Justice and the Right to Life

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• Justice and the Right to Life

Chapter Four
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Assaults Against Life

• In 96 of states there is a pattern of
  discrimination regarding race and the death
  penalty
• Capital punishment does not deter crime
• On the federal level, 3.5 of persons to be
  executed have been innocent
• Abortion techniques are inhumane
• Patients often ask for euthanasia due to
  inappropriate treatment

Human beings have a right to life from the moment
of conception to natural death
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Abortion

• A Defined as the unjustified killing of unborn
  human beings

Q What is it?
A When society tolerates abortion, all of human
life is threatened
Q Why is it wrong?
Remember Human life is a gift from God which
must be protected, nurtured, and sustained from
the first moment of conception
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Abortion
This decision held that a womans right to
privacy included her decision to have an abortion

• Legalized in 1973 by the US Supreme Court in Roe
  v. Wade

• 1.3 million abortions in US each year
• 3,700 abortions per day, 155 per hour, 1 every 24
  seconds
• 48 of pregnancies are unintended, half of these
  are aborted
• 46 million abortions in the world every year

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Abortion

• What factors lead to the disrespect for the
  sanctity of life?

Breakdown of the family
Belief that freedom is the absolute value
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Abortion

• Did you know. . .
• The Church has opposed abortion from the
  beginning
• The Church always considered abortion a mortal
  sin
• The Church believes in the
• seamless garment of respect
• for human life from the womb
• to the tomb

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Abortion
Abortion should be made illegal
God conveys the gift of life, not the state
One should cultivate a correct view of the
sacredness of sex
There are always alternatives to abortion
Human life begins at conception

• A childs right to life outweighs a mothers
  freedom of choice or her right to privacy

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Stem Cell Research
Adult stem cells have the potency to become many
different cells but not all.
Embryonic stem cells have the potential to
become any kind of body cell
Stem Cell is an unspecialized cell
that has the potential to become a specific
type of cell
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Stem Cell Research
Did You Know. . .

• The Church supports stem cells that come from
  adult tissue, umbilical cord blood and other
  sources.
• The Church is against the use of
• embryonic stem cells, since stem
• cells must be harvested from living
• human embryos that destroys them.

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Euthanasia

• A Defined as an act or omission which of itself
  or by intention cause death, with the purpose of
  eliminating suffering

Q What is it?
Did You Know . . .
Euthanasia is also called mercy killing
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Euthanasia

• Our cultural climate
• sees no value in suffering
• People who neglect
• God think they have sole
• control over life and death
• Aging population puts pressure on a
• costly healthcare system

Reasons for legalizing Euthanasia include
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Euthanasia
Palliative medicine
Unrelieved suffering
Euthanasia
Options for the dying
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Euthanasia

• The Church believes in using ordinary and morally
  acceptable means to preserve life, even of those
  who face death.
• The Church teaching holds that to decision to
  forego using extraordinary or disproportionate
  means to sustain life is morally acceptable
• Declaration on Euthanasia states we can judge
  whether the means is ordinary or extraordinary
  by
• Kind of treatment used
• Its complexity and risk
• Its costs and possibilities of using it

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Euthanasia

• A Euthanasia violates Gods law which forbids
  the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing
  of a human person
• A Suicide is equivalent to murder and violates
  the fifth commandment
• A Assisted suicide is the
• concurring with the
• intention of another
• person to commit
• suicide helping
• someone take his/her life

Q Why does the Church strongly condemn
euthanasia, suicide and assisted suicide?
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Capital Punishment
Things to consider
Jesus taught nonviolence and forgiveness

• Not even a murderer loses his/her personal
  dignity

All people are challenged to look for ways to
punish and rehabilitate criminals while
protecting society
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Capital Punishment
Did You Know. . .

• The Church has traditionally permitted the
  death penalty as a last resort for a society to
  defend itself against violent criminals
• States have enough means today to
• repress crime and control violent
• criminals without inflicting the death
• penalty

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Capital Punishment
Reasons for punishment
deterrence
retribution
reform
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Capital Punishment

• A dead criminal cannot be reformed
• Mistakes have been made in administering capital
  punishment
• Since 1973 at least 100 people have been
  exonerated and released from death row in the US
• Executions attract unhealthy publicity
• Death penalty is disproportionally
  administered to poor persons and members of
  minority groups

Problems with the death penalty
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The Seamless Garment

• A Consistent life ethic

Q What is it?
Respect for all human life from the moment of
conception until natural death,
from womb to tomb.
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The Seamless Garment
pursue social justice
protect human life
Pro -Life
promote family life
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• Consistent life ethic
• Omission
• Deterrence
• American Bishops on Cap. Punishment
• Vat. II Document The Church in the ModernWorld
• Abortion
• Euthanasia
• Capital punishment
• Stem cell
• assault on human life that is part of our culture
  of death

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Chapter 4 Consistent life ethic Omission
Deterrence American Bishops on Cap.
Punishment Vat. II Document The Church in the
ModernWorld Abortion Euthanasia Capital
punishment Stem cell assault on human life that
is part of our culture of death womb to tomb
Revenge as motive