A Pro-Life Example
Dr. C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon General of the United States, recently died at the age of 92. He lived a long, healthy life, fitting for a steward of a nation’s health.
Pro-life groups have heaped praise on Dr. Koop, who was an outspoken supporter of the right to life. As a medical professional, he understood the humanity of the unborn child. He also established the first neonatal intensive care unit in the United States, at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, saving countless babies.
His concern for human lives did not end with the unborn and newly born; Koop was pro-adult-life as well. He campaigned strongly against the dangers of smoking. He deserves special praise for his response to the AIDS epidemic, at a time when many Americans were uncomfortable even discussing sexually transmitted diseases. Although he was a devout Christian, he served the nation from a secular standpoint, setting aside any personal feelings about sexuality and condom use in order to prevent the spread of a lethal disease.
Pro-lifers’ compassion cannot end at birth. Dr. Koop’s legacy is an example to us all.
Thanks for the profile. I am a fan of Secular Pro Life and promote it online. But this bit struck me as a little odd, and left me with questions: "Although he was a devout Christian, he served the nation from a secular
standpoint, setting aside any personal feelings about sexuality and
condom use in order to prevent the spread of a lethal disease."
I won't bother to pick about how the phrasing is ideologically loaded and thoroughly biased — as if his service to his country was in spite of his Christianity rather than an expression of it, as if Christians' opinions re: sexuality are merely based in "personal feelings" and not reason and data, as if it were notable that a Christian would care about disease prevention and AIDS in particular — and ask a simple reportage question: Did he actually have any "personal feelings," as you call them, against condoms? Or are you assuming he did because he was a Christian? Or we could ask: was he a devout *Catholic*? That's much different than being a generic "devout Christian" when it comes to anything involving contraception. The vast majority of non-Catholics, including the conservative ones, have no problem with condoms/contraception. It would be notable for a devout Catholic to be promoting condom use, but not (for example) a generic evangelical.
Catholic/non-Catholic is not a nit-picky distinction if you're dealing in societal sexual issues like abortion and birth control.
Surely we don't need to stick it to the Christians, however subtly, in order to advance Secular Pro Life.
P.S. – I've been meaning to ask, why are you using this hideous blog theme?
SPL is your go to location for people who deeply resent being forced to go to church during their childhood but don't want to throw away their "conservative" label.