Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. 1 (&lit right life English) 2 (context public policy legal ethics English) The right of a human being to the continuation of his or her life. 3 (context US public policy legal ethics English) The moral or legal entitlement of an unborn child to be born, and not have its birth prevented through an abortion or other medical procedure.
WordNet
n. the right to live
Wikipedia
The right to life is a moral principle based on the belief that a human being has the right to live and, in particular, should not be killed by another human being. The concept of a right to life arises in debates on issues of capital punishment, war, abortion, euthanasia, justifiable homicide and, by extension, public health care.
In human history, there has not been a general acceptance of the concept of a right to life that is innate to individuals rather than granted as a privilege by those holding social and political power; and the development of organized civilization often took place in environments of frequent mass murder, with slave-holding societies often granting masters the ability to destroy the lives of their captives. The evolution of human rights as a concept took place slowly in multiple areas in many different ways, with the right to life being no exception to this trend, and the past millennia in particular has seen a large set of national and international legal documents (examples being the Magna Carta and the UN Declaration of Human Rights) codifying the general ideal into specifically worded principles.
Right to life may refer to:
- Right to life, a phrase that describes the belief that a human being has an essential right to live
- Right to Life Australia, an organisation which advocates pro-life positions in issues such as abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research
- Right to Life New Zealand, a Christchurch-based pro-life group
- New York State Right to Life Party
Usage examples of "right to life".
Wade decision gave rise to a so-called Right to Life anti-abortion movement.
Usually motivated by religious conviction, Right to Life advocates have campaigned for a constitutional amendment banning abortion (except in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the mother's life).
The Right to Life movement became so powerful a political lobby that the Republican party adopted a stance against abortion as part of its 1992 platform.