Paul R. Betz: GOP pro-life, until birth

Regarding the Oct. 2 news article “Massacre stuns another college”: The mass shooting in Oregon ought to raise the question of what it means to be pro-life.

The angry clamor to defund Planned Parenthood presumably is motivated by an ardent desire to see all life protected. But, strangely enough, when human beings outside the womb are gunned down, we hear the conservative wing of Congress and its supporters declare that the right to life is trumped by the right to bear arms, though they are careful to say no such thing explicitly.

So are they in fact pro-life if they believe in the sanctity of life only before birth?

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Paul R. Betz: GOP pro-life, until birth."