By Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director
An occupied house is engulfed in flames. Who do you rescue first?
A ship is sinking. Who gets priority in the lifeboats?
Confronted with life-threatening scenarios, we are forced to make sudden choices, sometimes on instinct alone. Those instincts prompt us to run toward and rescue the most vulnerable, the very young or the very old. Those unable to find their own way to safety. Those who would perish without our help.
Faced with a multitude of issues, should we not prioritize rescuing those whose lives are in the greatest danger, those most marginalized?
When an estimated 100 voiceless human beings are exterminated every hour in this country, do they deserve our voice?
When almost two-thirds of the women who abort say they feel coerced into ending their own child’s life, should we make them a priority?
When states pass laws allowing babies who survived an abortion to be left to die, should we draw a line?
Or when livers and kidneys of aborted babies are auctioned off for thousands of dollars, do we dare speak up?
Of course, there are other issues.
But at what cost?
Are we willing to sacrifice millions more lives in order to pursue a “better society”? Are we willing to ignore this slaughter because some “good” is promised if we just look the other way? Are we then like others in history who have tolerated evil because of some perceived benefit?
This is not just another issue. We are speaking of a genocide, with almost one-fifth of the American population deliberately and violently deprived of life. And we defend this how?
That they are not living? That they are not human? The violent dismemberment or burning of helpless humans, many pain-capable, is simply not defensible.
Abortion kills the pre-born, but it also sears the soul of society. In devaluing human life, abortion teaches us that inherent human dignity does not exist, leading to only more evils. Life, all life, is cheapened. What have we become?
Lest someone argue that we will always have abortion, keep in mind the abolitionist movement of the 19th century. When slavery ended, it is estimated that only about 2% of the American population were active in the abolitionist movement. They persisted in rejecting the dehumanization of an entire class of people. Ultimately, they brought an end to an institution that was intrinsically evil.
We must persist in doing the same.
It is not just a house on fire, but our very country. Who do we rescue first?