Just learned that today is National Sanctity of Human Life Day, designated by Ronald Reagan to be the closest Sunday to the anniversary of Rowe vs Wade.
As a vegan and someone who cares about suffering, I can understand why this is a subject people feel strongly about. However, I believe that a baby who is born unwanted will suffer immensely throughout their life.
Life can be enjoyable, but it can also be tragic. Birthing people into tragedy is inhumane, as there will be few opportunities to escape that tragedy. Unwanted children will struggle to survive, and many will turn to a life of crime and ultimately be another body count in our overflowing corrupt prison system.
Because I care about suffering, I believe in euthanasia. Euthanasia is tricky because emotionally it always feels very, very wrong. But when viewed from a utilitarian standpoint, it can often be better to end the suffering. This is a subject I believe we have to be very real about.
Before someone mentions it, yes, I think there's a decent argument in favor of us ALL being euthanized (just, without discrimination). I'm too optimistic to dwell on this very much, but euthanization can at least be agreed upon in the most severe cases. I believe that unwanted babies are a severe case.
(I intentionally left out feminist arguments from this post because I wanted to say something different, but I understand and very much agree with them.)
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@alex In my view, it is better to have a life than to be murdered in order to prevent one from having a miserable one. There are several arguments here that give me concern:
"Life can be enjoyable, but it can also be tragic. Birthing people into tragedy is inhumane, as there will be few opportunities to escape that tragedy. Unwanted children will struggle to survive, and many will turn to a life of crime and ultimately be another body count in our overflowing corrupt prison system."
This has been a long-standing talking point of many who advocated for the population control of minorities (the "undesirables"). Those who used it in a racially charged way (which I don't think you did) assumed that since blacks are inferior, they cannot contribute to society, and must be killed, lest they drag the society down. Sadly, so far they have been successful. And while life is hard, life has joy in it too, and by killing babies before they are born, they are robbed of experiencing the joy of life. Furthermore, this line of thinking could potentially lead to a slippery slope; one could use the same arguments to support performing mass shootings in inner-city schools or homeless shelters, after all.
On euthanasia, at the end of the day this comes down to whether one supports suicide. I personally do not, I hold life in too high a regard. However, if one supports suicide, I cannot understand them simultaneously opposing euthanasia, when used as a method of assisted suicide.
Of course, when euthanasia is used against the person's will, that is clearly murder.
I do not understand why there would be arguments in favor of ending all human life. Without humans, I am quite sure that all life would cease, unless animals begin to populate at an unprecedented rate. Such a proposal would literally destroy the world.
@realcaseyrollins Thanks for the thoughtful response. 😃 I agree with you on some things (eg the racial profiling) but need to elaborate more on others at some point.