When Alabama's governor, Kay Ivey, signed the nation's most
restrictive abortion bill into law, she gave this simple explanation.
"Every life is precious," she said.
The law has been criticized by some abortion opponents like
televangelist Pat Robertson who feel its restrictions are too extreme to win
support from the Supreme Court, and it is engendering a strong reaction from
abortion supporters.
But in a straightforward and uncomplicated way, Gov. Ivey offered
the perfect rationale for ending abortion. "Every life is precious."
What makes this statement so powerful is that it comes without
exceptions.
One does not say that every life is precious, except …
— if the person is black — or has handicaps — or is an immigrant —
or whose father was a rapist
Every life is precious. No exceptions.
All recent popes have made the same point. The defense of unborn
life, said Pope Francis, "involves the conviction that a human being is
always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of
development."
This is a powerful rationale for opposing abortion, putting the
emphasis on the unique human life at stake, genetically distinct from the
mother from the moment of conception.
Yet the simplicity of this proposition inevitably demands that
this explanation be one that is consistently followed. Are we behaving as if
every life is precious in all of our decisions? Do we have this same concern
for all life at stages other than birth? In our inner cities and rural areas,
and at our borders too?
If we do not, then we risk making a mockery of our explanation.
Our opponents highlight the contradiction, and those who we hope to influence,
especially today's young people, are allergic to hypocrisy.
Many, many committed pro-lifers provide all sorts of help to
women. One example: The Women's Care Center was founded in 1984 in South Bend,
Indiana. It now has 29 locations, helping women, children and families.
Yet there is an abundance of evidence that when it comes to both
policy and programs, we as a nation do not act as if every life is precious.
The number of homeless in our country is astounding. In Los
Angeles, an estimated 50,000 men, women and children are homeless, a city
within a city. The United States has the largest prison population in the
world, and women are the fastest growing segment of that population. The
warehousing of prisoners, often in terribly crowded conditions, leads to all
sorts of other abuses, including suicides.
The United States also has the highest maternal mortality rate of
50 developed countries. The number of deaths from drug overdoses now outranks
deaths by guns or by cars.
Are our government leaders acting as if every life is precious?
Are we as citizens?
Charles Camosy, a moral theologian who has written often on the
abortion issue and has a new book out called "Resisting Throwaway Culture:
How a Consistent Life Ethic Can Unite a Fractured People," wrote a column
for The Washington Post that plays off of condemnations of the Alabama law as
extreme. He calls for a pro-life strategy that is as extreme in its support of
women as it is in defense of the unborn child.
Camosy calls for a series of legislative reforms that would make
it easier for women to keep and raise children. "One dramatic way to
lessen the burden of abortion restrictions on women is to dramatically increase
social support for pregnant women and other mothers," he writes.
It is a good place to start: The mother is precious to us also.
And to help her is to help the child.
Erlandson is director and editor-in-chief of Catholic
News Service.