By Sam Madden
The “Right to Life” appears to mean different things to different people. The most pronounced difference which I have come across in my work is that “Right to Life” only refers to the unborn when it comes to abortion.
People have expressed to me that the first thing they look for in a candidate is whether they are “Pro-Life.” They use this term interchangeably with “Right to Life.”
The interchangeable use of these terms is not an issue. Every human being has the “Right to Life.” The problem comes in where people only use this term for the unborn.
This exclusive use for the unborn is no different than the BLM movement only caring about Blacks that die at the hands of a Police Officer, (whether justified or not.). Neither of these groups fight for the “Right to Life” for the innocent Black Children that are shot in drive-bys nearly everyday somewhere in this country, and in some instances multiple children in a day.
“One of Chicago’s bloodiest holiday weekends in memory ended with 17 people fatally shot, including a 7-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, and 70 more wounded, ” (that was this year).
Where was the “Pro-lifers?” (Right to Life), and where was the BLM movement when this happened and continues to happen across our nation? They are MIA. These two groups if they banned together could stop this type of thing from happening, but why don’t they? It’s because they only care about specific human lives, not all lives.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/chicagos-july-weekend-ends-14-killed-63-wounded-71630482
In fact I have come across a person whose first priority is that their Candidate must be “Pro-Life.” Now in relation to the unborn they are, but they are not in a lot of other areas. They support unjustified wars, the killing of innocent children, the Israeli’s Government “incremental genocide” of the Palestinians, as it was referred to by the Israeli Historian Elan Pape.
https://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/iais/staff/pappe/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyXwfjJI_6k
https://centerforpluralism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Sebra-Arar.jpg
https://centerforpluralism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Amir-Ayad.jpg
https://centerforpluralism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Baraa-al-Sumayri.jpg
https://centerforpluralism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Gaza-5-year-old-boy.jpg
People here in the U.S. particularly Christians, support Israel. But it is somewhat hypocritical. Here in the U.S. we have no problem defending our homes and family with firearms, but if the Palestinians who are being driven out of their homes seem to not have that same right that Christians here in the U.S. want to have.
So people who say they are “Pro-Life” or even say they believe in the BLM Movement have specific agendas to one thing each and one thing only. It is sad not only for our country but for the world.
Who cried out that Black Lives Matter or who cried out that this 5 year old black girl that was shot in a drive-by, had a “Right to Life?” Very few. In fact so few, it was like it never happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7MAO7McNKE
So here at the Center For Pluralism, we believe that these issues need to be at the forefront. We can not bury our heads in the sand and only focus on one agenda, totally ignoring other related issues.
If you believe that Black Lives Matter, then that does not stop with law enforcement.
If you say you are “Pro-Life” (Right to Life), then that doesn’t stop with only abortion.
In fact why aren’t people who are “Pro-Life” working with people in the BLM movement and Vice Versa? That doesn’t mean that they have to agree on every single issue, but there are many overlapping issues within each movement, that could bring these groups together in order to create a more unified society.
Sam Madden is a Board Member and Consultant for the Center For Pluralism. He can be reached at [email protected]