Countering the pro-life argument

Many questions arise from the opinion piece published on Jan. 20, titled “Response: In defense of the Pro-Life Cause.”

First, who gets to decide what is moral and what is not? Many morals are subjective and vary from person to person. What you consider moral I might consider immoral.

Sure, if one takes a hardline Catholic stance, components of Planned Parenthood may be immoral. However, not everyone is Catholic, so applying a Catholic moral stance to a very broad issue creates problems.

Another point on morals, if I support Planned Parenthood, am I considered immoral? How far does Planned Parenthood’s categorization as immoral go?

Why, specifically, is abortion the major moral concern? There are many other things, such as the way kids are treated in the foster care system, the way that veterans are not taken care of in the ways they should be, taking care of the future mothers who may not have access to adequate prenatal care and those living in poverty should be higher than or equal to abortion on the moral scale.

Taking care of people who are living should take precedence over those who cannot survive outside the womb (with extreme medical care) until 22 weeks. According to the CDC, 92.7% of abortions in 2019 took place at less than or equal to 13 weeks.

The Benedictine value of respect for persons does not just apply to the cases you want it to. If you are going to choose to follow the Benedictine values, do it all the time in all cases.

Sure, the Pregnancy Resource Center and Planned Parenthood may provide the same services, but Planned Parenthood is internationally recognized for being a place of choice. Part of choice is access to all forms of medical care, not picking and choosing which ones to support.

With all due respect, what was the Students for Life Club hoping to accomplish? Protesting without a specific goal in mind will accomplish nothing. If you want to educate people about your cause, standing outside of a healthcare facility will only make people more apprehensive. And even if the protest was nonviolent, that doesn’t mean that it didn’t create a hostile environment, even if the Planned Parenthood was closed.

To the greater CSB/SJU community, I urge you once again to discuss this issue with people outside of your views and inner circles. The only way that we are going to make progress in understanding each other is by talking. My email is open if you want to have a respectful conversation. Do not contact me if you are going to use religious arguments or tell me that I am wrong or to harass me.

I am frustrated that the same arguments keep being made, yet not one point that I have made within my previous articles about this issue have seemed to be absorbed.

Please give me the same respect that I have given you, read what I have written and think critically about it.