Human life expresses value and worth at all stages, and measures not taken to preserve it need reform.
Areas that are not taking into account the worth of life would be the process of abortion, the practicing of capital punishment and the looseness of gun laws according to state governments.
Abortion is an infringement on the right to life, because biologically life starts at conception when the zygote is formed. For that reason, his or her life should be treated as a person with every right given to human beings already born. It would be considerate of life for the courts to reevaluate the humaneness of the practice of aborting children, because unborn children’s lives are of extreme value.
I interviewed Lilia Synder on the matter. Lilia considers herself pro-life, believing that life is precious because it has been given by God. She identifies as a Christian, so she believes in the following of the commandment against murder, and that abortion is the breaking of such a law. She believes that abortion should not be legal once life starts, considering that life begins once the heartbeat of a fetus can be detected.
The U.S. is one of only 58 countries left in the world that legalizes and uses the death penalty as punishment. I believe that the taking away of life, even as a punishment for crime, should not be a right for the justice system to have. We should have the right to our own lives, but not to take other lives prematurely. The death penalty has also taken the lives of innocent people, or people who were discriminated against at time of arrest or accusation.
I believe that gun laws should be stricter according to state. In my own hometown of Wilmington, Del., I often hear of the constant crime and killings, the number of which could possibly be lessened if there were firmer laws. Wilmington is ranked in the top 25 cities in the country for the crime/violence rate, and 12 for murder rate. I believe that each state should take into account crime/violence rate and murder rate before setting gun laws, and then set them responsibly and respectively. At the very least, gun buyers should be required to have a permit or license to buy a gun, which is not the required case in most U.S. states.
I interviewed Kaitlyn Crawford to discuss the subject. She is a believer in loose gun laws due to her support of the Second Amendment. She said that she believes that there should be equal laws under the Federal Government concerning guns instead of each state making their own requirements for gun ownership. I disagree on that. I think that, because the danger regarding the use of guns differs vastly from city to city and state to state, states should take that danger into account and make gun laws accordingly, which is not currently the case, proving a danger to the lives of Americans.
The value of human life is not a matter to be ignored. Life is valuable at all stages and should be protected, whether the matter being considered is abortion, suicide, assisted suicide, capital punishment, or gun laws. The worth of life should never be determined by the way another person feels. The government of the US should be trying to safeguard all life, to the best of its abilities, keeping human life from harm. If the nation fully recognizes the extreme value of life, the nation will become a much safer place for people of all ages, giving them the minimal respect that every human being is due.
