Cuomo and the value of human life.

How much is a human life worth?

Pro life people have often been accused of believing that life begins at conception and ends at birth. That’s not true.

The pro life people I know have fought for the sanctity of human life under the law with heroic persistence. They have endured decades of defeat and kept on believing and working to save lives.

They are also some of the most loving, forgiving and generous people it has ever been my privilege to know. I am grateful beyond words to them for their forgiveness and love.

At the same time, I have always known that many political “pro life” people were phonies. They would kill grandma if it made money for them and kept them in power.

There was a time when the grandma illustration was just illustrative hyperbole. But in the past few weeks, it has become political reality. We live in a society where even people who make their living yakking about how pro life they are don’t mind singling out groups of people to kill if money is on the line.

The basic right to life applies to all people, at every age, no matter their pre-existing condition. An elderly woman with dementia has the same right to life as the unborn child.  A little girl with asthma has the same right to life as Mitch McConnell or any of the billionaire members of Club for Growth. You don’t let people die because they’re old. You don’t let them die because they have asthma or high blood pressure, live in nursing homes or can’t afford medical care.

How much is a human life worth? New York Gov Andrew Cuomo asked this question. His answer was that a human life is priceless. Ironically, painfully, this is the same Gov Cuomo who is pro abortion.

I back Gov Cuomo in his concern for the lives that the right wing is so eager to sacrifice for their money. I oppose legal abortion and hope that Roe is overturned by our five “pro life” justices on the Supreme Court. I’m perfectly willing to back those positions with my time and my treasure.

What I won’t do is lie about the realities we face. Not to myself. Not to you. Not to anybody.