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Abstract:
This essay seeks to address a puzzling element of the current political and legal struggles over abortion in the United States: if, as pro-life activists insist, embryos are morally equivalent to born, living persons, then why do these activists not oppose in vitro fertilization (IVF) as aggressively as they oppose abortion? IVF accounts for a significant number of destroyed embryos. Constitutionally, IVF appears to be a much more vulnerable target than abortion. And yet, legislative and political attempts to attack and restrict IVF are few, while attempts to erode women's capability to terminate pregnancies are a constant feature of our political and legal landscape.

abortion, in vitro fertilization

Abstract:
Justice Harry A. Blackmun died on March 4, 1999 at the age of 90. The public funeral was held on March 9, at the huge and impressive Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church, on Nebraska Avenue in Washington, D.C. Among the many speakers at this "Service of Death and Resurrection" was the Rev. Dr. William A. Holmes, senior pastor at the Church, speaking on "The Churchmanship of Harry Blackmun." Dr. Holmes talked movingly of a man who was intimately involved in the affairs of his church. Among the Justice's many contributions, Holmes noted a sermon that Blackmun had once preached on the Book of Ruth. Dr. Holmes concluded his eulogy by remarking that Justice Blackmun's theory of Constitutional interpretation was the same as his theory of Biblical interpretation: a theory grounded in compassion.

On March 4, 2004 the Justice's papers became available to the public through the Library of Congress. In addition to the sermon on the Book of Ruth, preached in 1992, there was a second sermon, preached in 1987 on the bicentennial of the Constitution. In this essay I will describe how these sermons connect to and illuminate the Justice's jurisprudence. First, I will describe Blackmun's religious upbringing and interests. Next, I will summarize the two sermons. Then I will show how the sermons relate to each other, and to one of the Justice's most famous opinions: his dissent in DeShaney v. Winnebago County D.S.S.

One might ask why the sermons of a sitting Justice would be thought to shed any light at all on his jurisprudence, especially in a Justice who, like Blackmun, was careful of the boundaries between church and state. As I show below, recent scholarship has focused on the parallels and similarities between Constitutional and Biblical interpretation. In this essay, I take seriously Dr. Holmes's closing comment and I ask: How similar was Blackmun's interpretive approach to the Constitution and to the Bible?

Justice Blackmun, jurisprudence, law and religion

Abstract:
Advances in genetic research and technology can have a profound impact on identity and family dynamics when genetic findings disrupt deeply held assumptions about the nuclear family. Ancestry tracing and paternity testing present parallel risks and opportunities. As these latter uses are now available over the internet directly to the consumer, bypassing the genetic counselor, consumers need adequate warning when making use of these new modalities.

paternity, genetic anthropology, ancestry tracing

Abstract:
This essay explores the implications for religions of a genetic etiology of sexual orientation, using Judaism as an example. It begins with a brief overview of the current state of the scientific research into genetic elements of sexual orientation. Then it looks at contemporary attitudes toward homosexuality across the Jewish spectrum, and inquires whether there is any evidence to suggest that a scientific finding of a genetic basis for sexual orientation would have a positive influence on those who currently condemn homosexuality.

genetics, sexual orientation, religion, Judaism

Abstract:
This review essay discusses three recent books on the problem of "directed evolution," or genetic engineering, written from differing philosophical perspectives. The books are Babies by Design, by Ronald M. Green, Enhancing Evolution, by John Harris, and The Case against Perfection, by Michael J. Sandel.

genetic engineering, reproduction, genetic ethics

Abstract:
A common objection to directed procreation in which parents choose desirable traits for their children, is that this practice may endanger what Joel Feinberg has termed "the child's right to an open future." Parents who use assisted reproduction and genetic engineering to have a child of the desired sex, or with perfect pitch, may be intolerant if the child chooses other paths. However, that concern is based on the assumption that parents make a big investment in time, money, health, and inconvenience, to beget children with specific traits. That heavy investment is likely to turn normal parental hope into parental entitlement. If selecting the sex of one's child becomes easy, or if parents are already using in vitro fertilization for medical reasons, we have less cause for concern.

genetic engineering, assisted reproduction, sex selection