A Right to Life versus Other Rights

When discussing the subject of Pro-Life the issue often arises that life is only one of the rights which pro-lifers should be addressing. Other important issues include poverty, homelessness, discrimination, war, immigration, and so on. No argument can be made that these are not important issues and most certainly should be addressed.

But are any of these, or even all of these together, as important as a right to life?

Probably the best argument for the priority of the right to life over all other rights was made by Pope John Paul II in “Christifideles Laici” (Christ’s Faithful Lay People). In this he stated “Above all, the common outcry which is justly made on behalf of human rights – for example, the right to health, to home, to work, to family, to culture – is false and illusory if the right to life, the most basic and fundamental right and the condition for all other personal rights, is not defended with the maximum determination”.