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Is it fair that a lobster now has more rights than an unborn human baby? Why can’t we apply the same ethical standards to a living human being?

“Your death will be humane. We’re not monsters. … Our understanding of what it means to humanely kill … has significantly changed over the past 30 years … affording … legal protection in Victoria. …

Since 1996, Victorian law has required … to be protected from unnecessary pain and suffering by humanely rendering them unconscious. … Within the bounds of the law, there are two factors to consider when deciding the most humane method: The degree and length of pain it is likely to endure.”

You may be asking, to whom or what do these phrases refer? To whom do these highly humane sentiments apply, whose right to a humane form of death is protected so compassionately under the law?

These statements were part of an article penned by food journalist Bianca Hrovat in the Good Food section of The Sunday Age last December 18^th.

Its complete title was:

“Dear lobster, your death will be humane. We’re not monsters.”

That’s right, it was a full-page spread about the lobster’s seemingly inalienable right to a humane death!

Bear with me as I fill in some salient points made in this article, and then I will make my own concluding remarks.

Evolving Morals

The second paragraph went on to say,

“Our understanding of what it means to humanely kill a lobster has significantly changed over the past 30 years, informing changes to industry standards and affording crustaceans legal protection in Victoria.”

And,

“Since 1996 [actually 1986, see below note], Victorian law has required crustaceans to be protected from unnecessary pain and suffering by humanely rendering them unconscious before they are processed and cooked. According to the RSPCA, this means no boiling, microwaving, drowning, thrashing or dismembering live crustaceans.”

It went on to say,

“Within the bounds of the law, there are two factors to consider when deciding the most humane method: The degree and length of pain it is likely to endure.”

One last point said,

“Humane can mean different things. One way of looking at it would be a pain-free death, but sometimes it just means a death that involves less pain than the alternative.”

I am not having a go at the writer. Nor am I advocating cruelty to animals. I comment on this article only to highlight the inconsistency of values that now exist in our present Western culture.

Double Standards

In many states of Australia today, a lobster has more rights than an unborn human baby! The reality is that an unborn child, when considered for an abortion, is given less regard than a lobster.

The Victorian government’s ‘Better Health’ literature contains the following information about abortion procedures:

• There are abortion medications used to alleviate the physical effects experienced by the mother, but the unborn child’s feelings are not considered. They receive no pain relief!
• In a surgical abortion, the mother can receive various forms of anaesthesia to alleviate her suffering, but in most cases, no medication is given to the unborn child before it is removed from the uterus by what the government calls ‘gentle’ suction and surgical tools.

One right which lobsters have, is that they are not to be dismembered while conscious. In contrast, in many Australian states and territories today, unborn humans are not only terminated legally for any reason, but this is done with less care than is given crustaceans before they are killed.

Lobsters are valued for economic and culinary reasons. They are a delicacy to be enjoyed on any occasion. Unfortunately, unborn humans who are about to be aborted have no such luxury. They are instead deemed to be an inconvenience, having no social or economic benefit.

A society that can treat food with more care than their unborn children needs to take a good hard look at themselves.

It’s time to return to our God and for the reformation of our culture to place the proper value on human life from conception to death.

Notes:

• The actual dates for the enactment of laws to protect crustaceans were NSW 1979, ACT 1992, Vic 1986, NT 2000.
• “Abortion in Australia is legal. It has been fully decriminalised in all jurisdictions, starting with Western Australia in 1998 and lastly in South Australia in 2022.” — Wikipedia

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Photo by HM Grand Central Hotel.