Monday, May 02, 2005

Rights/Responsibilities

In a pre-coffee haze on Saturday morning I heard a politician say (in relation to the current IVF debate) that the RIGHT to have children was the most important right that we had in this country.

Most important?

Does this mean that as a society we have gotten so blasé about things like freedom of religion, speech, the rights to shelter, food, education, healthcare, a fair justice system, the right to vote, live in safety etc that we can now bicker over this?

I’m not saying that the right for people to chose whether to bear and raise children isn’t important. I’m just questioning whether it is the MOST important, and I doubt we have actually got to a stage where those other things have ceased to be an issue and we are certain that they will never be taken away from us.

And in all this talk of rights, where is the mention of responsibility?

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