That's his definition of mercy. This is the year of the Mercy Jubilee of the pope. I know that he's against abortion, but he talks about Christ's emphasis on mercy instead of his emphasis on judgment. He talks about the lack of Christian charity and the pride that are afloat in our world these days in terms of making moral judgments on other people. That's really it for Willie. He's really a missionary.

I was incredibly depressed and I found myself avoiding doing interviews where my [20-something daughters] could hear me - or leaving books on the coffee table they could see.

Most of the reasons for late-term abortions have to do with severe fetal deformities, but when I found out that dwarfism was also a reason for late-term abortions that was tough. I did a book on dwarfs and know a lot of them, and that was a shock. That's a decision I could not feel comfortable with.

That's his definition of mercy. This is the year of the Mercy Jubilee of the pope. I know that he's against abortion, but he talks about Christ's emphasis on mercy instead of his emphasis on judgment. He talks about the lack of Christian charity and the pride that are afloat in our world these days in terms of making moral judgments on other people. That's really it for Willie. He's really a missionary.

There are so many kinds of different feelings - not good feelings - going on in the room, and he comes in with so much compassion. He's a straight talker and pulls them into what feels like a really positive action-struggle kind of feeling. Without seeing that, you might have all kinds of judgments or feelings about what might go on in a place like that. But it felt akin to a spiritual healing more than I could have possibly anticipated.

A lot of people are listening and most people believe global warming is a problem and they'd like to see it addressed. But governments and the biggest companies in the world don't want to deal with it like they didn't want to deal with the fact that tobacco causes cancer.

Planned Parenthood gave me an award for the Willie Parker story that I was deeply honored by. I didn't get any negative comments. I think the Willie Parker piece had more of an impact on people in that sense because it went deeper into the clinic itself.