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.

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.

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.

He [Hern] calls his center the Boulder Abortion Clinic and he said specifically that he didn't want to hide that word. I'm deeply opposed to the politicization of language and try to avoid it when I possibly can - I don't like being manipulated by terms like pro-life or pro-choice. To me, abortionist should be as neutral as podiatrist. But again, maybe it was one battle too many, because it certainly distracted his attention from what I thought was a really sympathetic piece.

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.

I don't think in the religious way that most people associate that word with, but Hern is a committed guy. He's doing the hardest job with the late-term thing. I don't think that's easy on a person, especially under the kind of terrorism that doctors of his kind have seen over the past twenty years. He's a tough guy.

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.