Life in the Balance: Exploring the Abortion Controversy

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

Few issues have preoccupied our minds and emotions in recent years as has the abortion controversy. The arguments for and against abortion are many and varied — moral, ethical, biblical, theological, legal — and their presentations have ranged from the highly technical to the simplistic and dogmatic.

In this book Robert N. Wennberg looks at all of the major arguments from the whole spectrum of positions on the abortion issue. He does so both earnestly and fairly, taking care to point out that most of the arguments follow soundly from their premises, and that most of the parties to the debate are altruistically motivated. Cutting through the sensationally prejudicial language often used in arguments about abortion, Wennberg clearly lays out what merit the various arguments have individually so readers can compare them sensibility.

Writing out of the evangelical Protestant tradition, Wennberg nevertheless looks fairly and with an open mind at all of the arguments. And although his discussion entails fine points of medicine and philosophical argumentation, he presents it in a thoroughly accessible fashion, making this book valuable for anyone who wants a noncrusading presentation of this crucial issue.

Robert N. Wennberg (1935–2010) taught philosophy for thirty-seven years at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. At Westmont, he was honored as Teacher of the Year five times (1973, 1982, 1989, 1995, and 2002). He wrote and lectured on a variety of moral and ethical issues, including abortion, suicide, and euthanasia.