An e-mail:

The best story line on TV in a long time, right now, is on Days of our Lives (my wife, upon learning how to operate our DVR, has become re-addicted to this staple of her college days, and I am forced to watch most every episode). A college sophomore has an abortion without telling her boyfriend, which I initially thought was treated very matter-of-factly. However, that one “harmless” lie has led to her (in an indescribable manner that could only happen on a soap) deciding to plead guilty to attempted murder in order to avoid her boyfriend from learning the truth. There has been no moralizing about her decision, no lecturing, but the fates (i.e. writers) have definitely made her pay a heavy price for her absolutely legal decision. What has begun to impress me as the story has developed is that I don’t think that anyone, pro-life or pro-choice, could argue that any one viewpoint about the morals involved in the character’s choice to have an abortion have been ‘pushed’ over any other viewpoint – women do have a right to abortion in this country, and have no legal obligation to tell their husband/boyfriend of their pregnancy or decision to terminate the pregnancy, but such deceptions ultimately have consequences.