Wesley J. Smith

Georgia has banned abortion after the 20th week based on research indicating that fetuses may be able to feel pain after that time. From the Reuters story:The abortion measure passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature in late March included exceptions to save the life of the mother and if the . . . . Continue Reading »

The other day we discussed whether it is correct to use the law to protect gestating babies from harm they will experience after birth, even if it means criminally punishing their mothers. My perspective was that while we could certainly take the idea too far, the underlying principle is sound. From . . . . Continue Reading »

I decided to expand my thoughts, first expressed here, about the NYT column by Professor Michael Marder claiming that it is unethical to eat peas because pea plants can communicate chemically.  I took to the Daily Caller, first describing the article in question, and then noting . . . . Continue Reading »

Disgusting: That certain meme asserting that fetuses must be deemed by the law as so much chopped liver—to be treated well, badly, or killed—as the autonomous woman desires. Never mind that the developing baby is a unique individual, or that he or she has a father who might want the . . . . Continue Reading »

The New York Times—of course!—ran a piece in its Sunday opinion section (originally a blog) by a university professor—of course!—claiming that we are unethical in our eating of plants. Apparently, Michael Marder agrees with the Swiss, which a few years ago accorded legal . . . . Continue Reading »

Beware. The government is hatching new ways to intrude into our lives, this time, to measure our happiness.  Beware! That is an open ended invitation to intrusive bureaucracy.To warn my fellow citizens of the insidiousness of this seemingly benign initiative, I took to the Weekly . . . . Continue Reading »

I can only shake my head.  Some scientists and bioethicists insist that human behavior, being that we are supposedly mere meat machines, can be reduced to the sum of our biological and chemical interactions.  Figure out how those work and it just becomes math—we can . . . . Continue Reading »

More on the” crises of competence and character” (as I call it) that has infected science—along with general society—as the West increasingly turns its back on what made it great and heads in a decidedly decadent direction.  A UK scientist, now in the . . . . Continue Reading »

I edit a newsletter published by the Discovery Institute called The Human Exceptionalist. The point of the work is to illustrate the many and varied issues in which human exceptionalism is either relevant, or more often, under attack.  I write an introductory letter for each edition and excerpt . . . . Continue Reading »

The Obamacarians don’t care much about the U.S. Constitution.  Now, we have the Secretary of Health and Human Services admitting she didn’t even consider the constitutionality of imposing the “free birth control” rule, nor obtain a legal memo on the legal mandate . . . . Continue Reading »