Last week, the Atlantic ran a piece titled “ The Abortion Absolutist ” that profiled Dr. Warren Hern, a physician who has specialized in performing late-term abortions for the past 50 years in Boulder, Colorado . Deftly written by Atlantic staffer Elaine Godfrey, who appears frequently as a character within the narrative but allows the story to speak for itself, the profile leads the reader on a dark tour of curiosity and revulsion. It raises far more questions than answers. And it left me in a cloud of despair.

A few highlights, or lowlights, as it were:

What left me in a state of despair wasn’t these facts in themselves — people like this have always existed and always will (unless, of course, they are successful in exterminating the human race). Instead, it’s that Hern is only an anomaly to the extent that he is willing to carry out secular materialism to its logical conclusion. If a human being is nothing more than a unit of consumption and production, if there is nothing inherently valuable and eternal about our nature, then it is perfectly reasonable to rip beating hearts out of wombs with cold, sterile forceps.

It must be said that Hern, unlike his more squeamish ideological comrades, possesses the courage of his convictions. Godfrey described Hern’s patients as taking comfort in his brusque confidence, and it’s easy to see why. His messianic self-certainty is the perfect balm for a conflicted heart in the middle of a crisis.

It’s impossible not to hold a sort of perverse respect for the man. In contrast with the many straight, white wokesters who’ve yet to resign from their prominent positions in government, media, and business so that a queer person of color might take their place, Hern possesses the uncommon will to enact a common worldview.

Hence, the despair. I’ve written at length about the need to eschew talk of “national divorce,” as well as the need for the pro-life movement to pivot toward birth affordability and other measures that promote life in all stages, but there are moments, such as when I read Godfrey’s piece, in which divorce seems inevitable. The competing value systems at play are fundamentally irreconcilable. There is no negotiation to be had between Hern’s views, which are simply the views of postmodern progressivism lived out, and the views of the other half of America. Late-term abortion for sex selection will never be acceptable, and yet it is currently allowable under the political platform of America's ruling party. In their minds, the grotesque particulars of Hern's professional life are mere embarrassments, not causes for moral alarm.

I want to see a way through this storm. But after reading "The Abortion Absolutist," I can't.

Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner and the founder of Crush the College Essay. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, the Catholic Thing, the National Catholic Register, and the American Spectator.