Posted on 06/03/2003 4:36:37 AM PDT by Hugenot
Newsweek's cover story on Fetal Rights for the June 9 issue is already causing quite a stir among abortion supporters.
A Newsweek Poll shows that 46% of Americans believe that life begins at conception, while an additional 12% believes that it begins at implantation. Only 11% believe that life begins at birth, which means that 89% of Americans would acknowledge that the present abortion laws allow for at least some legalization of murder.
The Laci Peterson story has popularized the question of fetal rights, since Scott Peterson has been charged with two murders, and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which has passed the House, is being referred to as the Laci and Conner Law.
The law would inflict penalties on those who harm "a child in utero" while committing a federal crime. While the bill is expected to pass the Senate, defenders argue that it will not impact abortion because the law protects children that are wanted by the mother.
Nevertheless, if we are acknowledging that the child in the womb is indeed a human being with rights, it's only a matter of time before the arbitrary distinction of wanted/unwanted crumbles.
Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt is quoted in Newsweek as complaining that, “If they are able to make fetuses people in law with the same standing as women and men, then Roe will be moot."
Meanwhile, Ken Connor, president of the antiabortion Family Research Council argues that, “It's not OK for the husband to kill his wife's child, but it's OK for the mother [to have an abortion]?”
National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League President Kate Michelman denounced the Laci and Conner Law as a "part of a larger strategy to establish the embryo with separate distinct rights equal to if not greater than the woman."
Try as they will, abortion supporters cannot get around a simple fact. Once society says that it's acceptable to take an innocent human life, all human life loses its sacredness.
LOL! I like that one!
Long story short, they are going to use parts of both arguements to hit at it.
The PBA ban is going to be the case that either keeps roe vs wade alive or overturns it. That was the real intent from the begining.
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