The essays in this work constitute a sensitive, public argument for a reconstruction of the confused - yet dominant - popular attitudes toward nascent human life and its value. Unlike most pro-life arguments, it offers no strictly religious or exclusively sectarian warrants for its assertions instead bearing a more secular cast, speaking to a generalised and pluralistic audience. As a whole, "The Silent Subject" embraces no specific, particular political ideology. Its contributors have a broad spectrum of professional interests, political perspectives and social philosophies - all of which indicates the fundamentally humanistic and apolitical nature of concern for the unborn and the degree to which they are esteemed.