#376 Human Life Review, Washington Post - September 1, 2017
Symposium: Whole Life v. Pro-Life? On August 25, The Human Life Review published thoughts from several people on “whole-life,” and “consistent-life” ideas. The first was from our own Mary Meehan (pictured at our conference last month) and was an excellent overview of our viewpoint and its history. Rehumanize International’s Aimee Murphy also contributed, as did Charles Camosy and other sympathizers.
Detractors also gave their thoughts. Jack Fowler offered the common criticism of the consistent life ethic as being a plot by U.S. Catholics to help Democratic candidates. He opposes our position on issues other than abortion and therefore doesn’t buy the arguments about their being connected. The silver lining is that his piece can be shown to those peace-movement people who think we’re just a plot by right-wingers to snooker them. We do get that criticism both ways. With 14 contributors, the symposium includes an admirable variety of views.
Washington Post - Down Syndrome Babies
It’s good news whenever The Washington Post publishes opinion pieces from pro-life writers. Jeanne Mancini (pictured) is President of the March for Life, and her article is “People with Down syndrome are happy. Why are we trying to eliminate them?” Some abortion defenders have criticized the piece by pointing out that the happy people she reports were born to parents who wanted them, making for a biased sample. This leaves out three crucial points: ∞ Medical personnel are pressuring parents with a prenatal diagnosis to abort, as the article reports. ∞ There are waiting lists to adopt Down Syndrome newborns. Getting them parents that do in fact want them isn’t a problem. ∞ The very idea that people might wish to avoid so dire a fate as having a Down Syndrome child by killing the child makes it seem like a far more dire fate than it is. In addition to killing being wrong, this also hurts all the still-living people with Down Syndrome. You can’t insult anybody more thoroughly than suggesting they’re better off dead, or that their family is better off if they’re dead.
Latest CLN Blog Posts John Whitehead offers a post based on his presentation at our August 2017 conference: Making the Case for Peace to Conservatives. We’ve added another one, from conference presenter Tony Magliano, connecting poverty and war: Over 20 Million People Facing Starvation – And We Should Care!
Our Board Grows We welcome Julia Smucker (pictured left) as a new member of our Board of Directors, and announce that John Whitehead (pictured right) is today starting a term as President.
Upcoming Calendar September 9, Washington DC – Pro-life March to Abolish Nuclear Weapons September 16, Syracuse NY – Pilgrimage for Life and Peace September 16, Kansas City, MO – Ban the Bomb, Not the Baby For more details, see our Week of Actions web page. October 20-22, Life/Peace/Justice Conference, Pittsburgh, PA
Quotation of the Week Donald Hying, Bishop, Diocese of Gary, Indiana Northwest Indiana Catholic, August 27, 2017 We live in very disturbing and violent times. Just in the past two weeks, the lunacy in Charlottesville, Virginia took three lives and injured many; terrorism in Spain killed thirteen and wounded a hundred; random people were stabbed in Finland; police officers were shot in various cities; and CBS news ran a feature detailing the virtual elimination of children with Down Syndrome in Iceland through systemic abortion. Those perpetrating all of this violence justify it in the name of some ideology, whether it is racism, fascism, religious fanaticism, or even a redefinition of whose life counts. For a long time now, we have witnessed an increasing polarization in our country and world, where a rational and respectful mutual exchange and discussion of ideas and beliefs has become almost impossible. We sadly see a tribalism developing which needs to scapegoat, demonize and even destroy those who disagree with the current, insular “group think.”
Responses/News tips/Questions to share are all welcome.
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