Violence Policy Statement

Violence: Right to Life – LIFESPAN Policy Statement

Adopted April 15, 1992

There is nothing new about violence. The human race has known the evil of violence since Cain killed his brother, Abel, out of envy. Men and women of our own pioneering country used violent action in self-defense or in the cause of freedom and justice. The use of such action is still debated. But since Roe v. Wade legalized the killing of our most innocent and helpless brothers and sisters in the womb, we have seen a reckless escalation of totally unprovoked violence that has become a national scandal.

Children are shot at play on their streets or at school. Infants are killed in acts of rage by their parents or parent substitutes. Women are raped on college campuses by men they know, as well as in back alleys by strangers. Incidents of spousal abuse occupy the attention of our media and inspire plots for the movies and TV. Unknown fanatics have sometimes bombed abortion clinics in the vastly mistaken notion that two wrongs will somehow make a right. Everywhere in the picture lurks the tragedy of people who have abandoned their personal responsibility for the whims and caprices of the moment.

The hatred generated by violence is an illness that feeds upon itself. It is epidemic in nature, finally destroying its own source and all those who are caught in its grasp.

Who will deny that Roe—with its strong promotion of self-gratification—has provided the subtle underpinnings for the senselessly violent society we have become?

Right to Life – LIFESPAN from its inception in 1970 has opposed violence as it does now. Let us be part of a solution by striving to create a nation of mutual respect for all members of our human family.