Three pages (CR, Sept. 30) were devoted to pro-life. Two were very good, because they addressed the importance of the life of an individual. “Bishops ramp up Respect Life” by Catholic News Service was hampered by its disproportionate emphasis on the death penalty. The word “abortion” was written only once in the article, however the ratio of abortions to persons executed in the United States is approximately 40,000-to-one. The article never mentioned the lives ended by criminals. In 2007, for example, there were 18,361 homicides in the U.S.
Not only was the value of the lives of crime victims not acknowledged, but the paragraph that immediately preceded the death penalty discussion implicitly identifies two risk pools that deserved the passionate tone Catholic News Service reserves for condemned murderers. Using data from 2007, there were 4.3 million births and 1.8 million deaths of persons 65 and over. Newborns and the aged deserved more than a paragraph.