National Catholic Register: "America’s Unborn Greatness"

Donald DeMarco writes in the Feb. 18-24 issue of The National Catholic Register:

... “National Sanctity of Life Day,” says President Bush, “serves as a reminder that we must value human life in all forms not just those considered healthy, wanted or convenient. Together, we can work toward a day when the dignity and humanity of every person is respected.”

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What has happened to America that has moved her to the point where she needs to be reminded of something so basic as the sanctity of life and human dignity? It has been the ascendancy of a “quality of life” ethic that has eclipsed that of the “sanctity of life.” One of the most influential proponents of the former view is Peter Singer, who cavalierly dismisses notions such as “sanctity of life” and “dignity” as “fine phrases [that] are the last resource of those who have run out of argument.”

Singer and his ilk, however, provide us with a conundrum: How is it possible that material possession, mental and physical health, and social status, can be good “qualities,” yet the beneficiaries of these qualities, the human being, himself, is judged devoid of any innate good quality? How can the things a person can have be of greater value that what he is as a human being?

We have foolishly emptied ourselves of value and projected value onto externals...

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(emphasis added)


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