Princeton prof. challenges Geraldo Rivera to abortion debate

Princeton Professor Robert George has publicly challenged co-host of Fox News personality Geraldo Rivera to a debate on the topic of abortion—anywhere, anytime.

George, Princeton’s McCormick Chair in Jurisprudence, posted the challenge on Facebook after Rivera ignored Dr. George’s emailed requests for a debate.

“I just listened to Geraldo Rivera on Fox TV ranting—angrily—in favor of abortion, and bullying the other panelists on The Five,” Professor George begins.

“I've heard him do this before. I wrote to him at his Fox email address a few months ago respectfully requesting the opportunity to debate him on the subject—anytime[,] anywhere.”

Professor George says that he doesn’t like “‘gladiatorial spectacle’ debates” but is willing to make an exception because of “Rivera’s smug certainty and air of moral superiority in defending the butchering of unborn children.”

“[T]his guy really needs to be forced publicly to confront the serious arguments against his position,” George continues.

George offered to give Rivera home field advantage by having the debate on his show.

Rivera was previously in the news over a tense discussion on The Five, in which he suggested using aborted babies as “dog food.”

Professor George closes the post—which garnered more than three hundred likes by time of publication—by asking his Facebook friends to help him get through to Rivera.

In addition to his work at Princeton, Professor George is Chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). George has also served on the President’s Council on Bioethics, the United States Commission on Civil Rights, UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST) and is a former Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States.

At the time of writing, Rivera has not responded to Dr. George’s challenge.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @peterjhasson