40 Days of Life | Day 37 | Human Rights

According to the United Nations, “Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more.”

In our own Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The right to life is the most fundamental right as human beings. And as sure as lungs have breath, gratitude for life follows. A story doesn’t begin with one man. And the common desire for posterity points to future hope.

Something connects us. To our parents, our grandparents, our family line and our Creator. We know our life on this earth is not isolated and not of our own doing. No one would be here if it weren’t for man and woman. And we all have a sense of being part of a greater story or purpose, it is the nature of humanity.

I am struck by how many conversation around choice and women’s rights are littered with a defense for inhumanity.

Discussing reproductive rights after a woman already has a new life inside, after reproduction has already taken place. Describing a baby, recognizable as a human with visible fingers and toes as “pregnancy tissue”, even later in pregnancy (Planned Parenthood website). Declaring that one would never take the life of their own baby, but it’s ok for someone else too. Arguing that a baby born after a failed abortion does not deserve medical care. Forgetting that the unborn have fathers.

The arguments are detached from the stories that make us human. They assume either that an unborn baby is not human. Or that an unborn human has no human rights.

We defend the rights of humans, not because we have walked in their shoes and not because we understand their suffering, but because we are all human.

40 Days of Life | Day 35 | Goodness Beauty Truth

40 Days of Life | Day 32 | Killer Angel

40 Days of Life | Day 31 | God’s Rest

40 Days of Life | Day 29 | The Good Samaritan

40 Days of Life | Day 28 | Life and the Church

40 Days of Life | Day 27 | The Patient

40 Days of Life | Day 25 | Redemption

40 Days of Life | Day 22 | Reproductive Rights

40 Days of Life | Day 20 | Fasting From Selfish Desires

40 Days of Life | Day 18 | Integrity

40 Days of Life | Day 16 | Sight for the Blind

40 Days of Life | Day 15 | Listen