The principle at stake at Notre Dame

Mary Ann Glendon — a Harvard University law professor and a respected author on bioethics and human rights — quietly declined the honor of receiving Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, in part because Barack Obama was invited to be commencement speaker and to receive an honorary degree. But the more compelling reason seems to have been her sense that she was being used to deflect criticism. . . . Is there really ever a time when we should be comfortable with the ratification of abortion? While one may prefer to preserve the legality of individual discretion, it is nonetheless consoling that there are still those who relentlessly defend life's sanctity. JWR, Glendon's letter to ND on First Things