“EVERY CHILD A WANTED CHILD”: Ever since I became pro-life (1997-ish), I’ve thought that was a particularly eerie slogan. If you’re not wanted… then what?

“Dan Cere, a professor at McGill University and an affiliate scholar at this Institute, wrote a brief paper some years back that I just read, titled ‘Every Child a Wanted Child.’ He argues that the idea that every child should be ‘wanted,’ while sounding compassionate, is actually quite disturbing. It does not value children for their own sake. Instead, it says a child has value — is ‘wanted’ and deserving of life — because a grownup has decided that it is valuable, fits in with their vision of their own life, and is deserving to be born.”

The affirmation of the human dignity and worth of those whom others would discard as “unwanted” is what links advocacy for prisoners, for the severely mentally ill, for the terminally ill, for the homeless, and for the unborn. And, frankly, we’re all burdens–we’re all “dependent rational animals.” On Wednesday I got a check that will let me pay next month’s rent, but I am under no illusions that I am somehow better than people who are considered “burdens.” A society that believes people are only valuable when they are “wanted” is a society that has abandoned social justice. God wants everyone, loves even those who can’t yet love themselves. So too should we.