News Coverage Of Abortion Debate Elicits 'Surprising' Views From 'Pro-Life Atheists,' Newsweek Opinion Piece Says

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 03 Dec 2008 - 2:00 PST

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"Just as pro-life Christians argue that life is sacred because it's given by God, pro-life atheists insist that human life is intrinsically valuable without God's help," Newsweek reporter Lisa Miller writes in an opinion piece that responds to comments she received about a recent online article. Although the original article focused on white evangelicals and abortion, Miller writes that the comments on the piece included a "surprising point of view: a tiny fraction of readers objected to the relentless framing of the pro-life arguments in religious terms." These readers argued that the "case against abortion could be made without God" and that "[a]theists could be pro-life." Nonetheless, "few" atheists are against abortion rights, and the group as a whole "has generally aligned with the left," Miller writes. She adds, "Abortion has been a wedge for more than 30 years because its moral volatility has forced Americans to choose sides: religious vs. secular, right vs. left, traditional vs. progressive."

Miller cites Christopher Hitchens -- "the bombastic and verbally double-jointed atheist intellectual" and author -- as an example of how some atheists take "an uncharacteristic middle path on abortion." Although Hitchens said he considers himself "pro-life" and "has repeatedly defended the use of the term 'unborn child,'" he does not believe Roe v. Wade should be overturned, according to Miller. She continues, "What he wants is for both moral callousness and religion to be excised from the abortion debate and for science to come up with solutions to unwanted pregnancies." Miller writes that "[o]ne of the most sympathetic and intriguing aspects" of Hitchens' point of view "is how little the atheist talks about fetal science (terms like 'viability' and 'neural development' rarely come up) and how much he cedes to his squeamishness on the matter." Miller concludes, "In the abortion wars, such honest reflection is progress indeed" (Miller, Newsweek, 12/8).

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