Anti-Life Choices, Dignity of Human Life and Society Sustainability in Africa

Abstract

Anti-life choices refer to decisions that are inimical to sustenance and full development of natural life. Certain decisions like the approval of abortion, contraception, gay marriage, euthanasia and assisted suicide are treated as anti-life choices and have generated a lot of ethical controversy bordering on individual autonomy and liberty, dignity of human life and society's sustenance. Pro-choice advocates hold that individual autonomy confers the liberty to manage one’s life and body as one considers fit. These choices should be liberalised and left to the individual's discretion. In contrast, pro-life advocates argue for deontological respect for human life, natural order and societal values and call for legal restraints against these anti-life choices. The controversy lies in the limits of individual liberty in deciding matters of life. This paper is premised on the conviction that human life is sacred and transcends individual liberty of self-determination. It uses philosophical analysis to examine the logical implications of these anti-life choices for the dignity of human life and the sustenance of human society, especially in Africa. The study posits that individual liberty should be exercised within societal values, and liberalisation of anti-life choices, as championed by pro-choice advocates, strips human life of its dignity as a prime value and reduces it to the status of a commodity, endangering the lives of the weak and being inimical to the sustenance of human society. They are antithetical to African values of reverence for human life, community responsibility, and the sustenance of society.