ON WEDNESDAY evening, Paul Hill, a former Presbyterian minister, was put to death by the state of Florida for murdering an abortion doctor in 1994. This chain of events represents a great travesty displaying an utter disrespect for human life.
For the first count, abortion is wrong. Abortion is wrong in all cases and without exception. I fail to see how someone can honestly say that there is nothing wrong with killing a baby that can survive on its own in the third trimester and selling the body parts for research. Or perhaps someone would like to justify the injection of salt into the womb in the second trimester causing the baby to shrivel up and die. No matter what the "inconvenience" of having a baby would be to the mother, we cannot continue to justify the killing of innocent children.
This being said, Paul Hill was absolutely wrong to murder an abortion doctor. Murder of this sort is just as wrong as abortion, and we all know that two wrongs do not make a right. The important point to make in this scenario is that taking the life of another human being is not morally acceptable at all. This culture of death in our society has perverted our sense of right and wrong to the point where some can view the murdering of innocent unborn children as acceptable and an extremist can view the killing of abortionists as acceptable.
It is important to note that Paul Hill does not even fit the term "pro-life," as the very meaning of the term implies a respect for all human life. Unfortunately this very lack of respect of human life is what makes the third tragedy possible in this unfortunate chain of events; the execution of Paul Hill by the state of Florida.
Since the Supreme Court has ruled that capital punishment was again constitutional in 1977, we have seen a general increase in the number of criminals executed, reaching 71 in 2002. While this number may seem comparatively low, one has to realize that the death of these inmates does nothing but harm to society; encouraging the notion that is acceptable to end someone else's life, it in turn belittles the value inherent in human life.
There are several possible rationales for the death penalty. The most obvious is the safety of the general population. Capital punishment is perfectly rational and unfortunately necessary in a country where the government lacks the ability to safely keep the criminals away from the general populous. However, this is not the case in the United States; our penal system is advanced to the point that executing a criminal does nothing more to prevent him from committing another crime.
The second possible (although very cold) rationale for the death penalty is cost. From a strict cost-based perspective one would assume that it is cheaper to kill an inmate than it is to keep him or her in prison; however this is not the case. In almost all situations it is more expensive for the government to prosecute and complete a death penalty case than to pay for the inmate's natural life in prison.
The only remaining argument for the death penalty is to sufficiently punish the criminal to serve as a deterrent to others for committing capital crimes. This is where practicality and morality divert paths; while the thought of losing your life after committing a crime can be a harrowing one, I believe a true lifetime in prison without parole would be just as petrifying to a criminal who would respond to the death penalty. That being said, an argument can be made for the proper punishment of criminals; but in the higher sense, we as mere mortal men do not have moral right to end another's life for his crimes. When did we get together and decide that out society had the divine right to terminate the lives of its criminals?
The culture of death that has infiltrated this country must be eliminated. It is easy to see the casual disregard for human life in many facets of our society and the aspects of the Paul Hill case are just a few of them. The ultimate goal for our society should be to realize that human life is indeed a gift and we cannot afford to pay the ultimate price of our humanity by belittling the value of that life though abortions, murders and executions.
(Daniel Bagley's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at dbagley@cavalierdaily.com.)
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