The church does not effect legislation in Latin American countries as much as it claims. I have lived in three different countries in Latin America, and in only one of those places could the church claim to continue to succeed in opposing legislation to legalize abortion: Chile. And I think that’s mostly posturing.…

I don’t think that the position of the church on abortion is less surprising than their position on birth control, though? Both positions are based on mystical ideas about the nature and purpose of humn life forms, and of sex.

Right. I’m very very pro-abortion as an option. But I have no beef with the Catholic church for stating their theology. It’s their theology. It’s a mystical ideal. As long as they don’t try to influence public policy or legislation then it’s their right to tell parishioners that the church, in its current incarnation,…