Dr. Block asked that I post his response to my comments on his law review article in “Allowing the Unborn to Live While Respecting Women’s Free Will.” Here is Dr. Block’s response in its entirety:
I appreciate that you characterize us as “two prolife professors,” because that is EXACTLY how I, at least, see our article. You are also quite correct in maintaining that our paper “argues that medical technology allowing gestation outside the mother’s womb may eventually erode the right to abortion, if that right is understood to mean the right to take the life of the unborn child…” But, this applies, in my view, ONLY if evictionism is adopted in the near term. If not, and assuming the battle continues to be won by the pro choice, not the pro life side, then it is my view that nothing will change even when medical technology is available to render the implications of evictionism that the pro life side would welcome (all fetuses are saved, none are murdered), possible. That is to say, until and unless people massively DROP pro life, and take up the libertarian theory of evictionism, we will not succeed in saving these precious very young human beings.
As for the rest of the comment, it criticizes us not for what we say, but for what we do not say (we do not cover all pertinent law cases). I’m not sure that’s Kosher. On the other hand, I am grateful for having these cases pointed out. If and when we write about this subject again, we will certainly consider including our commentary on them.
Best regards,
Walter
Walter E. Block, Ph.D.
Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics
Joseph A. Butt, S.J. College of Business
Loyola University New Orleans
[email protected]