Abstract
John Paul II does not address women directly in the Evangelium Vitae until close to the very end. In Section 99 (out of 101), the Holy Father tells the women of the world that our role is unique and crucial in building the culture of life. But what is the culture of life that women are being asked to build, and what does it mean to call ours a culture of death? Why does John Paul end this, his longest encyclical, with an appeal specially to women? What is it about women that convinces him that ours in a unique and necessary role in conquering the culture of death? These questions require investigating the role abortion plays in contemporary culture.