The right to force someone into slavery
May 22nd, 2007
It’s early evening. You and your spouse are sitting in the living room. You’re watching TV and your spouse is reading a magazine. Suddenly, there is a knock at the door. It’s a man in a white coat. Behind him is an ambulance with two paramedics unloading a gurney. There appears to be a sick old man on it. His eyes are closed and he’s barely breathing. Your gaze turns to the man in the white coat as he begins to speak. He tells you that he is from the health department. The old man they are unloading is your uncle, your last living relative. You didn’t even know he existed but it turns out to be the truth.
The man from the health department begins to explain that due to extreme overcrowding there is no longer any room for your uncle at the nursing home. Under a new law, you will be forced to care for him. You must feed him, bathe him, clean his bed sores, change his diapers and pay all his bills. If you don’t, no one else will and he will die. If that happens, you will be arrested for neglect and wrongful death. If you do care for him, your life will be ruined. All your savings will be depleted, you will have to work an extra job and there will be no time for children because caring for your sick uncle is a full time job.
As you start to feel sick, the man from the health department tells you that there is another option. They will euthanize him and no one will be responsible for him. He will no longer feel pain and you can continue your life as normal.
If this sounds like a nightmare choice, you would be justified in that opinion. You would also have some idea what it’s like to be a single pregnant woman deciding on abortion. The question isn’t about when life begins. The question we must ask is, can society rightfully force you to be responsible for another person’s life? Even if it means sacrificing part of your own?
How can we say parents have the right to decide whether or not to bring a life into this world but they have no right to undo it. What is the difference between having sex, becoming pregnant and aborting the fetus before birth than simply not having sex in the first place? Both end up in the loss of a “potential birth”. Wouldn’t that make it wrong to not have sex constantly? Not that I have anything against that. I just think it’s inconsistent.