September 22, 2022
As the conservative movement works to formulate a coherent policy agenda before the first national election in post-Roe America, a collection of leading intellectuals released a statement of principles for a pro-life approach to policymaking.
“Protecting the Unborn: A Scholars’ Statement of Pro-Life Principle and Political Prudence” was signed by EPPC’s Ryan T. Anderson, Erika Bachiochi, Alexandra DeSanctis, Aaron Kheriaty, Carl R. Trueman, Ed Whelan, and George Weigel, as well as other leading intellectuals. It is a critical guide for voters and legislators seeking to make decisions which protect society’s most vulnerable.
“Pregnant women have a right to appropriate procedures that may be needed to treat medical complications posing a grave risk to them,” the statement reads. “The law must permit those procedures while requiring doctors to make reasonable efforts to save the child where possible.”
Signers included influential experts in philosophy, theology, and law such as John Finnis of the University of Oxford, Robert P. George of Princeton University, Charles Camosy of Creighton School of Medical Humanities, and Thomas Joseph White, O.P., of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome.
The statement seeks to reconcile a committed defense of the unborn with the prudence necessitated by present political realities. “Even as citizens and lawmakers may accept less-than-ideal laws on abortion, we must always make clear that the ultimate goal toward which we steadily work is to protect every human being in law and life.”
Pro-Life-Statement-of-Principles-and-Political-Prudence
