Human Rights for Apes, Civil Rights for Plants - but No Relief for Human Babies

Now I've seen everything. It wasn't enough that, in June of this year, Spain's Parliament decided that apes should be afforded human rights similar to homo sapiens. Yes, human rights for apes. But now in Switzerland - the country that once remained neutral on everything - their parliamentarians want to give "dignity" to plants. They even call the existence of our green leafy friends a "lifestyle".

Shades of "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Animal Farm"...meanwhile, humans are listed as a species of least concern for extinction on the latest report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

First, the Spanish government approved the "Great Ape Project", committed to giving apes the "fundamental moral and legal protections of the right to life, freedom from arbitrary deprivations of liberty, and protection from torture". Okay, I can agree with the protection from torture and I do think it's sad to see them behind bars in zoos. But I've still never seen one evolve into a man and lose all that hair.

Then, the Wall Street Journal reported in October that molecular scientists in Switzerland were faced with considering the dignity of plants when wanting to do research on wheat for certain types of fungus. Beat Keller, one of the scientists, had to put pages in his report proving why the research would not "disturb the plant's lifestyle". Based on a 1990's Swiss Constitutional amendment defending all life forms, Switzerland's Parliament asked the scientists, along with a board of theologians and geneticists, to establish the meaning of plant dignity.

Well, we already know some people do talk to their plants and even stroke them. "Plants like to be touched", some gardening advocates say. I guess we'd better get ready to see them jump up and say "Feed me!"

With this year's Sanctity of Life Week coming up, it's a good time to ponder what life we value most. Human aborted babies are also being deprived of human rights, liberty and protection from torture in the most heinous types of abortion.

It's true that humans, and the technology invented by us, have done much to ruin our own planet to a certain extent. However, human population growth is currently suffering too. In the worst impoverished nations, babies are dying of starvation or AIDS. In China, due to forced abortion and leaving baby girls to die, there are now 10 men for every one woman. Genocides in countries of religious and civil unrest are wiping out whole portions of their society.

The abortion rights issue is painful, heated and confusing. My heart goes out to all girls and women who have found abortion to be "their only choice" at the time. But in the U.S. and other Western nations, there's been an increase in career women and affluent couples electing abortions simply because the baby is not convenient or is not the sex they wanted. Rape and incest only account for 1.5 to 2% of all abortions. Our world has been robbed of many precious souls this way.

And the definition of allowable euthanasia is expanding. Oregon's "Death with Dignity Act" was copied from similar laws in Holland, where it is now common to euthanize patients without their express permission under certain circumstances. Infants can also be euthanized without parents' permission. So it is not far-fetched that some of these other countries' laws will make their way here soon.

Social Security is dwindling because in America alone, we've aborted over 45 million babies that could have been in the work force for the last thirty years. These workers would have increased the amount of salary revenue streaming into the Social Security program.

The largest growing demographic of our population is Baby Boomers (80 million) and they will all be senior citizens within the next 10-15 years. But let's not worry about that. According to the UICN, we'd better be out there saving bearded pigs, salamanders, and ferns.

-Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? (Micah 6:7b)

-Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person. (Deut. 27:25)

-There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes,

a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood...(Proverbs 6:17).

Sources:

"In Switzerland, Ethicists Ponder the Rights and Dignity of Plants," Gautam Naik, Wall Street Journal, 19 October 2008, http://www.projo.com/garden/content/lh_plantsrights_10-19-08_S3BT4KD_v6.20f6c48.html. Retrieved 12/12/08.

"Silence of the Yams", Breakpoint with Chuck Colson, http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=10515, 11/12/08.

"Spanish parliament to extend rights to apes", Martin Roberts, Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL256586320080625?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews&rpc=22&sp=true, 6/25/08. Retrieved 12/12/08.

"Human rights for apes? Growing movement wants to grant 'personhood'," WorldNetDaily, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54959, March 31, 2007, Retrieved 12/12/08.

"Monkey Business in Spain", Breakpoint with Chuck Colson,

http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=8255, 7/23/2008. Retrieved 12/12/08.

Wesley J. Smith, "Now They Want to Euthanize Children," Daily Standard, September 13, 2004. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/616jszlg.asp.

Humans not a concern for extinction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human, and International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Endangered Species, http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/2008rl_stats_tables_all.xls, retrieved 12/12/08.

The Alan Guttmacher Institute, steadily reporting only 1-1.5-2% of abortions are due to rape and incest, New York and WashingtonD.C., www.agi-usa.org.

Baby boomers are largest demographic: Nanette Overly, Senior Journal, http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Boomers/2007/7-03-08-BabyBoomersSeeking.htm.

Number of children per baby boomer household: Metlife study, 2003, http://www.metlife.com/WPSAssets/19506845461045242298V1FBoomer%20Profile%202003.pdf, page 2. retrieved 12/12/08.

The Bible, New International Version (NIV), © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society, Colorado Springs, CO.