The Narthex

A new cartoon, courtesy of Harry Bliss, shows a fellow chatting with The Grim Reaper. The Reaper, sensitive to the chap’s feelings, tells him not to worry overmuch -- it’s just a preliminary interview. But should we believe Mr. Reaper? Or should we be worried, very worried? The latest report…

The cost of an uncomplicated birth, even for parents with employer-provided health insurance, has gotten way out of hand. The situation screams for proposed solutions, and so the leaders of two pro-life organizations have offered one. Catherine Glenn Foster, President & CEO of Americans United for Life, and Kristen Day,…

January 22 marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. Soon after it first appeared on the law library’s shelves, I read it and it was a big reason I decided to go to law school. Fifteen years later I became general counsel of the public…

The well-used tactic of transgender activists -- to threaten that confused people will kill themselves if society doesn't indulge their whims -- has mutated and jumped into the rhetorical arsenal of pro-abortion activists. Last month JAMA Psychiatry online (Dec. 28) released a study claiming abortion restrictions probably cause suicide. Thomas…

Last month the L.A. Times ran a piece titled "New law targets crisis pregnancy centers in L.A." (Nov. 3, B3). It served up a noxious mix: a bloated press release for Mike Feuer, the city attorney, and more lousy journalism from the Times. To wit: the writers don't bother to cite any crisis…

Roberto Dell’Oro, a Californian bioethicist at Loyola Marymount University, recently proposed a compromise on abortion law. Since he is a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, his proposal is attracting wide interest in Catholic circles. Dell’Oro is no friend of the Supreme Court’s recent Dobbs decision. He chiefly objects…

People matter first, and that’s always and everywhere true. So I begin with a thumbnail sketch of my neighbor, Alex Padilla. He’s an affable fellow. Gregarious. Even avuncular. Alex is a family man with three adult children. Padilla also holds a key post as a Special Investigator with the Los…

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh recently spoke at a local pro-life fundraising event, and afterward he was criticized in the usual quarters. But instead of retreating from the subject of abortion, he decided to elaborate on his stance in an interview with ESPN. In the interview he says he tells…

Opinions abound about the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling. Here in California, highly publicized protests feature women carrying signs that read, “Abortion on Demand, without Apology.” Nothing new, only more frantic and furious. On my view, Dobbs is a decent first step. But its own reasoning doesn’t allow for the next…

As of today, thirteen U.S. states have banned or widely restricted abortion after the Supreme Court's ruling on Dobbs. Tennessee, the thirteenth, has a six-week "heartbeat" ban and next month may see a trigger-law ban go into effect that protects the unborn starting at conception. LifeNews.com's Steven Ertelt offers a…

The press is repeating Bishop (and now Cardinal-elect) Robert McElroy’s charge that excluding Catholic politicians from Communion is wrongheaded. “It will bring tremendously destructive consequences” he writes, and politics is to blame. “The Eucharist is being weaponized and deployed as a tool in political warfare.” McElroy also points to the…

Last summer I reviewed an important book about the eugenics movement of 100 years ago, and the subject bears repeating. The book is Mark H. Sutherland's Exterminating Poverty: The true story of the eugenic plan to get rid of the poor, and the Scottish doctor who fought against it. A link…

Election integrity has been in the news a lot these past few years. A cloud long hung over the 2016 presidential election, for example. Did the Russians throw the contest in favor of Trump? Did James Comey and the FBI do the same by opening a probe into Hillary Clinton’s…

John Bolton has a reputation as a fierce conservative. Fifteen years ago or so, I used to think he was, too. I would watch Bolton, who was President George W. Bush’s Ambassador to the United Nations, appear on the television and lay into Washington liberals like a dog going at…

The first recorded evidence of induced abortion is from the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus dated to 1550 BC. The only evidence in ancient laws of a death penalty for abortion is found in Assyrian law: the Code of Assura, c. 1075 BC. The epic Ramayana, c. 750BC, has a description of…