Right to life
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Right to life, in its broadest sense, refers to holding human life as a paramount value. The right to life is central to debates on the issues of abortion, capital punishment, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, self defense and war.
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[edit] Juridical Views
The United States Declaration of Independence declares life to be one of the unalienable rights, implying that all persons have the right to live and/or exist. The Declaration of Independence continues that a government has the obligation to secure the unalienable rights of its people. When a government no longer respects this fundamental reason for its existence, it is the "right" and "duty" of the people to overthrow it.
[edit] Politics
The controversies around right to life consistently energize voters with many being single issue voters. Around abortion issues, it also plays a large role in powerful appointed positions, especially judicial appointments in the United States with the charge from both sides of it being a "litmus test".
[edit] Opposing viewpoints
Many utilitarian ethicists argue that the right to life, where it exists, depends on conditions other than membership of the human species. The philosopher Peter Singer is a notable proponent of this argument. For Singer, the right to life is grounded in the ability to plan and anticipate one's future. This extends the concept to animals, such as apes, but since the unborn, infants and severely disabled people lack this, he states that abortion, painless infanticide and euthanasia can be "justified" (but are not obligatory) in certain special circumstances, for instance in the case of severely disabled infants whose life would cause suffering both to themselves and to their parents. Many people with a pro-life viewpoint would strongly disagree with this thesis.
Another argument against the "right to life" states that abortion is not a form of murder, hence "pro-choicers" are no less "pro-life" than "pro-lifers." These pro-choicers typically do not advocate Singer's more radical beliefs, including zoophilia, as they find these beliefs distinct from the more common concept of the right of a woman to choose abortion. Some would also state that capital punishment and war are necessary tools to protect society and civilization as a whole, and are thus morally acceptable.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- National Right to Life Committee
- Pro-Life Daily
- Ethical foundations of the right to life
- no violence period: new perspectives on abortion
- R.E.A.L. Women
