Tragedy in Paris reminds us that every life is precious

The world is still reeling in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris a week ago which killed at least 130 people.

There has been an international outpouring of grief and solidarity with the French nation, with a moment of silence being held at many sporting events. The manner in which innocent civilians were gunned down in cold blood is truly shocking and shows the savage barbarism of the terrorists responsible.

Although we must remember that, after all, 552 unborn children are killed by abortion every day, I don't know if it's always helpful to compare tragedies and death tolls. The fact that abortion is an ongoing global tragedy doesn't make the events in Paris any less tragic, nor does it reduce the pain that friends and family of those killed must feel.

We are all human

But reading the news as it has developed over the last week, it is worth remembering that we are all horrified by the senseless slaughter of innocent people. Our culture is still outraged by the killing of innocents, but only those that we can agree are truly people.

No-one in their right mind is defending the Paris attacks because of overpopulation, or arguing that the terrorists had the 'right to choose' to kill their victims, or any of the excuses I've heard in defence of abortion. We can all see that any such statement would be absurd!

That's because we recognise the humanity and personhood of the defenceless victims in Paris. Even those who wouldn't ordinarily describe themselves as pro-life do believe in the universal right to life - the right to not be killed.

The terrorists who carried out the atrocities last Friday evening do not. They don't recognise any of us as truly human, or truly people.

Easy to be pro-life

The problem with abortion is that those who support it don't believe the unborn are truly human, even though the science is undeniable. Whatever theoretical arguments you may encounter, no-one in their right mind genuinely believes it is acceptable to go around killing innocent human beings.

In a different context, the governor of New Jersey in the US, Chris Christie, said recently that "it's easy to be pro-life for the nine months they're in the womb ... they haven't done anything to disappoint us yet".

I can see what the governor is trying to say, but I think he may be missing the real truth. Too often in our society it's not easy at all to be pro-life - it can require huge amounts of courage and support for a mother to decide she's going to keep her baby. What is all too easy is to ignore children in the womb and to pretend that they don't really exist.

Mourn the loss of innocent lives

True, unborn children are completely innocent and blameless of any offence. But even with today's technology they're still hidden away inside their mother's womb, largely or entirely invisible to most.

We need to spread awareness of our common humanity: which we share with children in the womb, mothers in crisis pregnancy, disabled people, the elderly and the sick. All lives matter and deserve protection.

It's right that we stand with our fellow human beings in Paris and the rest of France, and it's right that we mourn the loss of innocent lives there. It's also right to stand up for the victims of abortion, who all too often go undefended and unmourned.