abstract:

The author characterizes the Pope’s position on the sanctity of fetal life as less a moral proposition than an observation about the unborn child’s function as an essential messenger, through the mother’s pregnancy to the child’s birth and to the child’s role in defining the family. He considers the Pope’s suggestion as a means of lowering the heat surrounding the abortion issue by distancing that dialogue from ingrained dogma. However, in proposing this point to a friend who is a firm pro-choice partisan, the author finds her skeptical of the Pope’s frankness in thus framing the issue, and that she views the Pope’s apparent concessions as merely tactical.

摘要：

作者将教皇关于胎儿生命神圣性的立场描述为一种道德主张，而不是关于未出生的孩子作为基本信使的功能的观察，即通过母亲怀孕到孩子的出生以及孩子在定义家庭中的作用。他认为教皇的建议是通过消除对话与根深蒂固的教条来降低围绕堕胎问题的热度的一种手段。但是，在向一位坚定的支持党派游击队的朋友提出这一点时，作者发现她对教皇的直率持怀疑态度，因此将问题定为框架，并且她认为教皇的明显让步只是战术上的。