A Call to Truth Telling

Post-Dobbs, Catholics will need to find ways to move beyond the dichotomizing debate between pro-life and pro-choice. That primary language about abortion debates in the past few decades has not only appeared to pit prenatal children against women, but also fits rather too neatly into the two-party...

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Main Author: Jana M. Bennett
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Journal of Moral Theology, Inc. 2023-01-01
Series:Journal of Moral Theology
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.55476/001c.66248
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author Jana M. Bennett
author_facet Jana M. Bennett
author_sort Jana M. Bennett
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description Post-Dobbs, Catholics will need to find ways to move beyond the dichotomizing debate between pro-life and pro-choice. That primary language about abortion debates in the past few decades has not only appeared to pit prenatal children against women, but also fits rather too neatly into the two-party political system that does not help people engage fully with each other or with Catholic thought. I suggest that a way forward is to focus on truth-telling, especially by avoiding lies of omission about either one’s own debate position or that of the other side, and I give a couple of examples in this article. I argue that more concentrated focus on being truthful will enable us not only to see each other’s nuanced arguments but also to sit with peoples’ wrenching, difficult considerations in the midst of pregnancy. Striving to be more truthful in conversations will also bring the kind of complexity that enables us to see that people hold more shared concerns about women, children, and reproduction, than we may initially have thought.
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spelling doaj.art-32286fc7ed654e748b87541ac88f15982023-10-20T17:34:02ZengThe Journal of Moral Theology, Inc.Journal of Moral Theology2166-28512166-21182023-01-01121A Call to Truth TellingJana M. BennettPost-Dobbs, Catholics will need to find ways to move beyond the dichotomizing debate between pro-life and pro-choice. That primary language about abortion debates in the past few decades has not only appeared to pit prenatal children against women, but also fits rather too neatly into the two-party political system that does not help people engage fully with each other or with Catholic thought. I suggest that a way forward is to focus on truth-telling, especially by avoiding lies of omission about either one’s own debate position or that of the other side, and I give a couple of examples in this article. I argue that more concentrated focus on being truthful will enable us not only to see each other’s nuanced arguments but also to sit with peoples’ wrenching, difficult considerations in the midst of pregnancy. Striving to be more truthful in conversations will also bring the kind of complexity that enables us to see that people hold more shared concerns about women, children, and reproduction, than we may initially have thought.https://doi.org/10.55476/001c.66248
spellingShingle Jana M. Bennett
A Call to Truth Telling
Journal of Moral Theology
title A Call to Truth Telling
title_full A Call to Truth Telling
title_fullStr A Call to Truth Telling
title_full_unstemmed A Call to Truth Telling
title_short A Call to Truth Telling
title_sort call to truth telling
url https://doi.org/10.55476/001c.66248
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