Rose v. Kissling debate at Yale: A conflict between dignity and discrimination

In a Yale Political Union debate this week, former Catholics for Free Choice president Frances Kissling's message of inequality stood in stark contrast to the message of Live Action founder and president Lila Rose, who defended the dignity of every human life.

Key Takeaways:

• During the Yale Political Union Debate, Frances Kissling argued that not all human beings are intrinsically of equal value, while Lila Rose argued that they are.

• Kissling also argued that what it means to be a human has changed as the "world has changed."

• Rose maintained that all human lives are equal, quoting the 14th Amendment: "'No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, nor deny any person equal protection of the laws.' The promise is clear, and it was meant for every human."

The Details:

The conflict over the value of human lives has always been at the center of the abortion debate.

While the pro-choice side has argued that women are of greater value than their preborn children (often basing this on their levels of development and consciousness and their bodily autonomy), the pro-life side has always maintained that women and their preborn children are of equal value, along with every other human life, because they are all human.

Frances Kissling adhered to the pro-choice argument that not all human beings have the same value, yet at points of the debate she admitted that preborn children do have some value.

In her opening remarks, Kissling argued:

"We need to begin to think about abortion as a conflict of values. I tend to favor more or think more about the value of women's lives, and when I say lives, I'm not talking about whether they're going to die or not. I'm talking about the fact that they have life.

They have decisions to make about how they are going to live that life. They have illnesses, and they have health. They have children, they have husbands, they have partners, and they think.

And that value becomes especially important if and when they become pregnant, particularly when they didn't intend to become pregnant at that point in time."

Kissling went on to claim that deciding to have an abortion is morally equivalent to deciding "how much meat you're going to eat" and "how we spend our money and how much of it we give to others who have more needs than us."

When asked by an audience member if all human beings have the same value, Kissling simply replied, "No."

Responding to another question, she confirmed her belief that what it means to be human has changed over time. "Of course it has changed," she said. "It has changed because the world has changed."

Commentary:

In arguing that not all human beings have the same value, Kissling was essentially arguing in favor of eugenics, the dark belief that some human beings are more worthy of life than others.

The Allied Forces fought against the Nazis, who believed Jewish people and people with disabilities, among others, were unworthy of life — and acted upon those beliefs to harm those individuals. The U.S. and other nations ultimately and rightly ended slavery within their borders, which had spread under the false idea that a person's value was determined by the color of their skin. The end of these injustices came about because the inherent value of each individual was at last recognized and protected, and their equal treatment was demanded and fought for against their oppressors.

Society knows it is an injustice when the inherent value of any human being is denied, and this is true with abortion as well.

Even Kissling admitted that preborn children have value — just not enough, in her opinion, to allow them their inherent right to life.

The Other Side:

Rose, however, stood firm in her stance that every human life has equal value regardless of their location, consciousness, level of development, or any other arbitrary factor. She explained:

"Killing preborn children must be illegal for the same reasons that killing born children, a newborn, must be illegal. Because our human value, our worth, is not based on our size, on our age, on our level of development, or on our location or dependency.

The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, declares, quote, 'No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, nor deny any person equal protection of the laws.' The promise is clear, and it was meant for every human."

The Bottom Line:

There are still major injustices to overcome, such as the discrimination against preborn humans, who are targeted for abortion.

Preborn human beings have always been of equal value to born human beings, because every human being, regardless of gender, religion, age, and race, is of equal value.

Go Deeper:

• Watch the Yale Political Union debate between Lila Rose and Frances Kissling here.

• Read more of Rose's debate remarks here.