A common retort to conservatives who advocate opening up the economy is that we are betraying our pro-life principles. This charge is clearly absurd for a number of reasons. First of all, one of our primary arguments is that shutting down society is probably not the most effective way of saving lives. Many people are still dying of the virus during the shut down, many will likely die whenever the shut down is lifted (even the most ardent shutdown proponent must admit that it has to be lifted at some point), and on top of that toll we now add the lives destroyed by the collapse of the economy.
All told, it is reasonable to worry that the cost in human death and suffering will be greater because of the shutdown than it would have been had we adopted preventive measures while keeping the economy going. You may disagree with this argument, but it is obviously not an argument that denies the value of human life.
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