Social Justice and the Right to Life

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Social Justice and the Right to Life

• Text Chapter 4

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Opening Bellringer

• Complete Scripture Link, page 83

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We hold these truths to be self-evident.

• that all men are created equal..
• that they are endowed by their Creator with
  certain unalienable rights
• that among them are life, liberty, and the
  pursuit of happiness.
• Jefferson and John Locke were students of natural
  law
• Jefferson did not invent these ideas he wrote
  them because he knew they were universally
  understood

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When is taking a life justified?

• Some reasons for ending a human life are commonly
  accepted
• Self-defense
• Just warfare against an attacking nation

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Basis in civil law

• Civil (governmental or societys) laws against
  life-taking all relate to natural law
• Both natural and civil law have traditionally
  accepted the concept of a right to life
• Offenses against this right to life are among the
  most serious crimes in most societies

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The Church and the Right to Life

• The Catholic Church teaches that the concept of a
  right to life is a seamless garment in the
  words of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin
• Violations against this right include not only
  abortion, but also capital punishment,
  first-strike warfare, euthanasia, suicide and
  assisted suicide, and denial of adequate medical
  care

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The Church and the Right to Life

• ABORTION is a medical term referring to natural
  or unnatural termination of fetal life prior to
  childbirth
• Commonly, the word has been used to refer to
  surgical termination of fetal life
• Doctors have ordinarily used the non-medical word
  miscarriage to describe a naturally-occurring
  premature death of an unborn child

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Abortion and natural law

• Since natural law assumes a human dignity to all
  life, and
• Since medical science confirms a new human life
  begins at conception,,,,,
• The Church teaches that from the very earliest
  time of pregnancy, the developing baby has equal
  natural rights to humans outside the womb

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Isnt it just part of the mothers body?

• Interview a woman who has been pregnant
• Ask her if there were ever times when she wanted
  to sleep, and the baby wanted to be awake
• Ask her if the baby ever had hiccups when she
  didnt
• Ask her if the baby ever reacted to music or
  laughter near her

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Abortion in the United States

• Abortion has been legal in the US since 1973, but
  was commonly done in illegal operations centuries
  before
• Since statistics have been kept, the NIH notes
  about 1.5 abortions yearly
• Illegal abortions, which still occur, are not
  tracked by NIH
• Abortion is commonly used as a back-up birth
  control method

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Abortion

• What factors lead to the disrespect for the
  sanctity of life?

Breakdown of the family
Belief that freedom is the absolute value
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Why? How did this happen?

• Transient relationships between men and women
  outside marriage (casual sex)
• Sexual love has boundaries marriage
• Social approval of a non-committed lifestyle
• Acceptability of divorce (more than 3 out of
  every 5 marriages will end in divorce)
• Excessive individualism/me-first societyI am
  free to do what I want

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Theology of Right to Life

• Echoes what Jefferson said The Creator, not the
  king, is the giver of life
• Gods creation of human life endows humans with
  dignity and natural rights
• Governments may not enact laws that tamper with
  this right
• No human citizen is ordinarily given the right to
  take another human life in order to protect
  personal privacy or convenience

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Biological Question

• When does life begin?
• Basic biology/embryology a totally new living
  human being, distinctly different from mother
  father, exists at the moment of conception
• An objective fact

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Moral Question

• Which living members of the human species should
  be seen as having fundamental human rights, such
  as a right not to be killed?
• Everybody!
• Natural law as well as Catholic teaching
• A demand for justice, not an imposition of
  personal religious conviction

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How to support life best?

• Advocate for social support for pregnant women
• Advocate for open adoption
• Cultivate a more dignified and respectful
  attitude toward human sexuality
• Think about the many ways our society uses
  violence to solve its problems and advocate for
  non-violent solutions

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Abortion
Abortion should be made illegal
God conveys the gift of life, not the state
One should cultivate a correct view of the
sacredness of sex
There are always alternatives to abortion
Human life begins at conception

• A childs right to life outweighs a mothers
  freedom of choice or her right to privacy