“Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.”
Larch runs his orphanage sort of like a military bootcamp, which is not to say that he's particularly strict with the children. Actually, he doesn't give them a whole lot of direction. He doesn't, however, allow them to interact with him informally. He tries to raise the kids to think of themselves as important and worthy of respect and to hold themselves to a higher standard.
“These same people who tell us we must defend the lives of the unborn - they are the same people who seem not so interested in defending anyone but themselves after the accident of birth is complete! These same people who profess their love of the unborn's soul - they don't care to make much of a contribution to the poor, they don't care to offer much assistance to the unwanted or the oppressed! How do they justify such a concern for the fetus and such a lack of concern for unwanted and abused children? They condemn others for the accident of conception; they condemn the poor - as if the poor can help being poor. One way the poor could help themselves would be to be in control of the size of their families. I thought that freedom of choice was obviously democratic - was obviously American!”
Defending himself against Homer's accusations, Dr. Larch explains why he performs abortions. Having witnessed firsthand how difficult it is for orphans to survive in this society, he is fed up with people who point fingers at women for having abortions when they are unwilling to contribute to the raising of these women's unborn children.
“Here is the trap you are in.... And it's not my trap—I haven't trapped you. Because abortions are illegal, women who need and want them have no choice in the matter, and you—because you know how to perform them—have no choice, either. What has been violated here is your freedom of choice, and every woman's freedom of choice, too. If abortion was legal, a woman would have a choice—and so would you. You could feel free not to do it because someone else would. But the way it is, you're trapped. Women are trapped. Women are victims, and so are you.”
Homer tells Dr. Larch that he's trapped since he sees the need for abortions and is able to fill it. Despite disagreeing with abortion, Homer understands that Larch is just as much as victim as these poor women are. Larch never set out to perform illegal abortions, but he is compelled to do so ethically because of his skill set and position.
“It's natural to want someone you love to do what you want, or what you think would be good for them, but you can't interfere with people you love anymore than you're supposed to interfere with people you don't even know.”
When Angel finds out that his crush Rose has been impregnated by her own father, he desperately wants to leap into the situation and 'be the hero' to her. However, Rose is trapped in an immensely difficult and complex situation that isn't easily solved. Her father, Mr. Rose, is an expert in 'the knife business' ‒ which means, he could easily kill or maim anyone who accused him of the rape and abuse he is clearly guilty of. Additionally, being that Mr. Rose is Rose Rose's father, even though she is clearly afraid of him, to abandon him would be to lose her father figure and essentially lose all her protection. Altogether, Wally is telling Angel that even though helping Rose is the 'right' thing to do, Angel is essentially helpless in the situation and the only thing he can do is let Rose decide what she wants.
