There’s a nationwide debate raging over health care reform, and Philadelphia has already seen plenty of tension at one public “town hallmeeting.”  Tonight there will be another open meeting at the Broad Street Ministry – 315 S Broad St.  The event will run from 6:30 – 7:30 pm, and several of us will be out there to distribute flyers announcing our position on health care reform.

What is our position, exactly?  Here’s the text of the flyer:

The central component to true health care reform is respect for the dignity and rights of each human being.  We recognize the social injustice of millions of people in the richest nation on Earth without health care coverage – many of us among them- and we agree that something must be done to fix this.  However, we are concerned that some of the reforms on the table do not go far enough to ensure that every human being’s life will be adequately protected.  We want guarantees that

• • LIFE – not money – will be the guiding force.
  • Any health care reforms will provide for and protect life, not take it away.
  • Older Americans will not have to fear for their lives – respect their age, don’t punish it.
  • Preborn children will be cared for as patients and no funding will go towards their deliberate killing (because you can’t call it health care if it allows for killing).

We are a diverse group of people, and this issue hits close to home; many of us ourselves do not have health insurance.  But as the flyer text states, we are also concerned about proper implementation of any reforms, and do not want to see monetary greed or political ideology (in the form of support for legal abortion and eugenics) ruin what could otherwise be real solutions to the life and death scenarios playing out every day for those who lack adequate health coverage.

Photo via Flickr

Our city papers report hundreds of tragic deaths every year; some people are murdered, and others are killed through horrific accidents.  Today, Philly.com is reporting on yet another sad tale:

Twenty-four year-old  John Hightower was shot and killed this weekend while sitting outside with some friends on the West Philadelphia block he grew up on.  According to the friends, two men came up to them, one with a shotgun, and they demanded Hightower and his friends empty their pockets.  After they handed over $15, a pack of cigarettes and a cell phone, the man with the shotgun killed Hightower.  What makes this even more disturbing is that apparently a nine year-old boy was sitting with the group of men during all of this, and will now live with the memory of witnessing someone’s murder.

John Hightower leaves behind a one year-old daughter, who because of this senseless tragedy, will never again see her father.

We mourn his death, and wish nothing more than to see every life cherished, protected, and respected.  The person who killed John Hightower did so because they did not respect the life and personhood rights of him.  When someone is viewed as less equal, or their right to life is not respected, then taking that right away from them through voluntary killing becomes much easier.

We seek to change that.

There are over 1.4 million people living in Philly, and several million more living in the surrounding area.  With that many people, you can rest assured that quite a handful will have interesting personal stories and unique views on life and human rights.  We are videotaping these stories, and will be sharing them on the blog.

Here you’ll be able to listen to a young woman talk about becoming a mother as a teenager, and the joys of having her daughter Chloe in her life.  While many her age would be tempted to end their child’s life before birth, she knew the reality of abortion and now has a beautiful little girl to reminds her of the precious nature of life.

Welcome to the website for the new grassroots movement we call Philly Voices for Life.  We are working within the urban fabric of this great city to bring forth voices that seek change in the lives of our fellow residents, and hope for a city (and world) in which human life is respected and all artificial attempts to end it – especially the tragedy of abortion – are a relic of the past.

To get involved, leave a comment or email us at PhillyVoicesforLife@gmail.com