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Two of the nation’s leading newspapers, theLos Angeles Times and The Washington Post, ran stories within days of each other that deal with the apparent recent crackup in the pro-life movement. The news is not an earthshaking development but another note in the history of the abortion wars in the United States.
I’m not terribly clear on why the federal government has a surgeon general, but it’s been one of the highest-ranked public health positions in the land since Ulysses S. Grant filled it with John Maynard Woodworth in 1871. President Bush’s nominee for the vacant seat is one Dr. James W. Holsinger, a University of Kentucky professor.
Washington Post reporter Peter Slevin vented on St. Louis Roman Catholic Archbishop Raymond Burke in this diatribe news article published today.
Clearly, the Anglican vs. Episcopal warfare is just getting started at the local level here in the United States, which means that more and more religion reporters are going to have to wade into this journalistic swamp in the weeks, months and years ahead.
I don’t know why so many reporters are covering abortion-related topics these days, but we have the opportunity to look at yet another article in the genre. In this case Robin Toner of The New York Times wrote about the “new tactic” of pro-lifers seeming to care about women’s well-being. The headline is “Abortion Foes See Validation for New Tactic.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, showed one of his more decisive moments on Tuesday by announcing that he would not invite two bishops — Gene Robinson of the Diocese of New Hampshire and Martyn Minns of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America — to the Lambeth Conference next year in England. The significance of his decision is captured well in reports by Laurie Goodstein of The New York Times, Julia Duin of The Washington Times and Rachel Zoll of The Associated Press.
In recent weeks we’ve seen a couple of really good articles about the ethics and values of abortion supporters. Liza Mundy, a staff writer for The Washington Post Magazine, had another excellent entry that relates to the topic with her Sunday piece on women pregnant with more than one fetus who wish they had fewer.
All week long (while the Jerry Falwell coverage rolled on, with good reason) I have been puzzled about a strange story that I read in The Washington Post. Allow me to flash back.
It was just a week ago that we looked at New York Times reporter Amy Harmon’s story on genetic testing of fetuses. She wrote that some parents of children with Down syndrome are lobbying other parents not to abort their children with Down syndrome. The story, which was very well done, left me hungry for more coverage of genetic testing issues.
