As a nation today, we have not rejected the sanctity of human life. The American people have not had an opportunity to express their view on the sanctity of human life in the unborn. I am convinced that Americans do not want to play God with the value of human life. It is not for us to decide who is worthy to live and who is not. Even the Supreme Court's opinion in Roe v. Wade did not explicitly reject the traditional American idea of intrinsic worth and value in all human life; it simply dodged this issue.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Reagan argues most Americans value human life and that the state shouldn't decide who is worthy to live.
- In plain terms
- Americans value human life and should not play God by deciding who is worthy to live.
- What can you take from it?
- Respect the intrinsic worth of all human life and avoid deciding who is worthy to live.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Should the state decide the value of human life?
- How do we define intrinsic worth?
Another view
It sidesteps bodily autonomy and the complex ethical dimensions of reproductive choice.
More from Ronald Reagan
As a nation, we must choose between the sanctity of life ethic and the 'quality of life' ethic. I have no trouble identifying the answer our nation has always …
Permalink to quote #72 We must all educate ourselves to the reality of the horrors taking place. Doctors today know that unborn children can feel a touch within the womb and that the…
Permalink to quote #74 Regrettably, we live at a time when some persons do not value all human life. They want to pick and choose which individuals have value.
Permalink to quote #71
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