The Seamless Garment
Submitted by Dirk Gently on December 17 1999 at 18:15:50
In reply to Nice to see so many pro-lifers Submitted by Cherub30 on December 16 1999 at 15:57:17
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I agree, but I'd also like to point out that "pro-life" entails much more than anti-abortion. There's an approach to pro-life issues known as the seamless garment. Many anti-abortionists tend to be so focussed on that one (very important!) issue that they neglect other vital issues. If sanctity of life is our fundamental argument against abortion, perhaps we ought to look at the death penalty. (Yes, I know this is controversial, and there are passages in the Bible which support state-sanctioned executions.) Perhaps we ought to be concerned about the "death with dignity" movement. How many people has Dr. Jack Kevorkian helped kill? Perhaps we ought to be concerned with the affect of economic sanctions on the lives of the young, the aged, and the poor in countries like Iraq. UNICEF estimates that over 500,000 Iraqi children have died since 1990 as a direct result of the sanctions imposed on that country by the "civilized" world. Saddam Hussein is not a particularly benevolent individual, but that didn't stop America from selling him weapons of mass destruction in the 1980's. Why are we punishing children for the short-sightedness of our political leaders and companies such as General Electric, Boeing, and Honeywell (three of the world's largest suppliers of death)? Perhaps we ought to be concerned about the attitudes which allow white police officers to open fire on an unarmed black man, hitting him over 40 times and leaving his children without a father. Or the abuse of power which allowed a police officer on the same force to sodomize a black man using a broken broom handle, causing long-term damage to his internal organs. Did no other police officer hear the man's screams? Perhaps we ought to be concerned with the fact that inner-city poverty has become a fact of life for several generations, and that basketball, music, or an ambulance seem to be the only ways out of the ghetto for many. I could go on, but those are a few of the other pro-life issues which are sometimes forgotten about. Dirk |