Director, Commonwealth Policy Center

Ever feel like you're Alice in Wonderland where everything is topsy turvy?  Two recent news stories put me into that fairy tale where I felt somewhere between the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts.

The first came from Florida, where an 18-year-old high school girl is being charged for having sexual relations with a 14-year-old.  It would be a non-story as, most would agree that statutory rape should be punished. Except in this case it was a same-sex relationship.  The 18-year-old's father claims that BECAUSE it was a homosexual relationship, his daughter should be given a pass.  To enforce the law against a homosexual having sex with a minor is bigoted and homophobic.  Father, meet the Queen of Hearts.

The second story found in the Washington Post in an opinion piece by R. Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin law and medical schools.  In the article, titled "A proposal for moms-to-be (like abortion rules, it’s for their own good)," Mr. Charo argued that pregnant women should be counseled against giving birth, warned of birth's negative mental and economic consequences, and be forced to watch a two hour video featuring a screaming baby, bratty toddlers, and rebellious teenagers. That's not all.   Pregnant minors should be required to have the consent of a parent to go through with a pregnancy, and all women wishing to carry a child to term should undergo rigorous questioning to ensure the decision is free and voluntary, not coerced by family, partner, or clergy.  In other words, the norm should be abortion.  Birth should be avoided and discouraged at all costs. Tea anyone?

Mr. Charo has yet to explain how promoting abortion has anything to do with bioethics. Yet in the Wonderland of moral relativism, no explanation is needed by the Knave of Hearts who's stolen not the Queen of Heart's tarts, but rather logic and moral reasoning.  Please tell me when this bad dream is over.