Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice

by Francis J. Beckwith

Publisher:

Cambridge University Press

, 2007

Overview

Defending Life is the most comprehensive defense of the prolife position on abortion ever published. It is sophisticated, but still accessible to the ordinary citizen. Without high-pitched rhetoric or appeals to religion, the author offers a careful and respectful case for why the prolife view of human life is correct. He responds to the strongest prochoice arguments found in law, science, philosophy, politics, and the media. He explains and critiques Roe v. Wade, and he explains why virtually all the popular prochoice arguments fail. There is simply nothing like this book.

Key Features

• Responds to the strongest prochoice arguments found in law.
• Explains why virtually all the popular prochoice arguments fail.
• Deals honestly, carefully, and respectfully with the best arguments for abortion choice.

Praise for Defending Life

By a masterful marshalling of the pertinent arguments and a civil engagement with the counter-arguments, Beckwith makes a convincing case for law and social policy based on reason and natural rights rather than the will to power.

--Reverend Richard John Neuhaus, Editor-in-Chief, First Things

Using an argument rooted in nondiscrimination and equality of persons, Beckwith deftly combines the analytical tools of philosophy, jurisprudence, and science to construct a brilliant case for governmental protection of the unborn. Critics will have difficulty refuting the logical conclusion that emerges from his basic premises

--Carol Swain, Vanderbilt University

As the Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding the ban on partial birth abortion and the controversy over stem cell research make clear, the issues surrounding respect for life will continue at the forefront of American politics in the twenty-first century. Professor Beckwith’s new book makes an important contribution to these debates. Defending Life is, and is likely to remain for a long time, the most thorough and detailed statement of the pro-life position. It is well-written and learned; the author’s command of the relevant literatures, both legal and philosophic, is impressive.

--Jean M. Yarbrough, Bowdoin College

Product Details

• Title: Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice
• Author: Francis J. Beckwith
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Print Publication Date: 2007
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Pages: 314
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subject: Abortion
• ISBNs: 9780521870849, 0521870844
• Resource ID: LLS:DFNDNGLFBRTNCHC
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-11-04T17:39:01Z

About Francis J. Beckwith

Francis J. Beckwith, (PhD, Fordham University) is professor of philosophy and church-state studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he is also a fellow and faculty associate in the Institute for Studies of Religion. He was the 2008-2009 Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow in the Notre Dame Center for Ethics Culture and was a 2002-2003 Madison Research Fellow in Politics at Princeton University, where he has served since 2003 as a member of the James Madison Society. Beckwith is the author of numerous books such as Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic; Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice; Law, Darwinism Public Education: The Establishment Clause and the Challenge of Intelligent Design and Do the Right Thing: Readings in Applied Ethics and Social Philosophy. His articles have been published in a number of academic journals across a variety of disciplines, including Harvard Journal of Law Public Policy, International Philosophical Quarterly, Public Affairs Quarterly, Social Theory Practice, American Journal of Jurisprudence, Journal of Medical Ethics, San Diego Law Review, Nevada Law Journal, Journal of Social Philosophy, Philosophia Christi and Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics Public Policy. Beckwith has been a speaker for numerous Christian ministries (both Protestant and Catholic) throughout his career, including Summit Ministries and the Catholic Apologetics Academy, where he has served on their faculties since 1996 and 2013 respectively. He and his wife, Frankie, live in Woodway, Texas.