As today is the anniversary of the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. be sure to read Mark Pickup’s post (written on MLK day) about the late activist and the continuation of his fight for the rights of all human beings.
The Kennedy’s may be America’s aristocrats but the King’s are America’s nobility. In keeping with the noble calling of her uncle, Dr. Alveda King stands with the greatest civil rights struggle of the 21st Century: The Right to Life.
Read more. Also check out Jay’s personal reflection on MLK’s legacy.
Speaking of family members continuing the work of their great ancestors. Fr. Gerard Wilberforce, the great grandson of William Wilberforce, 
who campaigned for the end of the transatlantic slave trade in 1807 – paving the way for the abolition of all slavery in the British Empire – recently wrote an article regarding the UK’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill:
I am often asked what would be the campaigns Wilberforce would be fighting if he were alive in 21st century Britain. I believe that there would be a number of different issues among them human trafficking and the scourge of drugs. But almost certainly at the top of the list, would be the issue of abortion.
As the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill comes before Parliament over the next few weeks, the opportunity presents itself to amend the abortion Act. With the number of abortions having reached 200,000 per year in the UK alone, the time is right to tighten up the law that was designed to protect women by ending illegal abortion, but never to allow such a high degree of deprived life.
There are great similarities between the status of the foetus and the status of African slaves two centuries ago. Slaves were considered a commodity to do with whatever the vested interests of the day decided. Today, in our desire to play God in our embryology experimentation, with all its’ unfulfilled promises of miracle cures, and our decision to abort unwanted children, we are no better that those slave traders who put their interests and world view higher than they placed the sanctity and value of human life.
The battle that our ancestors fought for freedom the the rights of all human beings is far from over and the threats to the dignity of the human person are only getting worse: We have created human-animal embryos already, say British team