BY JULIA SMUCKER A few days after the July 20 mass shooting at an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, I heard a hauntingly perceptive comment to the effect that the occurrence of such an incident about every 1-2 years is what our society is willing to put up with for the sake of our attachment to guns. In other words, there is an unspoken yet seemingly unassailable agreement to accept tragedies on a public scale as a matter of course, a necessary evil of sorts, in exchange for t

BY MARY KRANE DERR Feminists of the 1960s and 1970s were hardly the first to address abortion. Their 19th- and early 20th-century foremothers also took a strong, if -- to many today -- unexpectedly oppositional, stance. Since at least the late 1980s, pro-choicers and pro-lifers have repeatedly and heatedly disputed the precise content and meaning of this herstory. After over two decades of research and writing on this subject, I cannot agree with pro-choicers who outright

BY CAROL CROSSED Two of the most contentious issues this election year are gun owners' rights and abortion rights. In 2008, out of 4,600 registered political action committees (PACs), the National Rifle Association was ranked 14th, with $650,000 going to Republicans. Abortion rights PAC EMILY's List is ranked 5th largest, with $6,500,000 going to Democrats. Despite the approximately 20 mass shootings and 1.1 million abortions annually in the United States, supporters for bo

BY JEN ROTH The consistent life ethic is traditionally seen as a way to draw connections among issues that do not seem related at first glance, such as war, the death penalty, and abortion. However, the connections among different forms of violence and injustice are sometimes more immediate. Recent research, including a study published in August 2012 by the Guttmacher Institute, has highlighted connections among intimate partner violence, poverty, and abortion. Intimate par

BY CAROL CROSSED Consistent-Life Ethic is like salt. You don't need a whole lot to be effective. But it's essential to have it present . . . spread out here and there to spice up politics, to add a little flavor to dull single-issue groups. But it stings, like when you wash your mouth out to cure a canker sore. It smarts on the wound. It makes you sit up straight and take notice that something's different here. And then it heals if you leave it there long enough. The "li

BY NICHOLAS NEAL Photo by Jayel Aheram; some rights reserved. This year will be Ron Paul's last in Congress. Adding together Ron Paul's years in Congress from 1976-1985 and 1997-2012, he has spent over 24 years in Congress, often as a lone vote on several pieces of legislation. He has been a rare and consistent advocate of free market liberalism, drug legalization, returning to the gold standard, auditing the Federal Reserve, reducing spending across the board, strict const

BY ANTHONY BEDOY Photo by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; some rights reserved. Lazy, obnoxious, and immature are just a few of the words people often use to describe gamers and those involved in the Internet community. These so-called "nerds" have been referred to as the "lazy American gold rush." It is the "new age" way to earn a small fortune with nothing but a computer and a gaming console. YouTube has helped promote a community on the Internet that is surrounded by

BY NICHOLAS NEAL Photo by Paul Studios; some rights reserved. In the first issue of Life Matters Journal, we had an article arguing that access to birth control is a way to reduce abortions. In this issue, we have an article arguing that abstinence is the best way to reduce abortions. I would like to give a third perspective on this debate and argue that we're asking the wrong question. Instead of arguing how to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies in order to reduce

BY JOHN WHITEHEAD Barack Obama is now more than three-and-a-half years into his presidency and at least a preliminary assessment of his approach to foreign policy is possible. Three journalists have each written such analyses, all of them published this year: Kill or Capture: The War on Terror and the Soul of the Obama Presidency, by Daniel Klaidman; The Obamians: The Struggle inside the White House to Redefine American Power, by James Mann; and Confront and Conceal: Obam

BY BENJAMIN WIRTZ Photo by Gwydion M Williams; some rights reserved. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama may seem to be different on many issues, but are they really different where it matters? In terms of where they stand on issues of life, we cannot simply take a candidate's word on something without looking at all the facts first. Romney says he is pro-life, but is he really? Let us look at his record and see. When he was Governor of Massachusetts, he was not even remotely pro

BY MADELINE BLOOMQUIST Photo courtesy of millicent-bystander on flickr; some rights reserved. As far back as I can remember, my parents have been avid supporters of the pro-life movement and have emphasized the importance of respecting all life. Gay and lesbian life. Disabled life. Other-than-white life. And, yes, pre-born life. But not until the past year did I really form my own, individual opinion on abortion. It all started in the eighth grade, when I gave a speech on

BY MARC BARNES The claim that the widespread promotion of contraception is pro-life is by no means a bad one. Mary Krane Derr, in her well-researched contribution to the Life Matters Journal entitled "Family Planning Freedom is Pro-Life," argues precisely this. The underlying idea -- that because abortions are the result of unplanned pregnancies, contraception, by reducing unplanned pregnancies, reduces abortions -- is reasonable, understandable, and lucid. And although I

Dear readers, supporters, and friends, I hope this first issue of Volume 2 finds you well! I can't believe we've been on this journey for a year; it seems to me that we've only just begun. My life, as always, is continually full of changes: the new husband and I are doing splendidly, and I started graduate studies in Philosophy in August, so I've certainly got my hands full! Alas, we have come to a difficult time of year in the United States -- when many people find thems

BY CAROL CROSSED Image by Vectorpal on flickr; some rights reserved. "Seward Seminary: Rosetta, daughter of Frederick Douglass, was denied the right to enroll in [this] girls' private academy." So reads an historic plaque on the grounds of Genesee Hospital in Rochester, New York, reminding us of our sins of discrimination in 1834. Today at the hospital, another group of individuals is being denied their right to enter society -- pre-born children. I am confused. As a person

BY KEITH MICHAEL ESTRADA What does it mean to be "pro-life"? This is a question I asked myself when I first dived into the student culture at Franciscan University of Steubenville. The campus has a very positive reputation for protecting the lives of the pre-born and those near death; people here call themselves "pro-life." However, I was forced to ask myself: is that all being "pro-life" means? The answer I found was surprisingly controversial. I thought to myself, "I

BY MARY KRANE DERR The right to access the full range of voluntary family planning methods is often neglected or actively undermined in the name of prolife, especially but not exclusively in the United States. Yet there are nine good reasons -- at least -- why fostering this right is essential to respect in practical deed for all human lives, already born and unborn. 1. Family planning freedom prevents millions of human deaths every year. Voluntary access to modern methods o

BY LILIANNA SERBICKI Swollen, a dream on its way to fruition; Nothing romantic. Lense (soft-focus) gone. Real fruit bruises; a real fruit stays the motion We make ourselves. Our unkempt pieces drawn Into alignment; some beings are too real To smudge with soft words. Some beings delight In waking up the small pith in the chest With beating limbs. It is a sudden sleight Of soul, not hand; the itch will soon persuade Myself to love my stippled skin far more Than when it held jus

BY AIMEE BEDOY I am writing this ten years to the day that those towers fell. And ten years later, I want us to discuss what we have learned from September 11, 2001, and where we as a nation must continue to grow. I am speaking as someone who grew up in this culture, immersed in it wholly from the time I was 12 years old. Perhaps I am not the wisest, or the most sage member of society to speak on these points, but this is what I have learned from my childhood to the present

BY NICHOLAS NEAL The abolition of the death penalty in Illinois began when Governor George Ryan placed a moratorium on capital punishment in the state in 2000, after seeing an alarming number of death row inmates being exonerated. Eleven years later, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill officially abolishing capital punishment in Illinois. It was then up to Pat Quinn to sign it. Now, although Governor Quinn is a Democrat, he had previously spoken in favor of capital

BY AIMEE BEDOY & STEVEN OETJEN A quandary of major proportions faces our nation in this day and age. It could be a matter of life and death for countless persons -- we cannot truly be sure. This paper seeks to examine abortion through the lens of Constitutional law, science, and justice, and lastly to apply these faculties to the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act recently passed in Nebraska. In brief, our recommendation is always to stand for justice and ultimately