6 MARCH 2020

THE

Behind the Cover: On this month’s cover, we
illustrated the ideas behind David Brooks’s feature
story by quite literally exploding a nuclear family.
The vintage image, which conjures Bazooka Joe comics
and mid-century cereal boxes, conveys a mythic
familial happiness and nostalgia for the American

dream. Today, of course, that family structure and its

attendant ideals are long gone for most Americans, and

they’re not coming back; a new approach is needed.

— Peter Mendelsund, Creative Director

Oliver Munday, Senior Art Director

Letters

I

I read Caitlin Flanagan’s essay last

night; then I read it again. I have

never seen my inner tumult laid

out in such eloquent prose before.

The badge-wearers, sign-

thrusters, and yell-louders on

both sides of this fight lost me

long ago, though I tip my hat

to their sense of urgency. I find

myself in a quieter, sadder place

that doesn’t marry with slogans.

The costliness, the never-to-be

for both woman and child, is

heartbreaking. Whom shall we

value? The answer is easy and

impossible. Perhaps we should

take a moment and mourn the

tragedy of the thing.

Jamie R. Oaks

Chicago, Ill.

is discussed. While many on the

pro-life side of the argument are

feeling hopeful as the judiciary

becomes more conservative, I

feel a growing sense of unease.

The issues Ms. Flanagan so deftly

points out will not be legislated

away. Even if Roe v. Wade is over-

turned, the fight will rage on.

Friar Paul Schloemer

Silver Spring, Md.

Caitlin Flanagan

replies:

I’ve never been more

surprised— or moved—by

the response to an essay I’ve

written. I received emails

from people on all sides of

the abortion debate, each of

them interested in having a

discussion in which the full

range of human emotions

and experiences regarding the

subject could be considered.

Many anti-abortion read-

ers were grateful to see their

strongest argument advanced

respectfully. And many

pro-abortion-rights readers

recognized themselves in the

voice of a writer who has faced

the whole truth about abor-

tion, and made a firmly held

decision that the procedure

should remain legal.

I want to note that I

received letters from readers

who experienced—and were

surprised by—some sense of

sadness and even grief after

abortions. That doesn’t mean

that they made the wrong

decision. Only that we on the

side of legal abortion could do

I am a Franciscan priest in the

Roman Catholic Church who

has a professional as well as per-

sonal interest in the debate over

abortion. In working with pro-

life groups, hearing confessions

(and sometimes just hurt and

anger) from women (and a few

men) who have had or facilitated

abortions, and trying to simply

discuss the issue with friends

who are pro-choice, I have long

anguished over how to break

through both sides and bring the

subject from a place of debate to

a place of understanding.

Ms. Flanagan’s article has

helped me tremendously down

that road by articulating the pain

that is so raw everywhere abortion

Caitlin Flanagan

reflected in the

December issue on

what we don’t talk

about when we talk

about abortion.

The

Things

We Can’t

Face