Jason Morgan

  Shortly after the recent US presidential election, “your body, my choice” began trending up in online discourse. The sentiment is vile. Those who repeat it, or post memes emblazoned with the phrase, do so to threaten women. The meaning of the four-word taunt is clear: “I... Read More →

  For the first time in my life a presidential campaign has come and gone without substantive discussion about the moral fabric of America. Roe v. Wade was an abhorrent Supreme Court decision, but it did have one positive aspect—it loomed in the background of national... Read More →

  Last month, I looked to an ancient Asian religion, Jainism, for help in rethinking the debates in the West over when life begins. Jains believe that human beings are embodied jivas, or sentience-imbued—and bequeathing—life forces. I suggested we might take a cue from them... Read More →

  Abortion and euthanasia are two of the most scorched-over debate battlefields in the West. Positions for and against tend to stalemate because questions about life and death are often seen as absolute. When does life begin? When does it end? Answers to these can help... Read More →

  In July, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio met with some 130 plaintiffs and other related parties involved in several lawsuits against the Japanese government. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for forced sterilization operations carried out under the Eugenics... Read More →

  The 2023 cinematic production The Zone of Interest won an Academy Award last month for Best International Feature Film. This powerful movie focuses on Schutzstaffel (SS) lieutenant colonel Rudolf Höss during his time as commandant of Auschwitz, the sprawling Nazi... Read More →

  In recent years I have been involved in an academic debate over the comfort women. “Comfort women” is a direct—and too-literal—translation of ianfu (慰安婦), a euphemistic Japanese term meaning a woman (fu) who provides ian, something which might best be expressed in English... Read More →

  I have a cousin who was born with a severe mental handicap and has been institutionalized since infancy. At the end of June, my cousin—let’s call him Toby—turned fifty. I don’t think any physician who examined him expected him to live to ten let alone all these years.... Read More →

  When I first learned about the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in grade school it seemed to me to be eminently just. School segregation had been manifestly wrong, an affront to human dignity. Underlying the “separate but equal” paradigm that held... Read More →

  National news outlets are abuzz with articles about abortion in Arizona. In September 2022, state courts, working in the wake of the Dobbs decision earlier that year, lifted injunctions (put in place following the Roe decision in 1973) against laws criminalizing almost all... Read More →