“Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized – the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old…. When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.”

—  Ted Kennedy

and http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123086375678148323.html http://www.wnd.com/2009/09/108646/ a private letter from August 3, 1971 in response to New York's legalization of abortion

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized…" by Ted Kennedy?
Ted Kennedy photo
Ted Kennedy 21
United States Senator 1932–2009

Related quotes

Alfred de Zayas photo

“As all human rights derive from human dignity, it is important to recognize that human dignity is not a product of positivism but an expression of natural law and human rationality. Although an abstract concept, human dignity has engendered concrete norms of human rights, a practical mode d’emploi strengthened by enforcement mechanisms.”

Alfred de Zayas (1947) American United Nations official

Interim report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred Maurice de Zayas http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IntOrder/A.67.277_en.pdf.
2012

“I believe every creature is born with the inalienable right of freedom. Freedom to live in its natural environment, with its own kind, making its own decisions. I believe the law should prohibit the enslavement of all non human species for any purpose whatever.”

Jim Morris (bodybuilder) (1935–2016) American bodybuilder

"Black Male Vegan: 77-Year-Old Bodybuilder Jim Morris Proves Vegans Can Be Muscular & Healthy" http://frugivoremag.com/2012/10/black-male-vegan-77-year-old-bodybuilder-jim-morris-proves-vegans-can-be-muscular-healthy/, interview with Frugivore magazine (October 2, 2012).

Malcolm X photo

“Human rights are something you were born with. Human rights are your God-given rights. Human rights are the rights that are recognized by all nations of this earth. And any time any one violates your human rights, you can take them to the world court.”

Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist

The Ballot or the Bullet (1964), Speech in Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 1964)
Context: When you expand the civil-rights struggle to the level of human rights, you can then take the case of the black man in this country before the nations in the UN. You can take it before the General Assembly. You can take Uncle Sam before a world court. But the only level you can do it on is the level of human rights. Civil rights keeps you under his restrictions, under his jurisdiction. Civil rights keeps you in his pocket. Civil rights means you’re asking Uncle Sam to treat you right. Human rights are something you were born with. Human rights are your God-given rights. Human rights are the rights that are recognized by all nations of this earth. And any time any one violates your human rights, you can take them to the world court.

Louis Auguste Blanqui photo

“Humanity … is never stationary. Its progressive march leads it to equality. Its regressive march goes back through every stage of privilege to human slavery, the final word of the right to property.”

Louis Auguste Blanqui (1805–1881) French socialist and political activist

in "August Blanqui, Heretical Communist," Radical Philosophy 185 (2014)

Marcus Aurelius photo
Dag Hammarskjöld photo

“In a political context of the utmost significance, ["freedom from fear"] recognizes a human right which, in a broad sense, may be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights.”

Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961) Swedish diplomat, economist, and author

Speech http://books.google.com/books?id=HhHr0IIUDKkC&q=%22Freedom+from+fear%22+%22In+a+political+context+of+the+utmost+significance+this+clause+recognizes+a+human+right+which+in+a+broad+sense+may+be+said+to+sum+up+the+whole+philosophy+of+human+rights%22&pg=PA141#v=onepage at the celebration of the 180th anniversary of the Virginia Declaration of Rights (16 May 1956)

Ayn Rand photo
Jaroslav Kvapil photo

“The program of our nation is given by its history and by its racial individuality, by its modern political life and by its rights and by all that which gave rise to these rights and solemnly guaranteed them.”

The Bohemian Review, Volume 1, p.5
Address of Bohemian Authors to the Parliamentary Representatives of the Bohemian People (Manifesto of Czech writers)

Jane Goodall photo

Related topics