As “pro-life”, Texas governor, Greg Abbott, installs a murderous, floating fence of razor wire down the middle of the Rio Grand river to shred the bare
flesh of illegal immigrants, Phillis Zagano asks a probing question at the Religious News Service: what does it really mean to “respect life?”
[A number of dead bodies have already been retrieved from Abbott’s killer fence.]
Below is an excerpt:
Before backing a law banning abortion in Texas altogether, Gov. Greg Abbott propelled a 2021 measure banning abortion after a heartbeat has been detected, saying he “would protect the life of every child with a heartbeat.” He happens to be Catholic.
So why did Abbott put razor wire and a floating barrier in the Rio Grande? Do migrant children not have heartbeats?
There is an angry selectivity when it comes to life issues. Abortion is certainly a tragic reality in too many places in the world. Without denying the ability of the polity to legally allow or disallow abortion, the better course is to make it unnecessary.
To respect life means just that: the unborn, yes, and the elderly and the stranger, the migrant, and the homeless individual. Respect life includes the “other,” no matter how defined — by gender, skin color, language, ethnicity — the list is endless.
Yet too many so-called pro-life advocates demonstrate an abject denial of others’ right to life.
You can read the entire article here.
David, thanks for this. I can see the far-right evangelical saying that the child should not get in the river to begin with. Then they will not be harmed by the razors. Whereas women shouldn’t get abortions because it is murder and they chose to have sex. I have some thoughts on this but I am wondering what you think. Thanks as always!
You are probably right about these conservative responses. I would reply by saying several things. First, children are not always free agents; they go where their parents take them. IS it right to expose children to maiming and possible death because they obey their parents? Second, this is similar to a debate about torture. We are talking about human beings made in the image of God, not cattle or robots. Not even the rankest lawbreakers deserve to be treated this way. It is immoral. What are your thoughts?