 makes a fetus worthless tissue. You can't get left of 0:07:19.180 --> 0:07:22.220 that position. That's why I call it an extreme left position. 0:07:24.020 --> 0:07:28.700 Pro choice is not an extreme left position. A woman 0:07:28.820 --> 0:07:30.860 can do what she wants with her own body is 0:07:31.260 --> 0:07:34.820 an extreme left position. That's the point that I wanted 0:07:34.860 --> 0:07:37.660 to make clear here. At the other end is the 0:07:37.700 --> 0:07:41.900 other extreme beyond which you can't go. It's murder. It's 0:07:42.180 --> 0:07:46.700 morally equivalent to shooting an adult and killing the person, 0:07:47.260 --> 0:07:51.700 and murdering the person. I have problems with that, for 0:07:51.780 --> 0:07:54.420 reasons that I will come to later. I want to 0:07:54.460 --> 0:08:03.220 start first with the problem of the left position. I 0:08:03.300 --> 0:08:08.060 told you that most people have a middle position. I'd 0:08:08.100 --> 0:08:10.580 like to read to you what Pole after Pole has 0:08:10.580 --> 0:08:15.820 demonstrated in America, and I fully support. I am absolutely 0:08:15.900 --> 0:08:20.060 with these middle with the rest of Americans. Here is 0:08:20.100 --> 0:08:23.660 this Profet, Sir Glendon, this woman writing. It is not 0:08:23.820 --> 0:08:27.540 particularly difficult to ascertain where the public stands on abortion, 0:08:28.540 --> 0:08:33.780 since the three principal surveys, National Fertility Studies, Gallop, and 0:08:34.020 --> 0:08:39.300 National Opinion Research Center have exhibited major similarities over many years, 0:08:40.340 --> 0:08:43.740 both before and after Roe versus Wade. That's the famous, 0:08:44.300 --> 0:08:48.179 some will say infamous, nineteen seventy three court decision allowing 0:08:48.220 --> 0:08:54.940 abortion on demand. Majorities consistently around fifty five percent have 0:08:55.060 --> 0:09:00.620 been opposed to its major innovation, elective abortion, and to 0:09:00.780 --> 0:09:04.260 much of the content of Roe and other abortion decisions. 0:09:04.660 --> 0:09:09.260 At the same time, majorities have consistently opposed a total 0:09:09.300 --> 0:09:13.380 ban on abortion and believe that the law should specify 0:09:13.460 --> 0:09:18.740 the circumstances under which it is permissible. They strongly approve 0:09:18.820 --> 0:09:22.220 abortion if the woman's health is in danger, and disapprove 0:09:22.260 --> 0:09:26.020 it if it is sought for no other reason than 0:09:26.060 --> 0:09:30.460 that the woman does not want the child. Majorities women 0:09:30.940 --> 0:09:36.940 more than men, disapprove of abortion after the first trimester. 0:09:38.060 --> 0:09:42.580 Majorities believe that human life begins before birth, with men 0:09:42.820 --> 0:09:46.340 more likely to see life beginning later than women do, 0:09:48.420 --> 0:09:50.699 which is going to be a very important part here, 0:09:51.300 --> 0:09:53.740 which when I talk about whether or not it's a 0:09:53.780 --> 0:09:59.980 women's issue. One other point with regard to the public, 0:10:05.940 --> 0:10:10.140 the way she summarized it is perfect. Although they want 0:10:10.179 --> 0:10:15.140 abortion to be legally available in some circumstances, this is 0:10:15.220 --> 0:10:17.820 most people she's speaking about. They do not wish for 0:10:17.940 --> 0:10:22.700 themselves or want to confer upon others a fundamental right 0:10:23.420 --> 0:10:28.940 to dispose of developing life. Developing life is a new phrase. 0:10:28.980 --> 0:10:31.460 I had never heard it termed that way. I think 0:10:31.500 --> 0:10:34.300 that that is about as honest a way of putting it, 0:10:34.420 --> 0:10:39.700 not human and not fetus, but developing life. But anyway, 0:10:39.700 --> 0:10:43.940 that's just a secondary point. Most Americans are in the middle. 0:10:44.380 --> 0:10:46.700 Let me define, let me put it in my terms, 0:10:47.260 --> 0:10:49.620 because this is where I stand, so you'll know what 0:10:49.780 --> 0:10:56.660 the outset. When I am asked on the radio, which 0:10:56.700 --> 0:10:59.579 is all the time, what is my stand on abortion? 0:11:00.060 --> 0:11:03.660 My answer is I'm pro choice and anti most abortions, 0:11:05.460 --> 0:11:09.780 which perfectly alienates me from ninety eight percent of the 0:11:09.820 --> 0:11:15.660 people listening who want either one of the side. Now, actually, 0:11:15.740 --> 0:11:18.660 it doesn't alienate me from ninety eight percent. If I'm 0:11:18.740 --> 0:11:20.740 right that the majority agrees with me. It does and 0:11:20.780 --> 0:11:23.940 alienate me from more than fifty percent, but it certainly 0:11:23.940 --> 0:11:26.620 annoys the left and the right. The right want me 0:11:26.700 --> 0:11:30.700 to say I'm pro life or anti abortion, anti choice. 0:11:31.140 --> 0:11:33.340 The others want to hear me say pro choice and 0:11:33.460 --> 0:11:38.300 end the sentence. But I can't end the sentence an effect, 0:11:38.420 --> 0:11:41.820 I am for allowing women to do something that, in 0:11:41.900 --> 0:11:48.220 many cases I believe is immoral. That has been my 0:11:48.340 --> 0:11:53.979 position for years. It's crystallized through well not what's crystallized. 0:11:54.460 --> 0:11:57.060 What has become clear to me through this research for 0:11:57.140 --> 0:12:01.300 this course is that there's a solution. I've always known 0:12:01.340 --> 0:12:03.939 the dilemma that I want the middle of the road done, 0:12:03.980 --> 0:12:05.740 But how do you do the middle of the road. 0:12:06.780 --> 0:12:09.140 And if I'd have only known this earlier, I would 0:12:09.179 --> 0:12:13.500 have been way ahead of the game, and unfortunately I didn't. 0:12:13.620 --> 0:12:18.300 I should have read this book ten years ago. In Europe, 0:12:18.340 --> 0:12:23.300 they have a good answer, ladies and gentlemen, I learned, 0:12:23.780 --> 0:12:31.340 which I am either I've either been inordinately ignorant or 0:12:31.420 --> 0:12:35.939 if not, I am shocked at how we in America, 0:12:36.500 --> 0:12:39.740 including people like me who are very well informed, have 0:12:39.820 --> 0:12:48.100 been so uninformed about the European solution to this very dilemma. HM, no, 0:12:48.380 --> 0:12:53.140 it is. It is absolutely remarkable to me. After all, 0:12:53.220 --> 0:12:56.780 my friends, I don't think anybody here could argue that 0:12:56.820 --> 0:13:06.660 the United States is less socially conscious than West Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden. 0:13:07.580 --> 0:13:12.620 If anything, it's Western European countries, especially the northern countries, 0:13:12.660 --> 0:13:18.020 that Americans look to for social legislation that's called progressive. Now, 0:13:18.100 --> 0:13:21.579 let me tell you something. The United States Roe versus 0:13:21.620 --> 0:13:28.620 Wade and since has been by far the most radical 0:13:29.100 --> 0:13:33.220 in terms of abortion rights in the world. There is 0:13:33.340 --> 0:13:37.620 nothing close to Roe v. Wade in the world. The 0:13:37.740 --> 0:13:42.380 United States is alone in the way it treats the 0:13:42.420 --> 0:13:47.140 issue of abortion, the radical way in which it terms 0:13:47.260 --> 0:13:49.860 the entire debate, that it is a woman doing what 0:13:49.900 --> 0:13:52.300 she wants with her own body, that it is a 0:13:52.340 --> 0:13:55.740 matter of privacy, that it is a matter of rights 0:13:55.780 --> 0:14:01.900 to abortion. Those three most common statements are unique to America. 0:14:02.500 --> 0:14:06.780 The debate is never phrased that way. Let alone solved 0:14:06.780 --> 0:14:12.179 that way in Western Europe. Why America is alone? I'm 0:14:12.220 --> 0:14:15.460 going to deal with why has it happened that way? 0:14:15.179 --> 0:14:17.860 But that's a secondary issue to the fact that you 0:14:17.860 --> 0:14:20.820 should know this, that we are alone, that there are 0:14:20.820 --> 0:14:24.260 different solutions that are much better. We don't have a solution. 0:14:24.780 --> 0:14:30.780 We have gone to one extreme. You want it, get it? Now? 0:14:30.820 --> 0:14:34.860 What have they done? What has Europe done? France offers 0:14:34.940 --> 0:14:40.340 a model that I'd like to like to read to 0:14:40.420 --> 0:14:52.140 you about. In France, since nineteen seventy five, abortion has 0:14:52.180 --> 0:14:55.260 been available up to the end of the tenth week 0:14:55.300 --> 0:15:00.700 of pregnancy to any woman quote whose condition places her 0:15:01.100 --> 0:15:07.460 in a situation of distress unquote. That's the law in 0:15:07.540 --> 0:15:13.660 France for twenty five years. Distress is not defined, and 0:15:13.780 --> 0:15:17.820 the statute makes the woman herself the sole judge of 0:15:17.860 --> 0:15:22.780 whether she is in it. No doctor or bureaucrat needs 0:15:22.780 --> 0:15:28.100 certify anything regarding her state. Thus, this is where Glendon 0:15:28.180 --> 0:15:30.980 is so terrific, because she explains what all this is about. 0:15:32.060 --> 0:15:35.420 If all one is interested in is how easily an 0:15:35.420 --> 0:15:38.780 abortion could be obtained. It would be correct to say that, 0:15:38.860 --> 0:15:42.340 in fact, there is abortion on demand in France in 0:15:42.380 --> 0:15:46.900 the first ten weeks of pregnancy. But so far as 0:15:46.940 --> 0:15:52.860 the way abortion all right, now, hold on, that's part one. 0:15:53.020 --> 0:15:55.540 You say you're in distress, you want an abortion, You 0:15:55.580 --> 0:16:01.300 get an abortion in France. But let me keep on 0:16:01.380 --> 0:16:07.220 reading what it means. The distress requirement may have no 0:16:07.500 --> 0:16:12.500 direct sanction, and many people may not take it seriously, 0:16:13.380 --> 0:16:19.500 but it does communicate a message which may enter, along 0:16:19.580 --> 0:16:23.980 with others social into the way in which French men 0:16:24.020 --> 0:16:27.660 and women think and teach their children and each other 0:16:28.340 --> 0:16:33.100 about how one should conduct one's life. I'm going to 0:16:33.180 --> 0:16:35.420 keep reading about this, but I want you to bear 0:16:35.460 --> 0:16:40.260 in mind something here which is fundamental to society. The 0:16:40.300 --> 0:16:45.500 purpose of law is not only to prohibit certain acts. 0:16:46.460 --> 0:16:52.020 It is to teach. It conveys the values of a society. 0:16:52.940 --> 0:16:57.580 Let me just move for a minute tangentially here. I 0:16:57.820 --> 0:17:02.580 want capital punishment for murder on the books, primarily as 0:17:02.620 --> 0:17:06.619 an educative tool. It is the only way in which 0:17:06.659 --> 0:17:10.540 society could say how heinous it considers murder. I am 0:17:10.619 --> 0:17:15.300 less interested in executing murderers than I am in having 0:17:15.379 --> 0:17:20.139 capital punishment as the punishment for murder, because punishment is 0:17:20.179 --> 0:17:22.699 the only way in which society can say what it 0:17:22.740 --> 0:17:27.019 thinks about something. There is no other way. The only 0:17:27.100 --> 0:17:32.260 other way that could exist is where you have wording 0:17:32.580 --> 0:17:39.179 in laws that allows something but seem to circumscribe it. Now, 0:17:39.219 --> 0:17:44.460 this is, in other words, punishment teaches and allowance teaches. 0:17:45.659 --> 0:17:50.499 Allowance teaches though usually that something's okay, but if you 0:17:50.699 --> 0:17:56.100 phrase it within circumscribed boundaries, you're saying you can do it. 0:17:56.659 --> 0:18:02.739 But what America doesn't have is a butt. That's the 0:18:02.820 --> 0:18:07.060 difference between America and Europe in a nutshell. But I'm 0:18:07.060 --> 0:18:08.899 not going to give you just a nutshell. I'm going 0:18:08.979 --> 0:18:15.179 to continue another statement of principle, and the French law 0:18:15.659 --> 0:18:18.019 is set forth in a later section of the law. 0:18:18.820 --> 0:18:26.180 Quote they termination of pregnancy must, under no circumstances, constitute 0:18:26.179 --> 0:18:30.859 a means of birth control. That's the law, that's the 0:18:30.899 --> 0:18:36.419 statute of France. To this end, continuing the statute, the 0:18:36.540 --> 0:18:41.580 government shall take all the measures necessary to promote information 0:18:41.780 --> 0:18:45.300 on birth control on as wide a scale as possible, 0:18:47.859 --> 0:18:52.660 while making now it's Glendon speaking, while making abortion available. 0:18:52.820 --> 0:19:00.059 In this case, the statute mandates several procedures designed to 0:19:00.219 --> 0:19:03.900 make the pregnant woman aware of and able to choose 0:19:04.820 --> 0:19:10.740 alternatives to abortion. It is part of French law that 0:19:10.780 --> 0:19:16.420 she be made aware of alternatives to abortion. First, the 0:19:16.419 --> 0:19:20.819 physician who receives the woman's initial request for termination of 0:19:20.859 --> 0:19:25.459 her pregnancy must furnish her with a brochure supply by 0:19:25.500 --> 0:19:31.019 the government, informing her that the law limits abortion to 0:19:31.139 --> 0:19:36.139 cases of distress. Now, of course you understand the beauty 0:19:36.179 --> 0:19:41.299 of that. If she says, well, okay, I meet those criteria, 0:19:41.540 --> 0:19:45.580 I'm in distress. Fine, Remember she's the only one to 0:19:45.699 --> 0:19:51.339 determine if she's in distress. But we've given her a 0:19:51.459 --> 0:19:55.299 government brochure to tell her that it's got to be 0:19:55.540 --> 0:20:02.459 only if you're in distress. It's purely totally educative. The 0:20:02.580 --> 0:20:07.899 brochure must contain information about the public benefits and programs 0:20:08.300 --> 0:20:11.979 that are guaranteed to mothers and children, and about the 0:20:12.060 --> 0:20:16.539 possibilities of adoption, as well as provide a list of 0:20:16.659 --> 0:20:22.220 organizations capable of giving assistance. That's all in the brochure that, 0:20:22.300 --> 0:20:24.700 by French law, must be given to a woman by 0:20:24.739 --> 0:20:28.220 her doctor, he is contravening French law if he does 0:20:28.260 --> 0:20:32.779 not give it to her. Second, the pregnant woman is 0:20:32.939 --> 0:20:38.819 required to have a private, private interview, if possible, with 0:20:38.939 --> 0:20:44.139 her partner, the man who impregnated her, with a government 0:20:44.260 --> 0:20:48.419 approved counseling service. She is required she may not have 0:20:48.459 --> 0:20:53.580 the abortion without this, which in principle is not to 0:20:53.659 --> 0:20:58.979 be located in any facility where abortions are performed. Do 0:20:59.060 --> 0:21:01.379 you see what they're trying to do? Is in it clear? 0:21:01.459 --> 0:21:04.540 It was brilliant what they worked out here, though this 0:21:04.540 --> 0:21:09.859 would offend now beyond anything imaginable national organization for women. 0:21:10.619 --> 0:21:15.179 This consultation, according to the statute, is supposed to furnish 0:21:15.260 --> 0:21:20.819 the woman with assistance and advice quote a, especially with 0:21:20.899 --> 0:21:26.259 a view toward enabling her to keep her child. Third, 0:21:27.459 --> 0:21:31.300 at least one week must he lapse from the time 0:21:31.379 --> 0:21:34.979 of her initial request or an abortion, and at least 0:21:35.060 --> 0:21:39.700 two days from the time of the mandatory consultation before 0:21:39.780 --> 0:21:45.180 the abortion can be performed. After ten weeks, the law 0:21:45.219 --> 0:21:53.259 in France permits only therapeutic abortions. The legislation as a 0:21:53.260 --> 0:21:57.659 whole writes Glendon is pervaded by compassion for pregnant women 0:21:58.699 --> 0:22:03.460 by concern for fetal life, which we do not have. 0:22:04.340 --> 0:22:08.420 There is no concern for fetal life in Roe versus Wade, 0:22:08.459 --> 0:22:11.580 and by expression of the commitment of society as a 0:22:11.619 --> 0:22:16.379 whole to help minimize occasions for tragic choices between them. 0:22:17.100 --> 0:22:20.300 See that's what in Europe, they're mature enough to understand 0:22:21.179 --> 0:22:26.460 abortion presents a tragic choice. We should be mature enough 0:22:26.500 --> 0:22:30.019 to understand that. Of course, the woman has a case. 0:22:30.899 --> 0:22:35.180 There's no humane human being can deny that. But there 0:22:35.219 --> 0:22:38.060 is a case to bring made on behalf of society 0:22:38.580 --> 0:22:41.859 and feed a life too, or developing life, as she 0:22:41.939 --> 0:22:45.379 puts it. But if you say a woman can do 0:22:45.419 --> 0:22:48.540 what she wants with her own body, you immediately dismiss 0:22:48.580 --> 0:22:52.619 the possibility that there is tension. There's no tragic choice. 0:22:52.899 --> 0:22:56.859 Clevic does might decay tooth have any demands that it 0:22:56.859 --> 0:23:03.179 can make on society, of course not. This commitment is 0:23:03.300 --> 0:23:07.020 carried out by provision of birth control assistance and by 0:23:07.100 --> 0:23:12.619 comparatively generous financial support for married as well as unwed mothers. 0:23:15.419 --> 0:23:19.219 Contrary to what one constantly hears from both sides of 0:23:19.260 --> 0:23:24.140 the abortion controversy in the United States, a divided society 0:23:24.379 --> 0:23:29.819 can compromise successfully on the abortion issue. It's happened in 0:23:29.859 --> 0:23:33.780 every European country. Only we stand alone, as it were. 0:23:35.260 --> 0:23:39.819 Listen to now the contrast with America. In contrast to 0:23:39.899 --> 0:23:43.939 the current American legal situation, it is worth noting that 0:23:43.979 --> 0:23:49.299 the French statute names the underlying problem as one involving 0:23:49.500 --> 0:23:55.220 human life, not as a conflict involving a woman's individual 0:23:55.300 --> 0:23:59.819 liberty or privacy and a non person. Folks, these are 0:23:59.859 --> 0:24:02.539 the most important things I'll say today. Are they clear? 0:24:03.419 --> 0:24:08.939 The whole debate is framed differently in Europe. Here it 0:24:08.979 --> 0:24:13.500 is purely a matter of her rights, her privacy, her body. 0:24:14.379 --> 0:24:19.619 There it is that plus the issue of another side. 0:24:20.020 --> 0:24:22.819 There is no other side, just as there is no 0:24:22.939 --> 0:24:27.180 other side to the right wing, it's murder. Don't tell 0:24:27.219 --> 0:24:29.099 me if you're raped. Don't tell me if it's incest, 0:24:29.179 --> 0:24:31.859 don't tell me. If it's got a de terrible disease, 0:24:32.340 --> 0:24:36.100 it's murder. You can't murder a human being. If one 0:24:36.139 --> 0:24:38.139 of you is the product of rape, can I murder you? 0:24:38.459 --> 0:24:42.180 Of course not. That's why to a consistent pro lifer, 0:24:42.459 --> 0:24:45.980 it's irrelevant if the woman was raped. It's no more 0:24:46.060 --> 0:24:49.300 relevant if she was raped with regard to abortion than 0:24:49.340 --> 0:24:51.619 if she was raped with regard to you, if you 0:24:51.699 --> 0:24:55.740 are the product of a rape, if you're a full 0:24:55.820 --> 0:24:58.539 human being, what the hell is the difference how you 0:24:58.739 --> 0:25:04.139 were conceived. What matters is you're a human. There is 0:25:04.340 --> 0:25:08.659 no other side to the right. There is no other 0:25:08.859 --> 0:25:14.699 side to the left. That's called extremism. That's the definition 0:25:14.780 --> 0:25:19.340 of it. When you are one hundred percent right, there 0:25:19.500 --> 0:25:24.660 is no compe eating value whatsoever. All good values are 0:25:24.699 --> 0:25:29.100 in your corner. There is no competition. It's called extremism. 0:25:30.060 --> 0:25:33.899 But we awe Everyone in this room knows of rightist extremism, 0:25:34.260 --> 0:25:39.619 but we never talk about left extremism. But it's pretty bizarre. 0:25:39.699 --> 0:25:42.179 You can only have one extreme. It doesn't make sense. 0:25:43.219 --> 0:25:46.099 Just logically, it doesn't make sense, and in fact it 0:25:46.139 --> 0:25:51.780 doesn't either. In nineteen eighty three, the US Supreme Court, 0:25:51.820 --> 0:25:56.740 in the Akron case, invalidated a city ordinance which contained 0:25:56.780 --> 0:26:00.899 a number of provisions similar to those in the nineteen 0:26:01.060 --> 0:26:08.100 seventy five French law, including an informed consent provision. That's 0:26:08.100 --> 0:26:11.060 what they have to do in France and Europe. Informed consent. 0:26:11.780 --> 0:26:15.139 You want an abortion, will allow it, but we want 0:26:15.139 --> 0:26:18.580 you to know the options available to you. Struck down 0:26:18.739 --> 0:26:22.340 by the US Supreme Court in the name of liberalism. 0:26:23.580 --> 0:26:26.740 That is the liberal view on abortion. You can't even 0:26:26.820 --> 0:26:30.179 require a woman to know there are options, even when 0:26:30.179 --> 0:26:32.099 you let her do it, and it's only her choice. 0:26:34.659 --> 0:26:37.979 It struck down in the eighty three case, where it 0:26:38.060 --> 0:26:42.980 included an informed consent provision and a mandatory twenty four 0:26:43.020 --> 0:26:46.939 hour waiting period between the execution of the patient's consent 0:26:47.060 --> 0:26:53.059 form and the abortion procedure. Justice Powell correctly observed that 0:26:53.179 --> 0:26:56.019 much of the information required by the city of Akron, 0:26:56.020 --> 0:27:00.699 Ohio was quote, designed not to inform the woman's consent, 0:27:01.260 --> 0:27:05.100 but rather to persuade her to withhold it all together. True, 0:27:05.260 --> 0:27:07.780 but that's what they want to do in France, they 0:27:07.820 --> 0:27:14.060 want to of course, obviously it's not neutral. The decision 0:27:14.139 --> 0:27:18.580 is neutral, but the information, yes, it's given with the 0:27:18.659 --> 0:27:23.779 hope that you won't do it. But the logic of 0:27:23.820 --> 0:27:27.099 the American abortion cases seemed to him to require that 0:27:27.179 --> 0:27:32.659 American states be forbidden to adopt forbidden as France and 0:27:32.739 --> 0:27:37.819 other European countries have done, quote abortion regulations designed to 0:27:37.979 --> 0:27:44.139 influence the woman's informed choice between abortion and childbirth. A 0:27:44.219 --> 0:27:48.539 closely divided Supreme Court reaffirmed this position in nineteen eighty 0:27:48.619 --> 0:27:55.259 six holding unconstitutional the provisions of a Pennsylvania statute that 0:27:55.340 --> 0:27:57.859 would have required a pregnant woman at least twenty four 0:27:57.859 --> 0:28:01.500 hours before consenting to an abortion to be informed about 0:28:01.540 --> 0:28:07.219 the availability of medical assistance and child support, and of 0:28:07.219 --> 0:28:11.219 the fact that printed materials describing the fetus and listing 0:28:11.260 --> 0:28:15.379 agencies ready to help with alternatives to abortion were available 0:28:15.419 --> 0:28:20.619 for her inspection turned down that that was what Pennas 0:28:20.659 --> 0:28:24.939 Slovanias argued for, and the US Supreme Court turned it down. 0:28:30.899 --> 0:28:35.260 Let me uh, let me tell you of another difference 0:28:35.260 --> 0:28:39.459 between Europe and US. In Europe, they try to discourage 0:28:39.500 --> 0:28:45.620 abortion from becoming routine by example, for example, by discouraging 0:28:45.780 --> 0:28:51.900 establishment of abortion clinics. In Europe, it is done in hospitals, 0:28:52.780 --> 0:28:56.979 and they mandate that no more than a certain percentage 0:28:57.219 --> 0:29:02.499 of procedures may be abortions, so that it doesn't become routinized, 0:29:02.540 --> 0:29:09.140 a place removed from normal therapeutic functioning, normal medical functioning, 0:29:09.459 --> 0:29:14.100 where doctors just don't spend their lives. You use the verb, 0:29:14.700 --> 0:29:19.180 all right, We'll use the most neutral verb, aborting, aborting 0:29:19.380 --> 0:29:24.059 potential life, abording fetuses. What they do in Europe is 0:29:24.180 --> 0:29:29.740 a perfect compromise and I am rarely in the mood 0:29:29.739 --> 0:29:34.900 of extolling Europe's values, but here they have hit it beautifully. 0:29:35.380 --> 0:29:39.660 They tick off everybody. The right wing is terribly annoyed 0:29:39.820 --> 0:29:43.420 because any woman wants an abortion, she gets it. The 0:29:43.500 --> 0:29:45.819 left wing is terribly annoyed because they fill her with 0:29:45.860 --> 0:29:50.220 this propaganda that there are actually options available to her, 0:29:50.500 --> 0:29:53.739 and society wants you to state that you're in distress. 0:29:55.860 --> 0:29:58.700 So that's the perfect thing. When you've ticked off the 0:29:58.780 --> 0:30:02.620 left and right, you got something good. Something's working, and 0:30:02.739 --> 0:30:05.860 it works and there's peace. You don't have any of 0:30:05.900 --> 0:30:08.700 the battles in Europe that you have in America over abortion. 0:30:09.500 --> 0:30:12.979 People live with these laws in the vast majority of 0:30:13.060 --> 0:30:18.500 cases with basic contentment, understanding that you have to compromise 0:30:18.620 --> 0:30:22.420 on a very difficult issue. That's not the case in 0:30:22.459 --> 0:30:28.340 this country. Let me just cite to you German law 0:30:29.820 --> 0:30:36.779 according to the German Constitution on this issue. Quote, the 0:30:36.979 --> 0:30:42.700 false impression must be avoided that termination of pregnancy involves 0:30:42.739 --> 0:30:46.459 the same social significance as say, a trip to the 0:30:46.500 --> 0:30:51.100 physician for the purpose of healing an illness. That is 0:30:51.140 --> 0:30:53.979 the way German law would put it. That's the intent there. 0:30:54.500 --> 0:30:56.940 It's not the same. An abortion is not the same 0:30:57.260 --> 0:31:04.620 as going to your doctor for a flu shot. It's different. Now, 0:31:06.900 --> 0:31:08.940 there is one other thing to be mentioned, and then 0:31:08.940 --> 0:31:11.059 I want to deal with what is really the issue 0:31:11.060 --> 0:31:18.459