Reflecting on the Victims of Agent Orange and the Value of Life
Image by Alexis Duclos, December 2004. Licensed by CC BY-SA 3.0
There are two categories of argument that are commonly used to justify abortion. There are those based on the context into which the child might be born, evoking the socio-economic or emotional status of the mother and her ability to care for the child. Then, there are arguments based on the attributes of the unborn child, including birth defects and congenital conditions. In both cases, the underlying concern is ostensibly the quality of life of the child. These arguments build themselves on the premise that given certain contexts, fetal health conditions, or combinations of both, the unborn child’s quality of life is diminished past a point that exceeds the child’s right to life. If one follows these arguments, it is acceptable to abort the child and spare them a life of difficulty. In my opinion, these arguments are based on relatively arbitrary standards and depend on a privileged and narrow assessment of the worth of human life.
It is a privileged viewpoint to think that people who are born with birth defects or other conditions are less-than, unable to live fully, and may be killed if the mother so chooses. If one fully accepts and recognizes the humanity of those with disabilities and congenital health problems, would one deny the humanity of unborn children based on the same conditions?
It is a privileged viewpoint to believe that a poor child would not have a life worth living and, thus, may be killed to avoid such suffering. This is especially egregious when we realize that there are billions of people who live in poverty in the world, including in my home country of Vietnam. Would one dare say that these people are living lives of such low quality that death is a reasonable alternative? That their children may be killed in the womb so as to be spared from living lives that do not meet the standards of Western quality and comfort?
In response to these pro-abortion arguments, I would like to briefly reflect on pro-life values and their application to another group of vulnerable and victimized people, the victims of Agent Orange. During the Vietnam War, the US government sprayed millions of hectares of land with this herbicide which contained dioxin. The highly toxic chemical had terrible environmental and human costs. Millions have suffered health problems due to Agent Orange. To this day, there are children being born with birth defects linked to the effects of Agent Orange, suffering from the consequences of a war that ended over forty year ago.
These are innocent victims of war. Many of them are born into families living in relative poverty in Central Vietnam and the Mekong delta, where the chemical was sprayed intensively. As the effects of Agent Orange have been linked to severe, debilitating birth defects, the quality of life of these victims is greatly diminished. Yet, through the hardship, they live. They live as individuals, with names, loved and cared for by those around them. The pro-life viewpoint acknowledges the value and humanity of these children as individual persons without being contingent on any arbitrary standard. They are people, just like us, who deserve dignity, respect, and every right afforded to human beings.
Through the scars of war, the families and caretakers of these victims have chosen life. No one would deny them their humanity, their intrinsic value as human beings. Meanwhile, in the US and the West, it is quite common to believe that poverty and fetal health conditions can justify the killing of the unborn. If weas a society are to address the issue of abortion, we must unify under the recognition of a simple fact: we are all human, regardless of status, age, or physical condition.
-Rizana is a Senior in the College majoring in chemistry and French. Alongside her studies, she is the Right to Life Marketing Director.
