Books in Brief: The War over the Family

The War over the Family, by Brigitte Berger and Peter Berger (Doubleday, 252 pp., $14.95)

This book is subtitled, “Capturing the Middle Ground.” The authors feel that the discussion of the American family has been ideologized. They seek to “build bridges.” A sample of their reasoning: Few abortion advocates feel it is permissible to terminate a fetus 15 minutes prior to birth. So, also, few pro-life advocates equate a newborn baby with a sixty-cell blastocyst. Therefore a compromise solution can be reached: Abortions should only be permitted in the first six weeks to three months of pregnancy. This is a terribly illogical proposal. Either conception brings life—in which case the Bergers are advocating legalized homicide—or it doesn’t—in which case, why shouldn’t abortion be allowed after the first trimester? But polemical consistency is not what the authors seek. They are after a moral consensus, a locus of ethical agreement without which they do not think America can remain a unified nation. The question is whether it is possible to defend the traditional family—the authors’ stated objective—while arbitrarily seeking midpoints on the moral spectrum.