Perspect Biol Med. 2020;63(3):532-534. doi: 10.1353/pbm.2020.0042.
The author characterizes the Pope's position on the sanctity of fetal life as less a moral proposition than an observation about the unborn child's function as an essential messenger, through the mother's pregnancy to the child's birth and to the child's role in defining the family. He considers the Pope's suggestion as a means of lowering the heat surrounding the abortion issue by distancing that dialogue from ingrained dogma. However, in proposing this point to a friend who is a firm pro-choice partisan, the author finds her skeptical of the Pope's frankness in thus framing the issue, and that she views the Pope's apparent concessions as merely tactical.
作者将教皇对胎儿生命神圣性的立场描述为，与其说是一个道德命题，不如说是一个关于未出生婴儿的功能的观点，即通过母亲的怀孕，将孩子带到这个世界，并在家庭的定义中扮演角色。他认为教皇的建议是一种降低堕胎问题热度的手段，通过将这种对话与根深蒂固的教义拉开距离。然而，当作者向一位坚定支持选择的朋友提出这一点时，发现她对教皇如此坦率地阐述这个问题持怀疑态度，并且她认为教皇的明显让步只是策略性的。
