By Dr. Kiran Holla
We have been told for years that researchers and authorities in the world science would soon be able to determine the fates of unborn children at conception. We know we will be able to hear them cry, see them squirm in their tiny bodies, and feel the cracking of their bones during the labor pains which will secure their birth.
We know that God has a plan for them and it is one based on reason and science. In His wisdom and fear of what He has foreseen we have long believed that children were not mere sperm and eggs but actual human beings. We now know they are conceived, rather than carried to birth, and that they are basically the same as us at birth.
Even in the quirkiest and arguably most antiquated cultures of the world, babies are born to mother and father while their mates try to leave them without a strong bond. They are completely dependent on their parents for survival. In this way, they are more like us than we may realize.
Within us, we are absolutely, positively and irrevocably human.
There has always been a crass, divisive, and competitive nature to debates on human life and the matters of mercy and rights for persons, especially in this country. But as we approach our presidential election this November, it is a time for rejoicing in the presence of such a dynamic force as the new president of the United States, the first woman in the position. As our new president considers the immortal life and works of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, many have asked why it is that for better or worse, ours is so different from the rest of the world. It is because we do not collectively practice truly universal values; instead, we tend to look for individuals who mirror and reinterpret the values of America. If this is true, we will learn from the other nations and cultures that we are ultimately the same.
Preeminent among the top priorities of the new president will be the realization that our children deserve equal opportunities regardless of any partialities or biases at their conception. This goal demands more than just a good education. It requires our fully and fully moralizing our whole selves for the creation of human beings–and for the children who ultimately reside within us.
It is therefore the duty of the president of the United States of America–the elected representative of the people–to set a moral framework that illuminates and ensures the equal flourishing of all people. There are those of us who just hope that this president and the people around him, for the sake of our children, take seriously their mission. If we as a society believe in a conception of human equality, then we must be committed to a more just and equitable world.