The expression “right to life” in abortion discussions is very potent.\u00a0 Although popularized by Pope Pius XII in 1951, the phrase currently brings to mind the modern ultra-sound image of the unborn.\u00a0 Pro-Life advocates would view the premature removal of the unborn as barbaric and unnatural.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It’s why the prospective mom understandably grieves should her pregnancy naturally terminate before full-term. It is not simply that a successful birth never occurred, but that a life in prospect (that is to say, all the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of the prospective mom for her son or daughter) have been denied due to miscarriage or still-birth.<\/p>\n
This desire to see a life fulfilled cannot be reduced to political ideology, and is (or at least, should be) the emotional engine for the pro-life movement.<\/p>\n\n\n
The question,\u00a0then,\u00a0<\/span>is whether the issue has become only a useful political wedge, divorced from its initial context. I fear that this might be the case with many politicians (often male) who do not really “feel” this issue, but are ever in search of a useful “position” which can guarantee them votes.<\/span><\/p>\n The evangelical community who see themselves as “moral-values-voters” have made the repeal of Roe v Wade<\/em>, which they may not fully understand, the do-all and end-all of politics.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This is why the anti-abortion argument loses it strength with an effort to criminalize the actions of a desperate woman or to force an impregnated rape victim to carry to full term.\u00a0 The concept of “right to life” was never intended to be abstract and devoid of compassion.<\/p>\n For this reason the “right-to-life movement” lacks credibility even though the underlying moral premise of the “protection of future life” finds overwhelming acceptance.\u00a0 Paradoxically, the very political party that has made “right-to-life” their mantra seems to not think beyond the birthing center.<\/p>\n The recent actions by the same party against refugee parents who sought to secure a future for their children is truly barbaric and unnatural<\/em>.\u00a0 It betrays more than lack of compassion.\u00a0 The hypocrisy of taking one’s children as punishment for the crime of being a refugee should raise the hackles of every so called moral-values-voter.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is past time for “the protection of future life” to include “the protection of a life’s future.”<\/p>\n This hypocrisy was unbearable for former First Lady Laura Bush whose Washington Post editoria<\/a>l stated:<\/p>\n In the six weeks between April 19 and May 31, the Department of Homeland Security\u00a0has sent nearly 2,000 children<\/a>\u00a0to mass detention centers or foster care. More than 100 of these children are younger than 4 years old. The reason for these separations is a zero-tolerance policy for their parents, who are accused of illegally crossing our borders.<\/em><\/p>\n I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The expression “right to life” in abortion discussions is very potent.\u00a0 Although popularized by Pope Pius XII in 1951, the phrase currently brings to mind the modern ultra-sound image of the unborn.\u00a0 Pro-Life advocates would view the premature removal of …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Continue reading →<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-perspective","category-frontpage","category-immigration","category-race-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n