In a recent piece for The Catholic Thing, Prof. Hadley Arkes, founder and director of the James Wilson Institute, points out the dangers of the current arguments being made by conservatives in abortion cases. The piece, titled "Beliefs - And Their Political Traps," demonstrates how the arguments made both by the left and the right have reduced moral reasoning down to assertions of belief. By defending and protecting the right to believe, conservatives have attempted to carve out a niche for themselves. The problem comes when we realize that beliefs can have no moral claim on one another apart from an accepted authority. If a person were to claim an earnest belief in the moral rightness of abortion, conservatives could no more deny that person access to abortion than they could protect those who oppose abortion. Prof. Arkes lays out a simple and effective argument against abortion, one which does not rely on any religious claims or beliefs. This kind of argument would allow conservatives to meet the argument in the square rather than trying to carve out a space that offers only a crumbling protection.

These are some excerpts from the piece.

"I would point out that, at no point in the chain of reasoning, is there an appeal to revelation or faith. This is an argument that can be understood across the religious divisions, by Catholics, Baptists, Muslims, and even atheists."

"Let us say that Roe v. Wade is overturned, and it becomes legitimate once again for the laws to cast protection over the child in the womb.  But if the pro-lifers could invoke their “religious freedom” not to be obliged to perform or fund abortions, should we be astonished if a comparable freedom were claimed by those who profess to believe in the deep rightness of abortion? Why should they not claim a “religious freedom” to order abortions, even against the laws that now bar them?"

 There is a path for protecting the doctors, nurses and others who don’t wish to become complicit in abortions.   But to cast their rights on the ground of religious “beliefs” is to lay the ground for undoing those laws on abortion that some of us have sought so long to restore."

Read the entire article here.