Personhood of the Unborn

A WorldNetDaily article today examines efforts in the pro-life community to directly challenge the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that "legalized" abortion in America.

The basis for the challenge: one that was provided by Justice Harry Blackmun, the chief force behind the Roe decision.

Back then, even in the Roe opinion itself, Blackmun admitted that the "personhood" of the unborn was the Achilles heel of the justification--or the allowance--of abortion. It's a central issue that has for the most part been unexplored by the pro-life community, yet it's the "elephant in the room" that assaults rationality.

Why else would we play subjective situational games that defy logic: if the mother wants to kill her baby in the womb, that's her "right;" if someone else does something against the mother's will to kill the child in the womb, then that's "murder." The value and personhood of the unborn child hasn't changed; only the intent of the mother has changed.

From WorldNetDaily:

Roe determined that "the unborn is not a person within the meaning of the law," he said, and that can be its downfall.

It was the Roe author, Blackmun, who concluded: "(If the) suggestion of personhood [of the preborn] is established, the [abortion rights] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment."

"Thus, the personhood of the preborn child is the single point on which the entire debate turns," Becker said.

In the Roe decision, the court said, "We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in … medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer."

Well, science has reached the point where any reasonable person can look at the evidence and conclude that the unborn are, indeed, persons. Consider the following medical discoveries which were unknown in 1973:

• - The unborn have unique DNA, different from the mother, from the moment of conception
• - Within 4 weeks the brain is formed
• - By the 5th week the heart is formed and the circulatory system is working
• - By the 6th week the skeleton is formed
• - Research indicates the unborn can feel pain as early as 8 weeks development
  

Were it not for the issues of sexual freedom and the hindrance a baby can be to a woman's self actualization, this issue would be clear. There would be practically no debate whatsoever about the "personhood" of the unborn.

But because a baby can stand between a woman and what she may want for self fulfilment, the personhood of the unborn is attacked. Why? For the same reason Blackmun cited: if the personhood of the unborn is accepted, then that trumps all other considerations.

Life is always the highest and most precious of all human rights.