Church consistent in respecting life

This is a response to Sheryl Jedlinski's Fence Post of March 7.

I'd like to address three points: That the pope wants to plunge our country back into the Dark Ages; that the church practices selective morality concerning its defense of life "from conception until natural death;" and that the pope is insidious in opposing embryonic stem cell research and artificial insemination.

Point one, it was the church which kept civilization alive though the Dark Ages. Be not afraid, you may have missed it, but the church held two Vatican Councils which reconciled the ancient church with the whole world and modernity.

Point two, respect for life "from conception until natural death," is absolute. It is even enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, "… unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Any list of human rights has to start just like this list, with life, for without it there is no need for other rights. And know that when the law denies protection of one category of human beings, it's denying the equality of all before the law.

Point three, insidious, the pope? It is not treacherous to warn someone for the sake of their immortal soul. That science is made for man, not the other way around; that a child is an independent person, a gift, not something owed to one.

In vitro fertilization accounts for 99 percent of all artificial inseminations. The procedure costs $12,500, and it is successful 30 percent of the time. There are 48,000 births due to this method every year in our country. There are well over a million abortions every year in this country at a cost of between $500 and $3,000 per. If reason tells us that every person has equal value, seems some humans are more equal than others.

Mitch Babiarz

Schaumburg