Posts Tagged ‘Pro-Life’
A Person’s a Person No Matter How…Foreign
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 9.38 pm
Q. Since you’re someone who is both pro-life and pro-peace, I was wondering what you thought of the idea of the “consistent life ethic” which is a political philosophy that opposes all forms of legalized homicide such as abortion, war, capital punishment, euthanasia, etc.?– nrneal, from tumblr.
A. It is perhaps appropriate that I should be delayed in answering this until today, as I understand from church this morning that today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. It is especially fitting, I suppose, as my answer to your query is essentially positive.
Nonetheless, it is at best a state of extreme misinformation which can lead someone to claim the pro-life title and yet “refuse to extend their pro-life sentiments to foreigners already out of the womb.” Laurence Vance puts the dilemma this way:
Why is it that foreigners don’t have the same right to life as unborn American babies? There should be no difference between being for abortion and for war. Both result in the death of innocents. Both are unnecessary. Both cause psychological harm to the one who signs a consent form or fires a weapon. Why is it that to many Christians an American doctor in a white coat is considered a murderer if he kills an unborn baby, but an American soldier in a uniform is considered a hero if he kills an adult [not to mention a foreign child]? In January of every year, many churches observe Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Fine, but we need ministers who are as concerned about killing on the battlefield as they are about killing in the womb.
Vance is using his characteristically strong language, but don’t let that cause you to miss the point: If we claim to care about life as inherently valuable — no matter how young…or old, or rich, or poor, or of any skin color, ethnicity, or nationality — if we claim to care about life at all, we must care about all of it.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright famously told CBS that it was “worth it” for 500,000 Iraqi children — all civilians, all innocent by the standards of “civilized” warfare and pro-life arguments against abortion — to die as a result of American sanctions against their nation in the 1990s. Since then, the War in Iraq has resulted in as many as one million civilian deaths in Iraq, many of them by violent causes. Keep in mind this is just one country of the many now at war.
Yes, abortion is horrible. But so is being mowed down by gunfire while making dinner or watching your five-year old slowly starve to death. To be consistently pro-life, we must oppose both of these terrible occurrences.
