Personhood: Is Being Human Enough?

8/3/2019 Personhood: Is Being Human Enough?

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Hernn Santa Cruz of Chile

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A Weekly Column By Walter B. Hoye II

Conflict Of

Interest

In the abortion debate, is there a "Conflict of Interest"within the Black community and among her leaders?

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Personhood: The Fact Of Existing

"I perceived clearly that I was participating in a truly significant historic

event in which a consensus had been reached as to the supreme value of

the human person, a value that did not originate in the decision of a

worldly power, but rather in the fact of existingwhich gave rise to the

inalienable right to live free from want and oppression and to fully develop

one's personality." Hernn Santa Cruz of Chile, member of the drafting sub-Committee of

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Personhood: Is Being Human Enough?

The "UniversalDeclaration ofHuman Rights (UDHR)"

was adopted Friday, December 10th, 1948 and is

understood to be the foundation of international human

rights law. The PREAMBLE makes clear that the

"recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and

inalienable rights of all members of the human family is

the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world."

Since its adoption more than 80 international human rights

treaties, declarations, conventions, bills, provisions have

formed a comprehensive and legally binding power for the

promotion and protection of human rights. However, simply being a member of the

"human family" or "the fact of existing" is not enough to be covered by the Universal

DeclarationofHumanRights. Today special interests groups have taken the lead

in defining the body of international human rights law by promoting their own

agendas to address concerns such as racial discrimination, torture, enforced


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Rita Joseph, Australia

disappearances, disabilities, and the rights of women, children, migrants, minorities,

and indigenous peoples.

Personhood: Before As Well As After Birth

"WHEREAS the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity,

needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection,

before as well as after birth." Declaration of the Rights of The Child, Adopted by UN

General Assembly Resolution 1386 (XIV) of 10 December 1959

Personhood: Human Rights and the Unborn Child

Rita Joseph has lectured at the JohnPaulIIInstitutefor

Marriage and Family Studies in Melbourne, Australia

and represented family concerns at United Nation (U.N.)

conferences. In her masterpiece, Human Rights and the

Unborn Child, Rita successfully argues that the right to life

of the child in the womb is clearly defined in the U.N.

DeclarationoftheRightsoftheChild (1959). 1 Rita is

on record as saying the right to life of the child in the

womb has "been obscured for some decades now by the

rise of a new pro-abortion ideology in the form of radical

feminism" and such forces have conducted "a masterly

campaign of ideological reinterpretation." 2 Rita adds that the word "child" was

understood in 1948 to include the child in the womb, (see the quotes above) and

references the historical and legal prohibitions on aborting any woman "with child"

and the original Hippocratic prohibition on abortion which was reaffirmed by the

World Medical Association's Declaration of Geneva only three months before the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "I will maintain the utmost respect for

human life from the time of conception, even under threat " 3 If you're reading this

column and know Rita, tell her I said "Thank You!" Her commitment to the child in

the womb reflects a deep and abiding love for Christ. I'm hoping we can meet and

talk one day.

Personhood: The Morality Of The 21st Century

"The morality of the 21st century will depend on how we respond to thissimple but profound question: Does every human life have equal moral

value simply and merely because it is human?" Wesley J. Smith, Featured on

Starbuck's take-away coffee cups as part of its "The Way I See It" 2006 Campaign

Personhood: Again, Is Being Human Enough?

In 2010, Lori and I were invited to a Napa Wine Cave to


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Wesley J. Smith, J.D.

hear the latest on Proposition 8 (Traditional Marriage)

from the lawyers themselves. The cave was awesome,

the meeting was attended by both National and Statewide

leaders and very, very informative. Still, my heart was

broken in that meeting. One panel discussion opened this

way: "We do not want to make the same mistake the Pro-

Life movement is making. Millions of lives have been lost

since 1973. RIGHT HERE and RIGHT NOW is our

1973 and we will not settle for 'Domestic Partnerships' or'Civil Unions!' We will stand together and stand without

compromise for traditional marriage. One Man. One

Woman. For Life." I cried. Not because I did not agree

with the statement. I cried because the statement was true. Millions of lives have

been lost since 1973 and the Pro-Life movement is fighting over strategy and

tactics. It's PersonhoodversusOverturningRoev.Wade. Why? We need both.

Furthermore, we can have both because our God shall supply all our needs

according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus 4 (Philippians 4:19). If the morality

of the 21st century depends on how we respond to this question: "Does every

human life have equal moral value simply and merely because it is human?" If we

believe that every human life has equal moral value. If we believe that being human

is enough. If we want to avoid thirty-name (39) more years of legalized abortion on

demand. Then perhaps ending abortion in 2012 will depend upon us seeing the

value of meeting the physical and heartfelt needs of men, women and children 5

(James 2:15,16), preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality 6 (1st

Timothy 5:21) and working together as brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ

"simply and merely because" we are human.

Brothers, we really need to talk.

Note(s):

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was theresult of the experience of the Second World War (http://bit.ly/SqjvG).

Declaration of the Rights of the Child, G.A. res. 1386 (XIV), 14 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 19, U.N. Doc. A/4354 (1959),(http://bit.ly/vQVCL2).

Wesley J. Smith, Featured on Starbuck's take-away coffee cups as part of its "The Way I See It" 2006 Campaign(http://bit.ly/b83dKq).

Reference(s):

01. Women for Faith & Family, Voices Editorial Board, Rita Joseph (http://bit.ly/s1jVJ4).

02. "International Human-Rights Law and the Unborn Child", by John Keown, September 24, 2010, (http://bit.ly/cK8JjV).

03. Ibid.

04. Philippians 4:19: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (http://bit.ly/rFcJsR).

05. James 2:15,16: "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be

ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?"

(http://bit.ly/tShYqU).

06. 1st Timothy 5:21: "I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things

without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality." (http://bit.ly/vuYCim).

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Personhood: Is Being Human Enough?