Mormon Bloggers

As is often the case in the spring, today at the UCR campus we had visitors, visitors who brought posters with them, posters that were gruesome, graphic and frankly rather disgusting.  They depicted death and dismemberment in a manner that even the most shocking purveyors of torture porn usually avoid.  The wielders of said posters?  Good, Christian folk out to put the fear of God into your sons and daughters. (But mostly your daughters I suspect.)  I speak of course of the Anti-Abortion placards that prominently feature the images of mangled fetuses.  I get the whole argument here.  Abortion is murder, sanitizing it just makes it palatable, it is better to show all the gory consequences of an act to the public to shock them out of their jaded stupor… etc, ad nauseam. Frankly, I find such arguments to be garbage.  I spent two years as a missionary spreading the gospel, including the inconvenient, and often unpopular doctrines of chastity, and temperance, and while I accept... Read the rest of this entry »

As I've written before, abortion is an unsettled issue among libertarians. There's been a very good debate between Walter Block and Jakub Wisniewski on Block's theory of "evictionism", and whether or not it's compatible with what libertarians call the Non-aggression Principle (NAP). I thought I'd share the links for your reading pleasure: Block's original case for evictionism - http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block-whitehead_abortion-2005.pdf Wisniewski's rebuttal - http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-16.pdf Block's rejoinder to Wisniewski - http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-32.pdf Wisniewski's rejoinder to Block - http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2010/lp-2-37.pdf I think at this point I'm with Wisniewski. I like his throwing "proportionality" in there. If eviction results in death, and with abortion it does, then that isn't proportionate to the baby having trespassed... Read the rest of this entry »

Those who say that a Woman has the right to choice whether or not she ought to carry through her pregnancy or terminate her pregnancy, what are they truly saying? The following video is very graphic and disturbing. Still, it … Continue reading →  Read More →

“In today’s society, abortion has become a common practice, defended by deceptive arguments. If you face questions about this matter, you can be secure in following the revealed will of the Lord. Latter-day prophets have denounced abortion, referring to the Lord’s declaration, “Thou shalt not … kill, nor do anything like unto it” (D&C 59:6). Their counsel on the matter is clear: Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must not submit to, perform, encourage, pay for, or arrange for an abortion. If you encourage an abortion in any way, you may be subject to Church discipline. Church leaders have said that some exceptional circumstances may justify an abortion, such as when pregnancy is the result of incest or rape, when the life or health of the mother is judged by competent medical authority to be in serious jeopardy, or when the fetus is known by competent medical authority to have severe defects that will not allow the baby to survive beyond birth.... Read the rest of this entry »

 “Kathy abused the kids. She cheated on her husband- openly, repeatedly, and with many different men. She wouldn’t do any of the housework, and she flat-out refused to get a job when her husband had his accident. She neglected their 4 year-old child, Bethany, until she had to go to the hospital. Plus, Kathy physically and emotionally abused her non-retaliating husband, and berated him in public and in front of Bethany and her brother at nearly every opportunity. There was nothing left of their marriage. Those who knew her described her as “evil.”  Over a period of 8 years, she vehemently resisted every suggestion of counseling or behavior change.” This story exemplifies an instance where divorce would probably be appropriate. Below I show why this example and other arguments support the claim that, in the context of issuing church policies, it would be better in many instances to either 1) carefully articulate relevant exceptional factors or 2)... Read the rest of this entry »

A recent bill passed by both houses of the Utah State Legislature has engendered a considerable amount of controversy in the past few days.  HB12 which has been sent to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert for his signature would criminalize “reckless acts” by pregnant women that lead to miscarriages.  As might be expected, pro-choice groups have jumped all over this, with ominous predictions of Orwellian-style monitoring of all pregnancies in Utah, and the specter of big brother prosecuting pregnant women for drinking tea, or neglecting to wear a seat belt. State Sen. Margaret Dayton (R-Orem) states that the intention of the bill is to criminalize acts such as the recent case of a women who paid a man $150 to beat her severely in order to force a miscarriage of the child she was carrying.  Democratic lawmakers in opposition have argued that the passage of this law could allow the prosecution of victims of domestic violence who return to their partners, only to be abused again and lose... Read the rest of this entry »

From a National Review Blog:This Day in Liberal Judicial Activism—November 12 [Ed Whelan]1908—In Nashville, Illinois, the human fetus to become known as Harry A. Blackmun emerges safe and sound from his mother’s womb. Some sixty-five years later, Justice Blackmun authors the Supreme Court opinion in Roe v. Wade. (See This Day for Jan. 22, 1973.) Somehow the same people who think it  Read More →

No, it’s not necessarily a contradiction in terms . . .A wonderful quote from Kathy Ireland, of SI swimsuit fame. She always considered herself pro-choice growing up, but “became a Christian” at age 18, and began studying the science of human reproduction:”What I read was astounding and I learned that at the moment of conception a new life comes into being. The complete genetic blueprint is there  Read More →