Right to Life and Its Advocates

I have no problem with people who are morally against abortion.  They believe that life starts at fertilization and that the embryo is a human.  I know that the product of fertilization is an embryo of a human but I am not sure that it is a real human being at that point.

To oppose abortion one must advocate for means to prevent the need for abortion.  Therefore they must advocate for specific types of contraception that interfere with fertilization.  They can’t logically oppose all contraception as well as abortion.  To get people to use contraception, they need to be taught about it and how and when to use it. That implies being for “sex-education” of some type in school. 

However, most anti-abortion people call themselves “Pro-life.”  That term implies a much broader concept.  If one is pro-life logically he must oppose capital punishment and seek better control of guns.  The first is state-sanctioned murder and the second allows dangerous situations to evolve into mass murder.  A deer hunter does not need an assault rifle to kill a 120 pound doe.  The paranoid people who need large powerful guns to protect their families from the government or from invasion first need a psychiatric evaluation, and then a good civics class.  If they still believe that someone is going to invade their home, they need to drop out of that crime family to which they belong.

Nor can the pro-life stance end the second the baby is born.  The child needs a lot of care.  It needs adequate nutrition, a good education, and a decent place to grow up.  The social safety net tries to provide these.  Ask Ben Carson about his childhood.  His family received all forms of public assistance.  The social safety net needs to be improved, not destroyed.  The head-start program has more than proved its value in study after study.  Programs to provide proper nutrition have also benefited millions of children.  Good schools are the third part of any program to improve society, especially in a democracy.

People in between childhood and old age need health care, job training, transient financial support, etc.  Salt Lake City has improved their homeless situation by providing housing. The Mormon Church provides assistance to all in need with food, clothing and social support.  The chronically unemployed need retraining to learn new skills to return to being a contributing member of society.

Proper programs for those at the other end of life are also part of any “right to life” philosophy.  We do not put the elderly on an ice flow and set them out to sea.  Unfortunately, we also do not benefit from them as much as we should.  Programs joining the elderly with the young are very beneficial to both ends of the age spectrum.  The elderly need just as much of the social safety net as do the children.  Social Security and Medicare are excellent programs that attempt to provide that safety net.