699 - Peace & Life: Points in Media/Safety of Dangerous Things - February 9, 2024
Cardinal O’Malley Emphasizes Issue Connections
At the 25th annual Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life on Jan. 20, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley said that the pro-life cause will confront new challenges in the coming decades, with physician-assisted suicide in particular emerging as a growing threat to human life.
O'Malley added:
"A society that allows parents to kill their children will eventually allow children to kill their parents."
On abortion, O'Malley argued the church must respond to societal ills such as poverty and racism, which he called dehumanizing and factors that drive women to abortion.
The conference is named after the late Cardinal O'Connor, who was known for his pro-life activism on abortion, but also on other life issues, including his opposition to the death penalty and his support for social safety net programs.
Other speakers at the conference included Emily Geiger, the director of Education & Outreach at the Equal Rights Institute; Sister Mariae Agnus Dei of the Sisters of Life; and Kristen Day, executive director of Democrats for Life of America.
The Consistent Life Network, as usual, had a literature table there.
Good Points in Media
In the Washington Post, Alyssa Rosenberg is pleased about pro-life movement activism on the child tax credit as one of many ways of helping children out of poverty: I’m pro-choice, but I’m grateful for what pro-life groups did this week. See also the quote of the week below.
Another pro-life group has noticed the connection of executions and euthanasia based on the botched execution in Alabama on January 25, from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition: Civilized Societies Don't Execute or Euthanize Human Beings by Dr. Jacqueline Abernathy on February 5.
Dr. Abernathy has also written two blog posts for us: What’s Cruel for the Incarcerated is Cruel for the Terminally Ill and The Deserving and Undeserving Poor vs. the Worthy and Unworthy of Life: How Both Major Political Parties Pick and Choose Who They Help and Whom They Kill.
Our Latest Blog Post
Nuclear radiation, execution as medical procedure, and abortion pills compared to Tylenol – these are three examples where safety claims are used to promote violent practices. Rachel MacNair considers these in The Safety of Incredibly Dangerous Things.
Quotation of the Week
Kristen Day
Newsweek, February 6, 2024
There's also a growing perception that the pro-life movement is closely aligned with the radical politics of the MAGA movement and has little commitment to children after birth. As a pro-life Democrat, I observe this trend with concern . . .
At present, Democratic Party leaders hesitate to concede any restrictions on abortion. However, survey data show that when Americans are asked about it, two-thirds support significant limits after the first three months of pregnancy. I think it's time to challenge the Democratic Party's leadership on this issue and call them on their bluff.
What's the best way for Republicans to begin doing this? Extend the Child Tax Credit as a proud cornerstone of the American pro-life movement.
Because that's precisely what it.
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