Does the pro-life worldview make sense? : abortion, hell, and violence against abortion doctors /

Seeking to articulate a corrective to the "poor history of reasoning regarding abortion," as he writes in chapter 4, Kershnar (philosophy, SUNY, Fredonia, and a practicing attorney) offers a densely reasoned though sometimes tedious analytic study of the logic of religiously grounded pro-life perspectives on abortion. In an investigation prompted by pro-life views of evangelical Christians and the Roman Catholic hierarchy, Kershnar argues that the doctrine of hell undermines the Christian pro-life worldview on abortion. Because Christian teaching holds that aborted fetuses do not go to hell, abortion actually facilitates the attainment of the ultimate end of heaven. Accordingly, abortion, contra conservative Christianity, is morally permissible. Kershnar also makes the logical argument that pro-life Christians contradict themselves by condemning abortion while also opposing the killing of abortion providers. By refuting numerous possible objections and attending to forfeiture theory, consequentialism, and the duty to save, the author masterfully points out logical contradictions in the pro-life worldview. He concludes that the best pro-life position would rest in consequentialism, but that too ill conforms to a Christian worldview. A work in ethical logic, not theology, this is a serious, complex, and philosophically challenging contribution to the literature on the ethics of abortion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. --Lloyd Steffen, Lehigh University