The ongoing debate over abortion serves as a clear indication that the Supreme Court decision of 1973 did little to settle the question of abortion’s legitimacy. If anything, in fact, the debate has grown, with more strident voices and, in some cases, more violent dimensions than ever before. On both sides, the debate has been dominated by passionate but not always rational arguments. It seems as thought there are no tame opinions about abortion in this country, that public policy is the product of slogans, sound bites, and placards, instead of principled argument. By presenting the balanced, rational argument for the Catholic position on this highly charged subject, Abortion and Public Policy makes a major contribution to public policy discourse in our pluralistic society.

R. Randall Rainey, S.J., LL.M., is Senior Fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

Gerard Magill Ph.D., is Chair of the Department of Health Care Ethics and Director of the interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University.