Pet Peeve

Pro-lifers are sometimes accused of only caring about the unborn but not caring much about issues that confront people who are born, like poverty, disease, war, the environment, etc. The now deceased comedian George Carlin played this up in his comedy routine, saying, "Pro-lifers care about you if you're not born. But if you're born, you're on your own!" That is actually paraphrase of what he really said. At any rate, I find this accusation to be quite inaccurate to say the least. First, does anyone accuse those working to fight poverty of not being concerned about AIDS? Does anyone accuse those working to end sex trafficking of not also caring enough about the environment? Just because a group or individual specifically focus on one particular issue or injustice does not mean they do not care about other issues. And besides, who is able to have a highly specialized concern for every problem faced by humanity? Is it not a good thing that some people choose to focus their energy on one issue and not every issue? Just because pro-lifers focus specialized energy on the issue of abortion, does not mean that other issues are unimportant. Second, pro-lifers simply do not just care about the unborn. Many pro-life organizations and ministries provide resources and services to woman and their children who have been born. Pregnancy Resource Centers provide things like cribs, blankets, bottles, clothes, etc. which are specifically for born children. Adoption agencies aim to put "unwanted" children who are born in loving homes. At Abort73 we provide monthly support to the Children's Hunger Fund and Bethany Christian Services (an adoption agency), which aim to help children who are born. Finally, I believe that someone who is truly "pro-life" must be concerned about the lives and well-being of all people. A true pro-lifer should be just as concerned for children threatened by abortion as children (or adults for that matter) whose lives are threatened by malnutrition, war, disease, pollution, etc., etc., etc. It's a shame that the popular conscious associates being pro-life with only a concern for one group of human beings, the unborn. To the contrary as those who claim to value every human life we should do just that - value every human life.