Justice Byron White and Abortion, by Hadley Arkes

By Hadley Arkes, The Catholic Thing, Feb. 22, 2022

Hadley Arkes is the Ney Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus at Amherst College and the Founder/Director of the James Wilson Institute on Natural Rights & the American Founding. …

Richard Doerflinger has been a friend of many years, and one of the enduring, great figures in the pro-life movement since his days in the pro-life office of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.  To his brilliance was added the most anchored, sound judgment, and I’ve been guided by that judgment over the years. And so I’m a bit taken aback that he thinks I was notably unfair, and possibly mistaken, in the account I recently offered of Justice Byron White in my previous column “Waiting for Dobbs.”

This is one of those rare occasions where my friend might have misread me, and it’s worth getting clear on this matter, because it touches questions of enduring interest in the pro-life movement. …