2012 Rally for Life report with photos.
Almost all abortions are caused by unwanted conceptions.
Methods of preventing these conceptions are numerous, and although few
contraceptive methods are 100% effective, their availability and use would
reduce the number of abortions performed to less than one tenth of today’s
figures.
No, it’s not impossible to end the need for abortions, but as long as our
energies remain divided, and we waste limited resources working against each
other, it’s highly unlikely. We could change this.
We don’t have to consider ourselves to be on one side or the other—this
is not a two-sided issue. All of us who have respect for life are on the same
side. Together we will help end the mindless violence and unnecessary
pain.
Freedom to reproduce is well established, but the option to choose
non-motherhood or non-fatherhood remains restricted. Coerced conceptions and
mandatory motherhood harm the mother, the unwanted child, society, and the
Earth. Although reproductive freedom is considered to be primarily a women’s
issue, men who wish to take responsibility for their fertility are often
denied vasectomies.
Many births today are not wanted by the couple responsible. In most cases
worldwide, the desire to limit family size is more than just a personal
preference, it’s a matter of life and death.
Instead of limiting the definition of reproductive freedom to a woman’s
right to legal access to contraception and safe abortions, our goal should be
advanced to include freedom from needing abortions, and freedom from the
harmful side-effects of female-based contraception.
As more men take responsibility for their sexual activities, by using condoms
and getting vasectomies, progress will advance towards this goal. Financial
and ageist restrictions on men’s choice to become sterile denies their right
to reproductive freedom.
Freedom to use contraceptives is only the first step. Everyone at risk of
starting a human life should accept the responsibility that comes with that
risk, and take appropriate precautions.
As human population becomes more dense, the value of human life is
diminished. Therefore, lower birth rates are desirable. As human life
increases in value, death rates will also drop.
Encouraging positive alternatives to procreation will lower birth rates.
Adoption, foster and step parenting, and co-operative child caring all
respect existing children who need adult interaction.
Society has created artificial obstacles to forming non-biological and
non-traditional families. Encouraging and enabling people to live together as
families is a more respectful role for society to play.
Foster parent and adoption qualifications are necessary to protect children
from potentially abusive situations, however, some current qualifications are
based more on society’s prejudices than on the best interests of the
child.
People who are respectful of human life have been divided into two opposing groups: pro-choice and anti-abortion. By combining our energies to prevent unwanted conceptions, we will reduce the number of abortions performed.
Respect for life takes a moderate position in the controversy over
abortion. There are extremes at either end of the spectrum.
Some would abort because it wasn’t the gender they wanted, and some don’t
think an abortion is ever right, even when the fetus is defective and
threatens the life of its carrier. Paradoxically, some extremists want to
criminalize abortion, and at the same time oppose efforts to prevent the need
for abortions.
People who respect human life will respect others’ choices, while
encouraging and enabling choices which demonstrate a respect for life. There
are situations where terminating a pregnancy expresses more respect for life
than would continuing it to birth.
Given the choice, virtually every woman having an abortion would choose to
not need one. And, nearly every man who causes an unwanted pregnancy would
choose to have prevented it in the first place. When the means for preventing
conceptions are not conveniently available, or access to them is outlawed,
the freedom to choose to not need an abortion is denied.
In a perfect world, no one would ever need an abortion. When everyone has
access to contraception, accidental conceptions will be minimal, and
abortions will be too.
An outrageous number of children are dying of malnutrition, or are
considered “throwaways” by industrial societies. This inhuman suffering of
the innocents could be greatly reduced, if not eliminated, by enabling
everyone to avoid unwanted conceptions. Caring for existing children is
pro-child—sentencing more of them to life in a world that isn’t willing
to care for them is not.
Respect for Life is an advocate for human life. All life deserves respect,
and should not be created if it won’t be respected.
We are all members of the same family—the human family. Respect for
Life honors everyone’s choices in defining their families, regardless of
their personal orientations.
All of us have a right to live until we die. Millions of people have been
born and are not yet living—they are dying. Until all who are alive today
are truly living, we have no right to create more lives.
Just as we respect others only after we respect ourselves, we as a species
will give more respect to life other than our own as we gain more respect for
human life.
