Ed Whelan has
responded
to John Finnis’s argument that
abortion is unconstitutional
—that the Fourteenth Amendment included the unborn in its original meaning and thus protects unborn persons from abortion—with three doubts and criticisms. Whelan and Finnis agree on many underlying issues, namely the moral horror of abortion and the constitutional abomination of
Roe
and
Casey
. But Whelan, like the late Justice Antonin Scalia, believes that, as an originalist matter, the question of abortion must be determined through the democratic process in the states. Having recently
debated
Whelan on this topic, I think none of his three objections to Finnis withstand close scrutiny.
POPE FRANCIS TO CONFER NEW LAY MINISTRIES FOR FIRST TIME IN ST. PETER’S BASILICA
The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will confer the ministries of catechist, lector, and acolyte upon lay men and
