Abortion is largely accepted even for reasons that do not have anything to do with the fetus’ health. By showing that (1) both fetuses and newborns do not have the same moral status as actual persons, (2) the fact that both are potential persons is morally irrelevant and (3) adoption is not always in the best interest of actual people, the authors argue that what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled. source

I began my morning over at A Woman’s Place… where she wrote eloquently on this above article, written by ethicists who favor infanticide as a MORAL practice. This has been a topic of conversation on other blogs as well. I believe I first read about it over at Life Site News Blog.

I read, now, what the academics wrote on the morality of infanticide.  They use the utilitarian argument to promote killing the handicapped, chronically ill and the elderly.  After all, they are not yet useful, or past their usefulness.

The argument for infanticide is utilitarian in that society has not yet invested in the raising and educating of that child therefore it is more cost effective to snuff them out for the sake of the budget.  It is a grave evil, very much evident in communism and now in our culture too, that equates the value of a human life to the economic production value of that person.

It is this utilitarian approach that leads a parent to look at an adult child who never started a business, never wrote a great novel, never made a major scientific discovery and shake their head at the law abiding person they raised and call that person “a failed investment.”

It is this utilitarianism that causes a handicapped person to be very depressed if they cannot hold a job due to their disability, as if their value must be measured by their paycheck. So much so that they may feel depressed because all they can do is volunteer work even though that volunteer work is valuable to society and would be valued if they did the same job for a paycheck!

It is this utilitarianism that devalues a homemaker because their work caring for children, for the elderly in the family, keeping the home and supporting the efforts of their spouse, because all those forms of work, even though they benefit society have no paycheck connected to them.  That same work, done for strangers for a paycheck is valued.  Isn’t that just a bit illogical?

This utilitarianism is the same philosophy that leads to the decision to euthanize an elderly person because they are using up resources and will not return to work and a paycheck.

This argument is what feeds the suicide and euthanasia arguments for the chronically ill, mentally challenged, or handicapped.

The able bodied who insist that abortion should be legal and free to the woman who decides that pre-born infant has no utilitarian value to her are simply following the same utilitarian philosophy.

Persons who insist there is no moral wrong in the use of artificial birth control and criticize the Church for standing solidly behind Humane Vitae and its solid condemnation of artificial birth control as OBJECTIVELY EVIL are following the utilitarian argument that places the freedom to earn a paycheck and enjoy sex without any risk to that paycheck.

Go back to Humane Vitae.  It can be found on the Vatican web site, or by a google search (or any other search engine) or for a small cost from amazon or another book seller.

Go to Humane Vitae and READ the PROPHESY by POPE PAUL VI.  He wrote, in 1968, under the influence of the Holy Spirit and spelled out what would happen if people accepted the evil of Birth Control.

Later, Blessed Pope John Paul II wrote Evangelium vitae, the Gospel of Life (1995), in which he looked at the changes in the world and the state of life issues from the perspective of 27 years after the prophecy.

Today we look at 44 years since the prophecy of Pope Paul VI.  We have a worldwide culture of death (coined by Blessed John Paul II in his own writings).  This culture of death has normalized the evil of birth control, then the evil of abortion, and now is working to normalize euthanasia and assisted suicide (self administered euthanasia) and now we have arguments that would expand abortion to well past the birth of the child.

It is even worse because we have given control over our medical system to the government. Governments functioning under utilitarian ethics will NOT be a culture of life.  Caesar is not known to value human life.  Caesar values tax revenues and measures the value of every life by what it pays into the treasury.

As Laity, our task is to create the Culture of Life in our personal lives, in our families and through our participation in society.  In what ways do you live counter-culturally?

Let us pray for God’s help in creating the Culture of Life.  Let us pray that we live as counter cultural agents of that culture of life and let us pray for the leaders we elect that they too will use their careers to create the culture of life and for their souls.

Lord, please help me to live so as to participate in the creation of the Culture of Life in my personal life, my family, and my participation in society.  Please save the souls of our leaders and help them to do Your will. Amen