Dear Brother Knight,
I urge you to contact your U.S. Senators today, and ask them to support the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
Don't get me wrong: I support the act, minimal though it is, and years ago, I definitely would have acted on Anderson's suggestion. So why am I reluctant to now?
- I find it impossible to believe that any adult does not know, deep down at any rate, that every baby has a right to live -- not just a negative right (a right not to be actively murdered) but a positive right (a right that morally compels us to see to it that the child has food, shelter, etc.) -- and that this right is inherent in the baby's nature (so saying, "If the baby wants to eat, let him get a job," is not an answer). And whatever mental gymnastics might allow one to imagine that a baby in the womb is not really a baby, but something else (e.g. a "potential person"), it is clear that if a baby after birth is not really a person, no one is.
- If an adult genuinely did NOT know that, what could I say to him? Where would be the common ground on which I could construct an argument? It would be easier to try to persuade a person deaf from birth of the beauty of a Beethoven symphony -- at least the deaf person could feel the vibrations. Someone insensible to even the most basic moral principles is far more unreachable. This is not something about which morally sane people can disagree, like how high the minimum wage should be.
- Alternatively, suppose the adult DOES know that the baby has a right to live, but pretends to be ignorant of this fact.
- I would find it extremely distasteful to interact with this person at all. Friendly relations are out of the question as long as this behavior persists.
- The only way I would be able to influence such a person would be through some sort of bribe or some sort of threat. I do not, however, command vast wealth or political power. All I can do is offer to give or withhold my vote. Even this is out of the question, though, both because there are other minimal standards the politician is unlikely to meet, and because it would be foolish to trust someone who requires a bribe or a threat.
- I should add that I have written to senators and other public officials before. Their responses have been very, very dissatisfying.
There seems to be little point in saying anything to my senators. All I can really do is to watch what they do, and to remember the choices they make.
