Our Issues – Where We Stand

Abortion
Image of baby in fetal position in gauzy material.Abortion is any act or procedure performed with the willful intent to cause the death of an unborn child from conception to birth.

Abortion is a grave act of injustice toward the child and a clear violation of the child’s natural, unalienable right to life and his or her legal right not to be deprived of life without due cause.

Tulare-Kings Right to Life opposes all direct abortions and believes that every attempt should be made to save the life and health of both mother and child.

Tulare-Kings Right to Life believes in the inherent dignity and value of human life — born and unborn — and we are committed to speaking out against the tragedy of abortion. We will continue to promote public knowledge concerning the positive alternatives to abortion.

In the words of Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”

Infanticide
Infanticide is the killing of infants with disabilities by withholding medically needed treatment with the intent to cause death.

The most frequent victims of infanticide are infants born with Down Syndrome and spina bifida.

Tulare-Kings Right to Life believes that the presence or anticipation of mental or physical disability does not justify the withholding or withdrawal of medical care. Society has the right and the duty to intervene on behalf of children and incompetent individuals where life is in jeopardy and effective treatment is available.

Euthanasia
Euthanasia is the act of causing a person’s premature death, with or without the individual’s knowledge or consent.

Common methods of euthanasia include withholding food, fluids, or routine life-saving medical treatments — passive euthanasia. Or euthanasia could be by a deliberate action, such as a lethal overdose with the intent to cause death — active euthanasia.

Tulare-Kings Right to Life specifically opposes euthanasia and killing by which doctors or others knowingly kill individuals by a lethal dose of a drug or any other means. TKRL also opposes assisting a person to commit suicide. Real compassion for the dying comes through meeting all their needs — physical, emotional, and spiritual. The goal must be to eliminate suffering, not the persons who suffer.

Stem Cell Research / Human Cloning
“Embryonic” stem cells are extracted from living human embryos, thus directly killing a five-day old human being.

No matter how tiny, Tulare-Kings Right to Life opposes the deliberate destruction of human life. Thus far embryonic stem cell research has resulted in very disappointing medical therapies. But even if therapies were successful, they would not justify the taking of human life.

“Adult” stem cells are taken from the donor and returned to the donor.

Plentiful in bone marrow, cord blood, and many other organs, adult stem cells have already been found to be successful in treating over 74 identifiable diseases. Tulare-Kings Right to Life supports and encourages such scientific advances.

“Therapeutic” human cloning allows a newly cloned human to be experimented upon in his or her first few weeks of life resulting in death.

Some scientists think this is permit as the “human” is never actually “born.” Tulare-Kings Right to Life rejects this argument and opposes therapeutic cloning. At this time, few are promoting the goal of cloning human beings and bringing them to “birth” for reproductive reasons. Should that time come, we will vigorously oppose that proposition, as well.