We cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide. My Administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land, and there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- He argues that a free nation cannot exist if some people are deemed unworthy of life, linking life rights to all other freedoms.
- In plain terms
- A nation is not free if it abandons some lives; protecting life is essential to protect all rights.
- What can you take from it?
- Freedom requires protecting the most vulnerable members of society.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What defines a free nation?
- Which rights are most important?
Another view
It frames a moral issue in binary terms that may ignore nuance.
More from Ronald Reagan
We will never recognize the true value of our own lives until we affirm the value in the life of others.
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