Life Itself: Abortion in the American Mind

In Life Itself, Roger Rosenblatt redefines the debate on abortion and offers a resolution.
Through columns in leading publications and his on-air essays for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Rosenblatt has become widely recognized as America's preeminent commentator on social and moral issues. In this book, he turns to the most bitterly divisive social question of our time.
"Give abortion five seconds of thought and it quickly spirals down in the mind to the most basic questions about human life, to the mysteries of birth and our relationship with our souls," he writes. "It is difficult to disentangle, much less express, the feelings it engenders."
Yet what we have seen in this country over the past twenty years has been the political warfare of extremists, not honest discussion among ordinary citizens with differing views.
Life Itself attempts to establish an "uncommon ground" on abortion by using the deep ambivalence the great majority of Americans feel about the problem toward its resolution. We live in uncomfortable but manageable conflict on a number of important national issues, Rosenblatt writes. It is time to learn to live with conflicted feelings on abortion as well.
To make his case, Rosenblatt traces the 4,000-year history of abortion, demonstrating that all civilizations have dealt with conflict on the issue, and have fashioned their resolutions to meet their particular structure and needs.
Why then do Americans alone in history have so hard a time doing the same? Rosenblatt answers this provocative question by examining specific American characteristics of thought that have become particularly explosive when touched by abortion.
Finally, through a series of interviews and speculations, Rosenblatt determines that the country is more united in its attitudes about abortion than the political warriors would have us believe. In the end, he presents a formula by which we may begin to recognize and live with one another on this matter in spite of, and within, our divided views:
"To create a society in which abortion is permitted and its gravity appreciated is to create but another of the many useful frictions of a democracy. Such a society does not devalue life by allowing abortion; it takes life with utmost seriousness, and is, by the depth of its conflicts and the richness of its difficulties, a reflection of life itself."

Rosenblatt, essayist for the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, is on to something here with interesting theories about why America is so singularly obsessed with the abortion issue. He speculates as to reasons: our Puritan origins, the loneliness of American life, antagonism to women's liberation and despair over the eroding national morale, which commenced during the Vietnam War. He also presents an instructive history of how societies, ancient and modern, have viewed abortion. In the U.S. doctors were the first to express opposition to abortion, he notes. They did so to wrest abortion from midwives and gain control of all medical procedures. Rosenblatt issues a plea to pro-choice and pro-life advocates for tolerance, stressing that most of the country has mixed feelings regarding the issue and that our nation has learned to live with diversity. Reasoned historical and cross-cultural discussion such as this could serve to de-escalate the hysteria.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Life's editor-at-large Rosenblatt (Children of War, 1983) calls for a cease-fire in America's battle over abortion, brilliantly drawing up a resolution that tolerates this ``imponderable, agonizing and fundamentally ambiguous element in our national life.'' Rosenblatt argues that our politicized pro-choice/pro-life schism came about because of Roe v. Wade's ``misidentification of abortion as purely a rights issue.'' In fact, he says, it is far more complicated, filled with grief and shame and ultimately without any clear-cut solution. Americans, the author argues, are finally ready to accept abortion as the ``irreconcilable problem'' that it is. Most, he writes, think ``abortion must be preserved as an option. Most of these same Americans also dread the practice of abortion.'' (According to polls cited here, 73% favor ``abortion rights,'' yet 77% see abortion as a form of murder.) Speaking with the logic, clarity, and compassion necessary for public discussion of this most private and difficult subject, Rosenblatt argues for a formula of ``permit, but discourage,'' setting his argument in a far-reaching historical context. Looking at laws and practices from Sumeria, Greece, and Rome to those of Hindus, Jews, Christians, etc., he shows that a civilization's handling of abortion always has depended upon its particular character. And never have the questions of when life begins or what justifies abortion been resolved. Rosenblatt traces America's moral struggle with abortion to our Puritan heritage, our individualism, and ``our preoccupation with evil, our dogged middle-classness, especially as regards sexuality and the role of women.'' Finally, the state of Iowa serves him as a model in which people are ``pro-choice with the sort of reservations that humanize the issue.'' A profound book, daring to lift the issue of abortion out of the political mire to a higher humanistic plain. Rosenblatt's ``permit, but discourage'' resolution seems not only possibly workable, but holds the promise that we might address the causes of societal ``collapse'' and not the fallout. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Most polls report that the majority of Americans support the right of a woman to choose an abortion. Why then is this issue tearing our country apart, columnist Rosenblatt wonders. He traces the sociological history of abortion and cites depth of religious feeling and lack of consensus in the United States as factors contributing to our particularly divisive struggle. Rosenblatt feels that living in a democracy means tolerating ideas and practices we may not agree with. If pro-life and pro-choice activists will admit this, they can stop shouting at each other, admit the ambivalencies almost everyone feels about abortion, and begin a real dialog. Perhaps then a "permit but discourage" policy, which Rosenblatt feels is what most of the country wants, could be implemented. A unique and sane slant on the abortion question, and a worthwhile acquisition for all libraries in this election year. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/91; see also Sue Hertz's Caught in the Crossfire: A Year on Abortion's Front Line , LJ 10/1/91.
- Linda Knaack, Univ. of Lowell Libs., Mass.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.