This letter is not regarding abortion, but rather the term “pro-life.” The grandiosity of the term aside, the correct term is “pro-human fetus.” A distinction without a difference? Hardly.
The term pro-life is an absurd and inappropriate label for anti-abortion groups and misrepresents their position. All this effort, money, litigation and bad blood is a rather tawdry departure from a true pro-life position. Do anti-abortion groups promulgate any legislation, funding or environmental policy for life on earth? For all the bellicose vocalization and animated placard waving, the paucity of verbal defense of the world’s wildlife is deafening. The frequency of extinctions is rising dramatically with more and more species under threat.
To be pro-human fetus is an ethical position, mostly religious. Not surprisingly, the Bible assumes human dominion over life on the planet. Yet recall, the Bible was written by humans – mostly males. Man’s fixation with himself over the centuries is impressive, e.g., we are the center of the universe; the center of the galaxy; the center of the solar system – wrong again. Man’s egotistical anthropocentrism has been swept into the dustbin of unreality.
Call me a misanthrope, but this world does not need any more babies. And to suggest you are pro-life is a pellucid example of dissemblance. For all the religiosity and moralizing, the pro-human fetus movement ignores the real tragedy of life on planet Earth: that humans, through greed, ignorance, religious pomposity and simple complacency are bringing nearly all life on this planet to a demise.
Kenneth P. Burke, M.D.
New Portland
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