Kyrie Eleison

The US presidential election is more than a year away, but we are already starting to hear the rhetoric. I was reading two news articles today. This one that describes pro-lifers as social conservatives and this one on some vulgar women who label us as religious conservatives. The problem is that the “pro-choice” fanatics use these labels, and the media follows right along. Sorry simple minded media folks, this labeling is wrong. I am pro-life, but I also want universal health coverage. I believe in easy access and extremely low cost higher education. I believe in anti-discrimination. I believe in preferential treatment for the poor. How is this “conservative?”

The thing is, the definition has come to rest on one set of issue “life issues,” with abortion being the leading issue (but includes euthenasia and fetal stem cell research).

I have always thought abortion was wrong, but labeled myself as pro-choice for a time. I came with an argument that people believe differently, and that we must respect their beliefs. After all, since we Catholics have been well persecuted for our beliefs, I thought that we should not do the same to others. There is a certain logic here, but it falls apart when extended outside of the abortion debate. This logic rests on a faulty assumption - that all perspectives are legitamate. This is wrong. You see, Hitler believed that Jews weren’t fully human. The Nazis believed that Jews (and others) were less than human. Hitler and the Nazis were wrong, just as abortionists are wrong.

If I want to be consistent with my “pro-choice” logic, I cannot condemn any genocide that is based on a belief that the “other guy” is less human. Because while it is wrong for me, heck it is just a choice for the other guy.

This moral relativism is ludicrous, but too many have been lulled asleep. I refuse to accept this. Genocide is wrong. The casual and massive murder of any group is morally ludicrous.Hitler killed about 10 million people as undesirable in the holocaust. We have killed more than 44 million in the US alone via abortion.

Sorry, pro-life isn’t conservative - it is logically consistent. The murder of human life is wrong. No selfish “belief” can alter that.