Life Links 2/26/08

Amy Sullivan, a senior editor at Time and a self-described evangelical liberal who is pro-choice (though with "serious moral concerns"), discusses her book, abortion and evangelical voters in an interview with Salon.


William Saletan on sex-selection abortion in America:

Now these tests are being bought, used, and reported just like any other prenatal test. The couples who use them are described just as sympathetically. The problem isn't that they're screening their offspring for sex. The problem is that in doing so they're being thwarted by flawed technology and exaggerated marketing.

If you blame the Times for this loss of dismay, you're missing the larger trend. The article exists because the underlying stigma has already decayed. Scores of women are suing over erroneous sex tests. The Jains are unashamed to tell their story and put their names on it. So are the other women quoted in the article. As technology makes it possible to break the sex-selection taboo privately and inexpensively, the practice spreads, and we get used to it. The question of whether to restrict it becomes, as with other prenatal tests, a mere question of consumer protection.

It appears Senator Clinton is feeding her audience lies about stem cell research on the campaign trail.

Clinton also addressed her support for the development of stem cell research.

“I want Congress to send me the bill that [President George W.] Bush has vetoed twice to permit [the U.S. government] to do stem cell research,” she said.