iThink

Thomas Clark, director of the Center for Naturalism, beings by asking difficult, thought-provoking questions regarding the abortion debate.  He acknowledges that often, anti-abortion arguments ground themselves in religious soil.  However, he states, in the United States, “only secular claims…should be allowed,” due to the First Amendment, which includes an indirect statement establishing the separation of church and state.  Pro-life advocates claim that an embryo is a person who is “owed the full set of rights under the Constitution.”  On the other hand, pro-choice advocates insist that an embryo does not “merit equal protection.”  Clark states an interesting proposition:  “We are hard-wired to be protective of beings that manifest sentience and self-interest, especially those close to us and those of our species.” 

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Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and current Republican presidential candidate, recently participated in a televised presidential debate sponsored by Fox News Channel. Responding to a question about his stance on abortion, he staunchly defended his position.  Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor, believes that life beings at conception and that people should protect it until its natural end. 

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