Letter to editor: We must protect the inalienable rights of the unborn, just-born
To the editor,
It is a famous part of the Declaration of Independence: All people have the inalienable right to life. This is a powerful statement, but it has not always meant the same thing to all who read it.
Even today, the right to life is debated. Because it is the government that makes, executes and interprets the laws that protect life (and liberty and the pursuit of happiness) — and the government derives its powers from the consent of the governed (primarily determined by election votes) — there is a relationship between the public opinions of voters and the laws that eventually result from such opinions. As the popular opinion of Americans on the right to life sways in one direction, the laws protecting (or failing to protect) the right to life will likely follow suit. What is happening to the right to life right now?
America just has experienced the latest political shift concerning human life. It targets lives of innocent infants, even those who are already born, made manifest by Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam (Jan. 30, 2019 statement) and by nearly all Democratic senators including all 2020 Democratic presidential candidates by voting against the “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act” on Feb. 25, 2019.
They all agree that the law should not protect or recognize the right to life of an infant even on the day of his or her birth – even after he or she has left the womb. In fact, they would rather kill the infant or leave the infant to die than deny a woman's “right” to abort even after pregnancy is over. Their control over abortion access is so sacred to them. For them, it's OK for a mother who doesn't want her baby to end the baby's life, even when looking that baby right in the face.
So now that the views of many politicians have been made public, which direction does the American opinion swing? Are people shocked, causing public opinion to reject this political push to deny the right to life of innocent babies? Or, does public opinion allow this push against life to continue? Will people begin to think that it's OK for the rights of innocent infants continued to be degraded? Will enough people look the other way to allow the push to continue?
Are babies not human beings? Is human life objective, or is that dependent on the judgment of someone else?
What happens when life is based on convenience? If you are viewed as inconvenient, unproductive, too dependent, or unlikable, are you any less human? Maybe someone would judge you to be one or more of these qualities right now – aren't you glad the law protects your life?
This is why who we vote into office for the next election is so important. Maybe five years from now, legislation will be written allowing children up to 1-year-old to be killed. Gov. Northam's statement could be repeated and eventually applied to an infant at any age.
“The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired.”
Is the right to life based on a sliding scale and determined by the opinions of others? When it slips too far, are you or your young children the next in line to lose your rights?
Let us hope that America changes the course and more strongly recognize the right to life. Make the right to life the highest priority in the next election. If our politicians don’t protect this first and most important right, then what else are they getting wrong?
Mary Koralewski,
Glencoe
