The Tragedy of the Unwanted Child: What Ancient Cultures Did Before Abortion

“Pro-lifers” consider the termination of a pregnancy the moral equivalent of taking a newborn life. Their strategies seek to blur distinctions between aborting a fetus and killing a newborn. I argue that an understanding of that relationship—drawing on evidence from centuries of history and millennia of evolution—leads to the conclusion that abortion is the most humane alternative to infanticide, adding to the case for safe, legal, accessible abortion for women who need it.

Which sex is more variable?

Despite awful pop stereotypes about scientists slaving away to uncover monolithic truths about the universe, disagreeing only occasionally when a new theory comes along, reality turns out to be far more complicated. We scientists have to break problems down into smaller parts, dissecting one aspect of the observable world at a time. Occasionally, researchers working on different problems, or coming from different backgrounds, discover just how different they are and just how messy the reality they are observing can be. The encounter often undermines old certainties, and it can leave scars.