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 themselves at odds with friends and family in anticipation of the voting booth. The conundrum for those of us who subscribe to a consistent life ethic lies in the fact that no party fully represents a holistic approach to human life issues. Most consistent lifers will agree that abortion is the most pressing issue of our time, but unfortunately that doesn't make the very difficult moral decision of voting easy this time around. The question remains: how do we work to change the culture of politics and political discussion in this country to one that does not pick and choose which human lives are valuable and worthy of protection? I believe that we have a responsibility to reject the existing paradigms of "left" and "right" and work towards a political system in this country that is for peace and all life. How you put that into action, of course, will be a matter of your own conscience.
I'd also like to address two articles in this issue which discuss contraception and its relation to human life issues: Marc Barnes's piece "Contraception Is Not Pro-Life" and Nick Neal's piece "Priority of Questions." Marc stresses that contraception does not reduce abortion, and, in fact, may create a need for abortion; his article is a response to some of the claims in Mary Krane Derr's piece "Family Planning Freedom is Pro-Life" in Volume 1, Issue 1. Contrary to both Derr's and Barnes's works, Nick Neal asserts that our primary responsibility is to protect the preborn human in our laws instead of trying to first address the policies of family planning and sexual ethics. These will be our last featured articles on contraception -- we have decided to let other organizations more dedicated to sexual ethics discuss these issues. As it stands, however, we will continue to push for full legal recognition of the preborn as human person, and an abolition of all human abortion.
I hope that in our work we can continue to be home to forum and discourse, and endeavor together to engender respect for all humanity. To the beginning of our second year! Cheers!
For peace and all life,
Aimee Murphy
Executive Editor