President Obama has talked about the importance of "vigorous debate" and "thoughtful dialogue" on weighty issues like abortion and embryo research, but his actions indicate that he has no interest whatsoever in a thoughtful investigation of these matters. (His recent disbanding of the President's Council on Bioethics is one good example.)
So what does the president really believe about the value of human life? Philosopher Patrick Lee comes up with six possibilities consistent with Obama's radically pro-abortion record, none of which hold up under scrutiny, as Lee shows.
The president's true position, Lee guesses, is this: "I don't care when life begins; I do not care at all about individuals that can't be (directly) seen, that are too small, or look very different from us." This is probably the least thoughtful and defensible of the six options, and suggests that the president hasn't bothered to give significant thought to the issue.
Lee concludes: "Each of the positions that might justify his actions has insuperable logical and/or philosophical difficulties. It is time to have some of that vigorous debate Obama claims to favor."
If only the president had a bit more intellectual curiosity.
