Cynthia Weber, a senior at MCPS, competed in the National Right to Life Oratory contest this weekend in Nashville, TN. She qualified for the national contest by winning the state contest in early May.
The central thesis of her talk was that permitting abortion is a movement away from of our country’s historic commitment to “liberty and justice for all”. This trend is based on a contemporary misunderstanding of liberty as freedom from all restrictions, rather than as freedom within the parameters of justice toward others. “Liberty AND justice, not liberty at the expense of justice”, Cynthia argued. Justice must be reclaimed as the “fence” if humanity is to progress in this next century, or else we will be forced as a society to stay “huddled near the back porch” of our fenceless (valueless) yards, worried about the exercise of unfettered liberty by others at our expense. The protection of human life is the foundation of all civil liberties, essential for human progress.
The 20 state winners who competed in the contest were broken into groups of five for round one, with the top two in each group advancing to the second round. Cynthia came in third in her group, losing narrowly to the eventual national champion and the national runner-up, so she did a great job!
