Volume 13, Issue 4, Winter 2013
Francis Beckwith
Pages 601-609
On Making the Case for Life
St. Peter’s Counsel to Always Be Ready
In Evangelium vitae, Pope John Paul II writes that the culture of death is the consequence of society embracing a “positivist mentality.” Given both where the Church is culturally situated as well as her call for a New Evangelization, this article offers a critique of positivist mentality that attempts to draw out of its advocates the natural law that is “written in the heart.” This critique includes an analysis of the article “After-Birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?” authored by Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva and published in 2013 in the Journal of Medical Ethics. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 13.4 (Winter 2013): 601–609.