In a column published a month before his death, the revered film critic stated his opposition to abortion :



My choice is to not support abortion, except in cases of a clear-cut choice between the lives of the mother and child. A child conceived through incest or rape is innocent and deserves the right to be born.

That first sentence leaves something to be desired, but Ebert was a film critic, not an ethicist. May he rest in peace.

Update: A commenter writes below:



The first sentence of Eberts observation indeed leaves something to be desired. But look way down in the comments to his original post. There, a reader confronted him with the story of the readers own wife, who was raped by another while they were married. He asked Ebert how he would explain making her carry a child to term, had she become pregnant, and making them both care for the child. I am silent before your words, Ebert replied . Who am I to say? Yet what are you to say about the rights of the unborn child? Who else admired left of center has recently said anything at all like that?

Wise, both what Ebert says and what he doesn’t.