Abortion treadmill

A roundup of books, some blessed and some hampered by timing | Marvin Olasky

Some books are poorly timed through no fault of the authors. Paul Linton's Abortion Under State Constitutions (Carolina Academic Press, 2008) is a scholarly state-by-state analysis of how unborn children currently could receive protection, and what more could be done if the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade. Sadly, there is little chance of the latter during the Obama years: If pro-life forces manage to hold onto the small legal beachheads already achieved, that will be an achievement.

Some books are well-timed. Stephen Wagner's Common Ground Without Compromise: 25 Questions to Create Dialogue on Abortion (Stand to Reason, 2008) should help many pro-lifers achieve the progress possible in a tough political environment: Transformations of heart and mind can save many lives now and create opportunities for when the political pendulum swings back. Wagner shows how to begin productive discussion with questions like: What do you think about late-term abortion? What do you think about aborting a fetus simply because she is female? Should we encourage women to view pictures of the results of abortion before they have one?