{"id":3701,"date":"2021-11-23T12:13:38","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T16:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/?p=3701"},"modified":"2024-03-26T10:22:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T14:22:32","slug":"open-letter-to-stitt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/index.php\/2021\/11\/23\/open-letter-to-stitt\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Letter to Governor Stitt: the Pro-life Case against the Death Penalty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Governor Stitt:<\/p>\n

As an organization, we at the Consistent Life Network have signed on to the letter<\/a> calling on you to stop Oklahoma executions. The letter was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oklahoma, which was seeking many signatories.<\/p>\n

As a pro-life\/pro-peace group, we strenuously object to the ACLU\u2019s position on abortion. Since we know that you\u2019ve said you would sign any pro-life bill that crossed your desk, for which we applaud you, we want to make the case against the death penalty from a pro-life\/anti-abortion perspective. Below we offer words from prominent abortion opponents who have done so.<\/p>\n

Quotations in alphabetical order by last name:<\/h3>\n

Sam Brownback, then Republican United States Senator (later Governor of Kansas)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/em>
\nU.S. News and World Report<\/em>, April 11, 2005. p. 34<\/p>\n

If we’re trying to establish a culture of life, it’s difficult to have the state sponsoring executions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Colby Coash. Nebraska state senator <\/strong>
\nquoted in Time<\/em> Magazine, May 20, 2015<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m a pro-life guy. I couldn’t reconcile my pro-life beliefs regarding the unborn with doing something different with the condemned.<\/p>\n

Hanna Cox <\/strong>
\nAlabama Executes a Murderer a Day After Banning Abortions<\/a>
\nNew York Times, <\/em>May 16, 2019<\/p>\n

\"\"Alabama cleared the way on Thursday for the scheduled execution of a convicted murderer, a day after the state enacted a near-total ban on abortions, two actions on contentious social issues that often have people across the political spectrum invoking the sanctity of human life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a contradiction that I always observed,\u201d said Hannah Cox, the national manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty . . . Approving of executions, Ms. Cox said, is \u201ca stance that cheapens the pro-life argument.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laura Hollis<\/strong>
\nDeath is Not the Answer<\/a>
\nCreators Syndicate, August 22, 2019<\/p>\n

\"\"The embrace of death as solution is not a phenomenon that admits easily of “left versus right” political \u2014 or even cultural \u2014 divisions. Americans on the right often defend the death penalty just as vehemently as the left cheerleads for abortion . . .<\/p>\n

How easily we accept the conclusion that death is the answer to our most serious problems. Unwanted baby? Kill it. Have an incurable disease? Kill yourself. Commit a heinous crime? The government should kill you. These precedents \u2014 and the assumptions about human life that underlie them \u2014 should frighten us.<\/p>\n

Christian Josi, former Executive Director, American Conservative Union<\/strong>
\nLife locked away, not death<\/a>
\nWashington Times<\/em>, June 25, 2001<\/p>\n

My fundamental problems with the death penalty began as a result of my personal concern, echoed by many on all sides of the political spectrum, that it was inconsistent for one to be \u201cpro-life\u201d on the one hand and condone government execution on the other.<\/p>\n

Kathryn Jean Lopez<\/strong>
\nStop the Death Penalty<\/a>
\nNational Review<\/em>, February 24, 2020<\/p>\n

I do think that good Christian pro-life people need to examine the witness of not having mercy for a Nick Sutton. People respond to love. Mercy is for the guilty. We can\u2019t be callous in these circumstances, or our arguments about the life of the most innocent might not be heard. I understand why the governor did what he did, but the death penalty should prompt more of a cultural examination of conscience. It could bring a lot of people of good will \u2014 those \u201cpro-life\u201d and \u201csocial justice\u201d groups that seem strangely divided \u2014 together.<\/p>\n

\"\"Tom Neuville<\/strong>, leading Republican on the Minnesota’s Senate Judiciary Committee
\nMinneapolis Star Tribune<\/em>, December 7, 2003<\/p>\n

Life is a gift from God. It isn’t up to us to take it away. Whether you take an innocent life of a baby, or of a person who has committed a heinous act, it is still an act at our hands, and it makes us a less caring and less sensitive society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laura Peredo, president of Ravens Respect Life at Benedictine College <\/strong>
\nat a press conference supporting a law to repeal the death penalty in Kansas
\nMarch 17, 2015<\/p>\n

\"\"No crime can change the fundamental truth that every human life possesses dignity from the moment of conception until natural death. I am one of a growing number of young people who support repealing the death penalty\u2014a reform that demonstrates our unwavering commitment to safeguarding life at all stages, without exceptions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Topeka Capitol Journal<\/em><\/strong>
\nAdvocates Seek Repeal of Capital Punishment, March 17, 2015<\/p>\n

Conservative Republican political figures and the president of a Benedictine College pro-life student group delved Tuesday into ramifications of Kansas law authorizing convicted killers to be sentenced to death. . . .<\/p>\n

Gov. Sam Brownback, an anti-abortion Republican who would hold the veto pen if the House and Senate passed a repeal bill, didn\u2019t participate in the rally.<\/p>\n

He did say in an interview prior to the event that anti-abortion activists had increasingly been drawn into the capital punishment conversation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear it connected,\u201d Brownback said. \u201cYou hear it said more frequently now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Viguerie<\/strong>
\nWhen Governments Kill<\/a>: A conservative argues for abolishing the death penalty, Sojourners<\/em>, 2009<\/p>\n

\"\"Conservatives have every reason to believe the death penalty system is no different from any politicized, costly, inefficient, bureaucratic, government-run operation . . . But here the end result is the end of someone\u2019s life. In other words, it\u2019s a government system that kills people<\/em>. Those of us who oppose abortion believe that it is perhaps the greatest immorality to take an innocent life. While the death penalty is supposed to take the life of the guilty, we know that is not always the case. It should have shocked the consciences of conservatives when various government prosecutors withheld exculpatory, or opposed allowing DNA-tested, evidence in death row cases. To conservatives, that should be deemed as immoral as abortion . . . But even when guilt is certain, there are many downsides to the death penalty system.<\/p>\n

=====================================<\/p>\n

For more of our posts on the death penalty, see:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Why Conservatives Should Oppose the Death Penalty<\/a> \/ Destiny Herndon-de la Rosa<\/p>\n

Is the Death Penalty Unethical?<\/a> \/ Hannah Cox<\/p>\n

The Death Penalty and Abortion: The Conservative\/Liberal Straitjacket <\/a>\/ Rachel MacNair<\/p>\n

Racism and the Death Penalty<\/a>\u00a0 \/ David Cruz-Uribe<\/p>\n

Death Penalty Jurisprudence of \u00a0Former Missouri Supreme Court Judge Laura Denvir Stith<\/a>\u00a0\/ Laura Denvir Stith<\/p>\n

For more of our posts on pro-lifers making a pro-life case against other forms of violence in addition to abortion, see:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

When Linking Abortion with Other Violence Comes Naturally to Pro-lifers – Part 1: Connections Show Importance<\/a><\/p>\n

When Linking Abortion with Other Violence Comes Naturally to Pro-lifers – Part 2: Consistency Strengthens the Case<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Dear Governor Stitt: As an organization, we at the Consistent Life Network have signed on to the letter calling on you to stop Oklahoma executions. The letter was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oklahoma, which was seeking many signatories. As a pro-life\/pro-peace group, we strenuously object to the ACLU\u2019s position on… <\/p>\n