The sacredness of life is subjective, which makes it a useless measure.

A Palestinian mother thinks her son's life is priceless, an Israeli mortar team don't even consider it. An American husband thinks his wife's life is sacred, the terrorist that blows up the plane she is on does not.

Think about the dispassionate way we regard yearly statistics on road fatalities or death due to chronic disease. Do we weep our hearts out for every one of those deaths? Of course not, those lives have no worth to us beyond the abstract "fellow human being". They don't really bother us emotionally because we have almost no care for them.

If life is only subjectively sacred, then it's not really sacred at all...

The people that picket abortion clinics are the same ones that vote down social support mechanisms to promote and enhance people's lives. Life is so sacred that they oppose things that would make the live far more worthwhile living...

I'd say "ironic" but it's not surprising in the least.