Psychological Aftereffects of Abortion: The Rest of the Story

by Joyce Arthur

Conflicting studies over the past thirty years have contributed to an atmosphere of confusion and misinformation about the abortion experience. Does post-abortion syndrome exist? Do women naturally feel guilty and depressed after the procedure? Or is this a self-fulfilling prophesy promoted by anti-abortion advocates?

Cover Story: Humanist Issues in Medicine

What Quinlan Can Tell Kevorkian About the Right to Die

by M. L. Tina Stevens

In the two decades since Karen Ann Quinlan went into a coma, never to regain consciousness, her case has been mistakenly viewed as the foundation of the right-to-die movement, whose high-profile advocate is Jack Kevorkian. But how did a dilemma rooted in issues surrounding organ donation move death with dignity from the hospital to the courtroom?

Liberty and Death

by Edd Doerr

Among sixty amicus curiae briefs submitted to the Supreme Court regarding physician-assisted suicide, one clearly demonstrates that bans against the practice have a religious purpose incompatible with the Bill of Rights.

Behind the White Coat

by Alan Bonsteel

Thousands of patients may be dying needlessly each day because the process of physician training selects for the wrong qualities. Medical students and interns with humane ideals often fall by the wayside or, worse, enter the profession with their values dangerously compromised.

Open Secrets

by Steven Jones

Whatever you may think of Oliver Stone's JFK, it embarrassed Congress into releasing hundreds of thousands of previously classified — and truly revealing — documents. On October 1 of this year, however, that burst of openness comes to an end and secrecy resumes . . . unless the public acts now!

Trading Cards, Heroes, and Whistleblowers

by James R. Bennett

Some say there are no true heroes anymore, but perhaps we're we're looking for them in the wrong places — ball parks and comic book racks instead of the workplace. Whistleblowers are the true superheroes fighting for "truth, justice, and the American way."

Brain Research and Folk Psychology

by Bruce Hinrichs

A confluence of disciplines is creating an information revolution about the mind, consciousness, the emotions, and behavior. And the bold, new picture it paints is shattering common sense notions of how we think and act.

Humanizing Science

by M.J. Hardman

An unspoken colonialism continues to affect scientific research, often making Third World people the objects of study and those in the First World the sole beneficiaries. The field of linguistics provides a clear example of such failings — and how a humanist approach can turn that around.

Creative Controversy Why We Must Restigmatize the Institution of Illegitimacy

by Richard D. Lamm

Are the individual and the social good often at odds? If so, what government policies might paradoxically be the most humane? Here, the controversial former governor discusses these questions and takes on single parenthood in a manner certain to stir debate.

Departments

Up Front:

Born -Again Generals: Too Late for Moral Absolution
by Gregory D. Foster

Silent Reminders
by Neve Gordon

Let's Stand Up for David Dellinger
by Richard Gleason

Divided We Stand
by Wendy Orent

Poetry:

A Classical Simplicity
by Daniel Garrett

Worth Noting

Civil Liberties Watch
Big Brother Goes to High School
by Barbara Dority

Humanist Flashback
The People Versus Bill Baird: Struggling for Your Right to Privacy
by Bill Baird

Watch on the Right
New Strategies, New Groups
by John M. Swomley

Living Humanism
A Legacy from Parent to Child
by Gloria J. Leitner

Humanist Economics
Rose-Colored Lenses and the Consumer Price Index
by John Buell

First Person
Dateline Death Row: On Watching a Man Die
by Donna Renae

Copyright © 2002, the American Humanist Association