Much outrage has been expressed recently over the death of a silverback gorilla at a Cincinnati zoo. For those unfamiliar with the story, a four year old boy fell into the gorilla’s cage and the gorilla was shot because he was manhandling the child and did not respond to calls from his handlers to leave the boy alone.
Since the event, there has been a great deal of outrage over the decision to shoot the animal instead of tranquilizing it. Whomever is to blame (and there is probably more than enough to go around), this incident provides an opportunity to share a pro-life message with abortion advocates.
The outrage over the shooting of the gorilla implies that the gorilla’s life had some level of intrinsic value. The gorilla’s value comes from his species general ability to socialize and empathize. It is the same intrinsic value that we all have, despite race, gender, intelligence, or any other attribute or quality. This value is what makes us all equal.
Unfortunately, some don’t recognize that everyone has that intrinsic value. Abortion advocates would contend that preborn babies don’t have the same value as the rest of the human race, and therefore it is acceptable to kill them if their existence would cause an inconvenience for others.
The death of Harambe is an excellent opportunity to talk about the intrinsic value of all living things. I would encourage you, when you come across someone outraged over the death of this beautiful animal, talk to them about how their outrage should also be directed to those who callously devalue human life. Your conversation may be the one to help someone choose life!