To the editor:
What motivates someone to be pro-life or in favor of easy access to abortion? Most of the pro-life people simply don’t want innocent people to be killed. What motivates pro-abortion people was more of a mystery. Some of them profit financially and some feel they will benefit politically, but most pro-abortion people aren’t affected by either of these issues. So why are they in favor of easy access to abortions?
Then I read an article about a 19th-century slave holder who argued that slavery was good for all of society because agriculture in the south would not be possible without Negro slaves. It dawned in me that many pro-abortion people feel that easy access to abortion is good for society. Yet slavery and abortion both deny all human rights to a whole subset of people. Both pro-slavery and pro-abortion people use similar arguments — both Blacks and preborn people are not really human, and if they are, they are not equal to others. They couch their beliefs in neutral-sounding euphemisms: property rights, reproductive rights.
We need to show respect for every human life, including our own. Being pro-life is much more than being anti-abortion. It means showing everyone respect and helping each other when needed. You know, feed the hungry. Shelter the homeless. Take care of the widows and orphans, lest your wives become widows and your children orphans. Do not oppress the alien; remember you were once aliens. Love your neighbors, whoever your neighbor may be.
Most of the pro-life organizations and churches live this. They operate homeless shelters, offer job skill training and life coaching. They bring relief to disaster victims, locally and around the world. They need our help.
We can show others that we respect our own life by taking care of our body, our mind, and our spirit — refraining from self-destructive behaviors, excessive drinking, illicit drug use, and sex outside of marriage. If you have done these things or are doing these things, forgive yourself and move on.
Dale Wagner, Krakow
