Abstract
The Religious Right is using every means to impose its restrictive view of sexual and reproductive rights on everyone under the umbrella of a so-called culture of life (CL). The CL prohibits the direct killing of innocents (but not, apparently, letting them die), and requires that all sexual activity be open to procreation, thus restricting access to abortion and contraception. All this is alleged to be based on God’s will and to constitute the only objective morality. But there is no epistemological basis for this claim, the strictures are inconsistent, and the rules create unnecessary misery. Those most at risk from the sexual strictures are women, children, and gay men. The risks are greatly magnified in Third World countries because of poverty and lack of access to even the most basic health care. Yet the Bush administration is doing everything in its power to impose the CL on such countries by means of its foreign policy and aid programs.
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Purdy, L. (2008). Exporting the “Culture of Life”. In: Boylan, M. (eds) International Public Health Policy and Ethics. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 42. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8617-5_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8617-5_6
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