the moral basis for defending all human life

8/2/2019 The MORAL Basis for Defending All Human Life

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The MORAL Basis forDefending All Human

LifeBy Kristi Burton Brown, Published February 27th,2012Moral isdefined asconcerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or

badness of human character. I think most of us can agree that there are right and wrong ways to

behave and that humans can demonstrate both good and bad character. So, on the issue of abortion

and the issue of defending human life in generalwhat is the moral position to take?

First, in order to come to any sort of moral conclusion in the matter, we need to make a basic

assumption that this article is predicated on: were talking about human lives. You cant argue

against my conclusions on the basis that an unborn child isnt a unique, living human being. Were

already assuming that based on the Scientific Basis for Defending All Human Life. If you dont

believe that an unborn child is a human being, you have an issue with science and morality, but you

may need to resolve your science first.

Abortion: equally immoral as the Holocaust.
http://liveaction.org/blog/author/kristi-burton-brown/https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=definition+of+moral&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=definition+of+moral&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=definition+of+moral&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8http://liveaction.org/blog/the-scientific-basis-for-defending-all-human-life/http://liveaction.org/blog/the-scientific-basis-for-defending-all-human-life/http://liveaction.org/blog/abortion-its-a-hitler-thing/0hitler-smiles-while-reading-newspaper/http://liveaction.org/blog/author/kristi-burton-brownhttps://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=definition+of+moral&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8http://liveaction.org/blog/the-scientific-basis-for-defending-all-human-life/http://liveaction.org/blog/author/kristi-burton-brown/


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Next, lets ask and answer four questions. 1) What is the result of declaring certain classes of

humans as less than others? 2) We all agree that Hitlers genocide of the Jews was wrong and

immoral. How does this relate to abortion? 4) Is it actually wrong to fail to stand up for innocent

lives? 5) What should good moral character compel me to do?

What is the result of declaring certain classes of humans as less than others?

The result is discrimination and/or genocide against groups of people. As I was studying for my

Senior Seminar Paper, I came across a list compiling quotes of people accusing other people of being

less than human. You can judge for yourself the horrible immoral results that came from the

statements below. Heres the relevant part of my paper:

Sadly, courts, doctors, and political and cultural leaders throughout national and international

history have not always seen every human being as equal. Human beings have been discriminated

against and viewed as non-persons, many times, simply based on their race, gender, or class.

A negro of the African race was regardedas an article of property. A Negro belongs to an

inferior and subordinate class. In the eyes of the lawthe slave is not a person. Buckner

Payne, a publisher, declared in 1867 that the negro is not a human being. An Indian is not a

person within the meaning of the Constitution. Secretary of State Henry Clay stated in 1825 that

Indians [are] inferior to the Anglo-Saxon. Dr. Joseph Nott, in 1847, concluded that the Indian

is an untamable, carnivorous animal.

In 1779, Hugh Brackenridge wrote that the life of these [aborigines] isnot human. Prosecutor

Andrei Vysbinski, in 1938 stated that [Purge Trial Defendants are] a foul-smelling heap of human

garbage. People who were purged by the Soviet government were designated as unpersons who

had never existed. Lenin and Stalin repeatedly told their people, from 1918-1934, Kulaks are not

human beings.

Adolf Hitler proclaimed to Germany in 1923, Jews are undoubtedly a race, but not human. The

1936 German Supreme Court declared, The Reichsgericht itself refused to recognize Jewsas

persons in the legal sense. In a British voting rights case of 1909, the court stated, The statutory

word person did not in these circumstances include women. The 19th century poet, Charles

Baudelaire wrote, Women are domestic animals. (Information cited to Scott v. Sandford and


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William Brennan, Ph.D, Dehumanizing the Vulnerable: When Word Games Take Lives by (Loyola

University Press, 1995).)

If, indeed, the unborn are human beings (as science states that they are), abortion is on the same

level as all the genocides and human rights violations that resulted from the statements above.

We all agree that Hitlers genocide of the Jews was wrong and immoral. How does this

relate to abortion?

If youre sick of hearing people relate abortion to the holocaust, think of any other mass genocide

youd preferCambodia under Pol Pot, Rwanda, or Darfur, for example. Abortion is on the same

scale as other mass genocides because in both instances, certain groups are targeted for death based

on qualities they cant control. The Jews were Jewish, plain and simple, no matter what they did.

Educated Cambodians or ones who wore glasses couldnt help their backgrounds or how they were

born. These are clearly immoral positions, rooted in wrong thinking and bad character.

Similarly, unborn children didnt place themselves in their mothers wombs. They are targeted

merely because ofqualities they cant help: their size, level of development, environment, and

dependency. ALL of these are morally wrong criteria to judge the worth of a human being on. This

YouTube videois worth viewing for more on this question.

Is it actually wrong to fail to stand up for innocent lives?

To answer this question, people need a moral basis or code that they use as the foundation of their

lives. Of course, for me, this foundation is my relationship with Jesus Christ. As I explained in

theChristian Basis for Defending All Human Life, Christians are indeed morally compelled to stand

up for the innocent.

If you are not a Christian, you should evaluate your own moral code. Does it tell you to live and let

live? Well, my friends, sometimes to let someone live, we must take action. Beliefs must be paired

with actions if they are to truly matter.

I will say that the moral code based in survival of the fittest is very dangerous. If you read about

the Leopold and Loeb case Clarence Darrow argued to let the murderers of a young boy go free, you

will see how frighteningand wrongthis moral code is. Darrow believed strongly in the survival of

the fittest, and he claimed that the two killed the ten-year-old boy as they might kill a spider or a fly,

for the experience.
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What should good moral character compel me to do?

Good moral character is typically viewed as decency, respect, honor, virtue, and dignity. Decency

should compel us to extend the equal right to life to each and every human being. Respect should

cause us to speak the truth about the real effects of abortion. Honor should lead us to value each lifeas precious and worth fighting for. Virtue should enable us to open our mouths and stand up for

what is actually right instead of sitting in the background.

And basic dignity should compel us to never sit down until every human life yes, EVERY human

life, not only the unbornis protected by love and by law.

the moral basis for defending all human life

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