 Media Credit: John Kennedy Ben Stein, former Nixon speechwriter and host of Comedy Central´s Win Ben Stein´s Money, discussed abortion politics last Monday evening.
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Celebrated actor, speechwriter, talk and game show host Ben Stein spoke to 200 Boston College students last Monday about his pro-life stance in a lecture hosted by the BC Republicans. Stein managed to throw in some humor as well, poking fun at everyone from Bill Clinton to Jesuits to lawyers.
Stein opened his talk by describing the architecture of BC. “I’m haunted by these buildings because they remind me of Yale,” Stein, a Yale graduate, said. “In Hollywood, we don’t have gothic structures and paintings of martyred Jesuits. I’m sure if there were Jesuits in Hollywood, they’d martyr them.”
Stein touched on the election first and described it as a “confused mess. If only Massachusetts had voted Republican like they used to. No matter what happens now, this country will endure tremendous bitterness, but we will get through it. Hey, we got through the Civil War.”
Stein is an avid Bush supporter. “He’s a great guy and I’ve worked hard for him,” he said. “I think there’s something psychopathic going on inside Gore’s head for him not to concede after two counts against him. What’s happened is extremely unfortunate and unprecedented.”
He then shifted to a serious discussion on abortion. Stein said he believes this country has already seen two revolutions: the American Revolution and the Civil Rights movement. A third one has developed recently, the “Right to Life” revolution, and it started with the Roe v. Wade decision, Stein said.
Stein gave a brief history of abortion in America. Before Roe v. Wade, it was up to the states to decide whether abortions were legal. When data came out that babies could feel pain, pleasure and hear things inside the womb, the “Right to Life” movement began, with backing from the Roman Catholic church.
“It got rolling as a powerful force right away,” Stein said. He described the “Women’s Movement,” or the movement against “Right to Life,” as churning away even quicker.
Stein detailed his basic reasons for believing in the “Right to Life.”
“It has been medically demonstrated that babies show signs of life and personality in the womb,” he said. “Babies get extreme pain when they are murdered in the womb and to murder them strikes me as extremely outrageous.” Stein added the comment later that he’s “hugely in favor of people having as much sex as they want, but I don’t consider homicide to be a form of birth control.”
