"The Herod Procedure. . . "

The Telegraph headline below reports on the latest, what one commentator described as the Herod Procedure:  

Killing babies no different from abortion, experts say

Parents should be allowed to have their newborn babies killed because they are “morally irrelevant” and ending their lives is no different to abortion, a group of medical ethicists linked to Oxford University has argued.

The article, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, says newborn babies are not “actual persons” and do not have a “moral right to life.” The academics also argue that parents should be able to have their baby killed if it turns out to be disabled when it is born.

The journal’s editor, Prof Julian Savulescu, director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, said the article’s authors had received death threats since publishing the article. He said those who made abusive and threatening posts about the study were “fanatics opposed to the very values of a liberal society.”

The article, entitled “After-birth abortion: Why should the baby live?”, was written by two of Prof Savulescu’s former associates, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva. They argued: “The moral status of an infant is equivalent to that of a fetus in the sense that both lack those properties that justify the attribution of a right to life to an individual.” 

Rather than being “actual persons,” newborns were “potential persons.” They explained: “Both a fetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a ‘person’ in the sense of ‘subject of a moral right to life’.”

 Reported here. 

The pressing clash of values that has been simmering for a very long time has boiled over with no more hiding the intent of culture, medicine, and freedom -- children are disposable whether inside or outside the womb.  For too long Christians who stand against abortion have been dismissed as extremist and their critics complain that their points are exaggerated and their characterization of the issues overblown.  Now the changing times are allowing more openness by those who view children (and the aged) not as people but as excess baggage which may be disposed of by those who would have to care for them.  It is coming.  Be aware.  Life issues remain on the forefront of nearly every issue facing us as a nation of people and as individuals, here in America, and throughout the world.  All the prevents this from obtaining legal authority is the need for political cover in the popular opinions of the majority.  Be vigilant, people, the battle is just begun!