Compelling Interest

Is a fetus a person?

Is “pro-choice” really a neutral position?

For 40 years since the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, the abortion debate has been highly charged and politicized. Questions like these—and passionate but widely varying answers—have become the common language of the public dialogue on this issue. Yet behind the scenes of this historic case are other intriguing questions:

·       How did the Supreme Court come to be involved in the abortion debate? 
·       Was language manipulated to affect the outcome?
·       What was the moral basis underlying the decision?

In Compelling Interest, author Roger Resler draws on original sources, including the actual transcripts for oral arguments, the majority and minority opinions, and comments by the lawyers and others involved to take a careful look at the real story behind the historic Roe v. Wade decision.

Resler includes conversations with experts, including sociology professor Dr. William Brennan, the late Dr. Mildred Jefferson and Dr. Carolyn Gerster who co-founded the National Right to Life Committee, prolific author and speaker Randy Alcorn, bioethics professor Dr. Gerard Magill, perinatologist Dr. James Thorp, and photojournalist Michael Clancy.

This carefully researched book speaks with a thought-provoking, balanced voice that stands out from the usual partisan rhetoric on the topic.

Praise for Compelling Interest

“This is a must read for anyone, whether you consider yourself pro-life or pro-choice. We must be prepared with factual information, which is what this book gives you. The abortion lobby has fooled the American public far too long. We need to know the truth about abortion and how these laws came to be. Read this book to get the truth.”
— Abby Johnson - Former Planned Parenthood Director - Author of best-selling book Unplanned

"One could say that as an abortion survivor, I have a compelling interest in the Roe v. Wade decision and the abortion debate that has ensued over the past 40 years. However, I believe that all of us have a compelling interest in knowing how we have arrived at this place of over 55 million lives lost and a world that has been forever changed as a result. As we mark 40 years of the Roe v. Wade decision, I believe that it’s important that we look at both how we have arrived at this place in time and reflect upon how our cultural landscape has been forever changed. I have found Compelling Interest to be effective at doing just that."
— Melissa Ohden • Saline Infusion Abortion Survivor - Pro-Life Speaker and Author

"Roger Resler has provided us with a very complete and fascinating history—much of it behind the scenes—of the Roe v. Wade case, the events that led up to it, some of the major court cases after it, a lucid and cogent analysis of the legal issue of abortion, and a thorough rebuttal of the arguments advanced by proponents of Roe’s conclusion. This is a must read for all who work on the legal and ethical aspects of the abortion issue. I cannot recommend this work highly enough."
— Patrick Lee - McAleer Professor of Bioethics - Director, Institute of Bioethics - Franciscan University of Steubenville

“I found myself absorbed in this book from page one. Roger Resler tells the lesser known story of how Roe v. Wade became the landmark that it is. We cannot understand our current ironic predicament—in which the state turns a blind eye to the elimination of millions of its future citizens—until we know the history of the abortion debate over the last 40 years. All in all, Compelling Interest is compellingly interesting and insightful.”
— Mark Galli - Senior Managing Editor Christianity Today