Anniversaries, Juxtaposed and Commemorated
I’m disinclined right now to do much with this information, but there have been a number of articles posted in the last month on contraception, IVF, and abortion. I’m going to link them for now, and perhaps someday I’ll have the time, inclination, and courage to go back to them and comment.
Kathryn Jean Lopez posted an article on the 30th anniversary of IVF’s first use, here, and it is one of the few out there that, however briefly, gives attention to the notion of “giving yourself totally to your spouse — not putting up barriers and introducing artificial methods and procedures into your reproductive lives.” As to what the barriers introduced by IVF are, she does not say, and I’m not sure I see IVF as creating barriers, exactly. (Already I’m getting nervous about even posting these, since I feel like I ought to have a treatise-level opinion on each one.) A mostly coherent response came through and is posted here, testifying to, though not proving scientifically or theologically, the wisdom of waiting for God’s hand to work. (It also makes a distinction between giving physically and giving more deeply that I’m not sure I can countenance, since it seems to set adoption up as a higher good than giving life.)
Earlier, observing the fortieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae, Lopez published “Holy Sex@40,” an affirmation of the encyclical’s teachings, turning the words of feminist Jessica Valenti against her, somewhat effectively, I think, to remind her readers of the racist usages to which the pill has sometimes been put, and to remind her of the hardly-lessened burden for the responsibilities of pregnancy that women still face. K-Lo is apparently hitting this issue hard this year, as she has another article out that I’ve not even read, here. If the title and abstract are any indication, it’s a jujitsuistic attack on the pill for what it’s doing to the environment, not so much a first principle attack as a piling-on of all available forces (not that I mind – this is a time-honored political and military tactic, and is consistent with honesty so far as the things said are true).
Also, from July 5, at 1:18AM, see this article for link between contraception and abortion. It’s a bit surprising for me to see it in there, given America’s reputation for opposition to the more conservative sorts of Catholicism, but I’m not an expert on the subject of America and its leanings, so perhaps my expectations are malformed. And there is a First Things article in the current edition, called, rather resoundingly, “The Vindication of Humanae Vitae,” now posted here. I’ve not read it yet, having too many magazines laying about, delivered, bought, and largely unread.
Kathryn Jean Lopez posted an article on the 30th anniversary of IVF’s first use, here, and it is one of the few out there that, however briefly, gives attention to the notion of “giving yourself totally to your spouse — not putting up barriers and introducing artificial methods and procedures into your reproductive lives.” As to what the barriers introduced by IVF are, she does not say, and I’m not sure I see IVF as creating barriers, exactly. (Already I’m getting nervous about even posting these, since I feel like I ought to have a treatise-level opinion on each one.) A mostly coherent response came through and is posted here, testifying to, though not proving scientifically or theologically, the wisdom of waiting for God’s hand to work. (It also makes a distinction between giving physically and giving more deeply that I’m not sure I can countenance, since it seems to set adoption up as a higher good than giving life.)
Earlier, observing the fortieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae, Lopez published “Holy Sex@40,” an affirmation of the encyclical’s teachings, turning the words of feminist Jessica Valenti against her, somewhat effectively, I think, to remind her readers of the racist usages to which the pill has sometimes been put, and to remind her of the hardly-lessened burden for the responsibilities of pregnancy that women still face. K-Lo is apparently hitting this issue hard this year, as she has another article out that I’ve not even read, here. If the title and abstract are any indication, it’s a jujitsuistic attack on the pill for what it’s doing to the environment, not so much a first principle attack as a piling-on of all available forces (not that I mind – this is a time-honored political and military tactic, and is consistent with honesty so far as the things said are true).
Also, from July 5, at 1:18AM, see this article for link between contraception and abortion. It’s a bit surprising for me to see it in there, given America’s reputation for opposition to the more conservative sorts of Catholicism, but I’m not an expert on the subject of America and its leanings, so perhaps my expectations are malformed. And there is a First Things article in the current edition, called, rather resoundingly, “The Vindication of Humanae Vitae,” now posted here. I’ve not read it yet, having too many magazines laying about, delivered, bought, and largely unread.
Labels: abortion, contraception, Humanae Vitae, IVF, Jennifer Fulwiler, Kathryn Jean Lopez, Mary Eberstadt
posted by J. R. R. Hawking | 5:45 PM
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