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PAGE 10 — The Georgia Bulletin, January 19,1989 A Fresh Perspective U.S., Europe Abortion Laws Compared ABORTION AND DIVORCE IN WESTERN LAW by Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard University Press, (Cam bridge, Mass. 1987) 197 pp., $25. (hardback) REVIEWED BY CHRIS VALLEY Rarely does one read a book so incisive in social commen tary and original in perspective that it engages one fully in a dialogue with its author. This is such a book. Mary Ann Glendon, a professor at Harvard Law School, uses cross-national comparative analysis to highlight and critique the legal status of two complex and emotional issues in American society: abortion and divorce. She then argues for greater attention to what has become known as family policy, that is, a philosophical perspective on how laws and regulations impact upon family relationships and family well-being. Glendon describes the process of legal formulation (both through legislative action and judicial decisions) in the United States and in England and continental Europe. She presents a convincing argument that law, particularly what is known as family law, “is no more — and no less — than the symbolic expression of certain cultural ideals.” Abortion and divorce are the two substantive areas on which Glendon focuses. She chooses these two because in both cases, she maintains, their legal status in the United States is unique among industrialized Western societies, oc cupying “an extreme end of the spectrum." Concerning abortion, Glendon provides a fresh perspec tive on how different societies, which were every bit as divided on this issue as ours is, evolved political com promises which maintain the ideal of the sanctity of life from the moment of conception yet recognize that in some circumstances that ideal cannot be sustained fully. Since 1973, according to Glendon, the United States is the only Western nation that forbids any regulation until after viability (in 1973, estimated to be 24-28 weeks) for the sake of preserving the fetus. Even in those Western societies where abortion during the first trimester is available vir tually on demand, counseling before an abortion is man dated along with a waiting period between the time of counseling and the abortion. Such counseling describes alternatives to abortion and government aid available to assist in delivery of the baby and support of mother and child. In the United States, the Supreme Court has struck down all attempts by state legislatures to do likewise. Glendon asks whether American abortion law would look different had the Supreme Court not intervened to cut short the debate which began in the late sixties on the proper regulation of abortion. She believes it would. She sees the need for either a constitutional amendment to return authority to state legislatures, or, “preferably, the Supreme Court’s reconsideration of its own rulings. A reconsideration by the Court would not necessarily en tail a repudiation of Roe vs. Wade, but only a confining of the decision to its narrow holding which stated that the Texas abortion statute making all abortions illegal except to save the life of the mother is unconstitutional. Would a return of authority for regulation of abortion to the states result in nationwide prohibition of abortion on de mand? Glendon does not believe this is possible. More like ly, a variety of more or less stringent views on abortion would evolve. “In our pluralistic society,” she notes, “it may not be possible fully to protect fetal life." Glendons own version of a compromise would allow abortion on demand during only the first trimester. Since approximately 90 percent of all abortions are performed during the first trimester now, it is hard to see a practical advantage in this. Any movement toward restricting abortion should, in Glendon s view, be supplemented by provision of greater governmental benefits for mothers and poor children and by greater effort to mandate and collect realistic child sup port from fathers. Concerning divorce. Glendon sees much of the recent history of American divorce legislation as in effect, “a withdrawal of much official regulation of marriage: its for mation, its legal effects, and its termination.” Most American states have gone further than any Western nation except Sweden in making marriage “freely terminable." Statutes on divorce across the United States are characterized by "no-fault” grounds with a short waiting period. American law has made divorce into an individual right. Glendon does not propose a return to earlier divorce statutes. However, comparing the United States with other Western nations, she sees a need to clearly protect those she terms, “the economic casualties of divorce” — typical ly women with custody of minor children. She proposes that in divorce cases where minor children are involved, “All property, no matter when or how ac quired, would be subject to the duty to provide for the children.” Comparing legislation regulating divorce across Western nations, Glendon acknowledges that there is no perfect solution possible in divorce settlements. “But some coun tries do more than others to alleviate the burdens of (the custodial parent of minor children) and to make sure that (the burdens) are fairly shared between the former spouses.” The overall problem in both abortion and divorce laws is the philosophical framework in which their legal status has evolved: that of competing individual rights. The fact that “WONDERFULLY MADE” — This full-color ' poster by Lennart Nillson featuring a photograph of a child at 18 weeks’ gestation is being printed and sold by the U.S. Catholic Con- * ference to highlight the sacredness of human life. The poster, 16 by 20 inches, is available from the USCC, Dept. RL-4,1312 Massachusetts * Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005-4105. Prices are $1.75 folded or $2.95 flat (both postage in cluded)'. * relationships inherently are involved is largely ignored, as are any questions of community values. Glendon blames much of this situation on the lack of ex- *, plicit family policy in American society. “Our family policy is implicit, contained in the details of tax law. employment law. pension and insurance law, social welfare and social security law. and so on. Because it '• is implicit, it is largely unexamined, and its implications for family life are insufficiently aired and discussed.” Thanks to Professor Glendon. at least the two issues of abortion and divorce are being scrutinized as they impact *• upon family relationships and well-being. Chris Valley is a frequent contributer to The Georgia Bulletin. • New Merton Journal Documents Pivotal Life Change A VOW OF CONVERSATION by Thomas Merton. Far rar, Straus, & Giroux (New York, 1988 ) 212 pp (with index) $17.95. REVIEWED BY VICTOR A. KRAMER This book records the period from Jan. 1,1964 to Sept. 6, 1965 when Merton began to live by himself as a hermit. It is also the record of a shedding off of a part of himself so that he can move closer to the core of reality. Merton’s A Vow of Conversation is one of those documents about a pivotal mo ment in his life. In this case his journal entries are from a two-year period which provided the chance for him to move from prescribed responsibilities of the monastic day within the confines of a large monastery to the transference of those responsibilities to a quieter setting. These months are the testing ground for his three-year experiment as a her mit which is to follow. Merton’s journal, A Vow of Conversation, is one more autobiographical record in the paradoxical life of someone called to be quiet so that he could, then, transform himself into a better Christian. Merton, of course, did this with a pen in hand. Other journals which document significant moments of change in his life are The Secular Journal (1959), which is about the years before and the desire to enter Gethsemani Abbey; The Sign of Jonas (1952), which documents the years of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s when Merton accepted his role as a writer fully; Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (1964), another piece of the puzzle, less a narrative, and more a series of meditations about relation ships between silence and speaking. Vow follows Conjec tures, and is a record of Merton’s conscious attempts to move away from activity (within the monastery, and through writing). We all know he did not succeed. He became still more active, even down to the last moments of his life recorded for us in his last long journal, The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (1972). And there were still more: smaller journals have been published under the titles Day of a Stranger; Woods, Shore. Desert; and The Alaskan Journal of Thomas Merton. And more remains in manuscript. In 1993 more material will become available (25 years after Merton’s death). The question is do we need this book too, A Vow of Conversation? The answer is yes. Today’s reader can use it for several reasons. First, it demonstrates that, for Merton, life remained a continuing “conversation” — with God, with aspects of himself, and with his reader. His title, according to the editor Naomi Burton Stone, is “a play on words.” Cistercian monks take five vows: poverty, chastity, obedience, stability, and con version of manners. She notes Merton had himself earlier explained that the vow of conversion of manners was the chance to do “always what is more perfect.” For Merton to pursue this desire for change meant that somehow he had to remain in conversation if he was going to be converted. The implication is that all must do something similar. Second, this book is of use because it records biographical details as Merton edged closer to living the life of a hermit, closer to being able (at least to begin) to give up trying to control life. Merton’s voracious reading from which he fre quently quotes in this journal often suggests a way. He notes: “Bultmann says our care meets God at the end of its capacity where He limits our care and cuts it short. Our love of beauty ... desire for work .. . God is the power who limits all this.” This insight develops into a basic theme throughout this book — the paradox that we can be changed precisely when we stop: God grows “out of the realization that being is an unknown quantity.” Thirdly, the book is of value for it reminds the reader that there is a beauty, a grace, a presence to be beheld in nature which can nurture us. To let go; to no longer seek “an exter nal authority for approval” clears the way, Merton insists, for “rehabilitation of the sensible.” Mist: “a tanager sing ing like a drop of blood;” a “wet trail in the hollow;” “beautiful spring weather . . . utterly cloudless all day.” These things call us to rehabilitation. Merton’s journal is the record of someone whose mind, reading schedule, note-taking is overflowing. Here’s a her mit who realizes he’s too busy. Yet here is a hermit who also realizes that he is committed to a particular place: “my contacts with other people ... by mail or visit are . . . relatively meaningless." Merton realizes that there is irony built into his commitment to place constituted by the Ab bey. He makes it quite clear that living in the hermitage is no “solution.” His job then is to settle in to his place, to “make the best use of (place) not as a place of escape, but as a real place of prayer and self-remuneration.” Thus what the book reveals is that this writer gradually realizes that no one can control anything: instead, “we have to see history as a book sealed and opened only by the Passion of Christ.” Merton’s journal serves many functions. It allows us to see the writer performing like a poet; it provides bio graphical details; it reminds the reader that commitment (to particulars) is necessary, while it shows us all this through the paradox of a writer who was always doing too much. Yet again we confront the paradox: the discipline of a quiet life generates words, words, words. The value of this journal is that it must be savored almost like a prayer book. Merton comments on the solitary life which is, in fact, a model for all Christian lives: One of the fruits of the solitary life is a sense of the ab solute importance of obeying God, a sense of the need to obey and to seek His will, to choose freely, to see and accept what comes from Him, not as a last resort, but as one’s dai ly supersubstantial bread. This means liberatiori from automatic obedience into the seriousness and gravity of a free choice to submit; but it is not always easy to see where and how. Dr. Kramer, director of graduate studies and full pro fessor in the English department at Georgia State Universi ty, has written extensively on Thomas Merton. He is a member of St. Thomas More parish in Decatur. •V
