Searching for a Scientific Defense of Marriage
WASHINGTON – Since Roe vs. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion 40 years ago, anti-abortion activists have successfully passed legislation regulating and restricting the right to an abortion, and they have been successful at moving public opinion in their direction. On the marriage issue, though, public opinion has moved in recent years toward allowing the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples, and 12 states and the District of Columbia have redefined marriage. Given that the pro-life and pro-marriage causes are two of the core issues of social conservatives, or the Christian Right social movement, why is the former winning and the latter losing?
This question was put forth by The Christian Post at a Friday panel at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Road to Majority 2013" conference.
"Ultrasound," Ryan Anderson, William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society, answered.
With ultrasound, Anderson explained, it becomes easier to see the victim in an abortion. With same-sex marriage, though, the victim is not as immediately obvious. The "ultrasound" for same-sex marriage, he believes, will be the social science research, which is still in its early stages, on same-sex parenting.
