August 8, 2007 4:17PM 

# No Right to Life? 

By [Tim Lynch](https://www.cato.org/people/tim-lynch) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

Open the newspaper, turn on the television, or surf the net, and you’ll find people saying the government can solve our problems and make life better. This is the happy face of government:

![Media Name: happyface.gif](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/download-remote-images/www.cato.org/8693878921/happyface.gif?itok=DdWweImE) 

Behind the happy face is an institution that is willing to strip of us of our right to [self-defense](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6381), and, worse, deprive [dying patients of life-saving drugs](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20163190/). Who do these politicians and bureaucrats think they are?

For more on the right to life, go [here](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=3681), [here](https://www.cato.org/events/040610pf.html), and [here](https://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/v24n4/boaz.pdf) (pdf).

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).