Consequences of Granting Legal Status to a Fertilized Human Egg
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-10-31/consequences-granting-legal-status-fertilized-human-egg
![A June 6, 2011 file photo shows "Personhood" supporters gathering at a prayer rally at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., to concentrate their efforts to get a proposed "personhood" constitutional amendment offered to voters. The amendment offers a definition of a person not now found in the Mississippi Constitution. - (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)](http://thedianerehmshow.org/sites/thedianerehmshow.org/files/imagecache/620xH/images/headline/111031_righttolife.jpg "A June 6, 2011 file photo shows "Personhood" supporters gathering at a prayer rally at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., to concentrate their efforts to get a proposed "personhood" constitutional amendment offered to voters. The amendment offers a definition of a person not now found in the Mississippi Constitution. - (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)")
A June 6, 2011 file photo shows "Personhood" supporters gathering at a prayer rally at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., to concentrate their efforts to get a proposed "personhood" constitutional amendment offered to voters. The amendment offers a definition of a person not now found in the Mississippi Constitution.
(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
Mississippi will ask voters next week to decide whether to give legal status to fertilized human eggs. If the ballot measure is approved, abortion would become tantamount to murder. And in vitro fertility clinics and popular methods of birth control could be outlawed. Many observers deem it one of the gravest assaults on women's reproductive rights in decades. Similar efforts to redefine "personhood" are in the works in several states. Colorado voters twice defeated personhood initiatives recently. But many expect the Mississippi measure to pass. We'll talk about the latest tactics in the battle against abortion.
Guests
Robert Destro
professor of law; director, Interdisciplinary Program in Law & Religion Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America.
Jon Fasman
Atlanta correspondent for the Economist.
Suzanne Novak
senior staff attorney, Center for Reproductive Rights.
Walter Hoye
a spokesman for PersonhoodUSA; president of the Issues4Life Foundation and the California Civil Rights Foundation.
Comments
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Love all the ridiculous comments. Thanks for the inflammatory rhetoric, NPR. Three pro-abortion guests and one foggy phone call with the pro-personhood guest? Interesting.
One day, all people will be treated with dignity and we will not determine the value of a human life based on how it can serve or how it can interfere. I hope I see the day when we no longer assign value to human beings based on subjective criteria.
Imagine a day when all life is precious. Right now, life is only precious if someone other than that person decides it is precious. This mentality leads to the death penalty and war, too, you know. Not to mention abortion and euthanasia. Want less war? Start defending life.
It seems to me that the effort grows out of Catholic doctrine and is being sold to African-Americans as a political effort to remind them of pre-civil rights experiences thus pushing those emotional buttons. I cringe when I think about lessons I learned as a Catholic High Schooler. This is why we have a separation of Church and State.
Slippery slope? We started with first trimester abortion and now we have fully developed babies being tortured in the womb.
If the State of Mississippi wishes to protect the fertilized egg, why can't the woman visit her doctor or a hospital, have the fertilized egg removed and delivered to Child Protective Services? Can the State force her to take care of a person she feels she is unable to care for?
This may seem to be a completely unresonable question but.... at what point is someone going to suggest that the baby who causes the mothers death is charged with murder?
Hello. I am 39 years old. when my mother announced she was pregnant with me, my father decided to repeatedly punch and kick her in the stomach to cause her to lose the fetus. That Fetus was me. If he hadbeen successful, I would not be here to tell you about it. While I agree that a woman with an ectopic pregnancy needs surgery to save her life, otherwise both will die and I agree that a woman who falls down the stairs while prega=nant should not be prosecuted, I do firmly believe that life begins at conception.
Most Doctors know that in extreme circumstances, they need to save as many people as possible. There is actually a medical term that applys to this, though I cannot remember what it is. With sensibility, a bill likes this needs to pass, but we must realize that when both a mom and her baby's life are at stake, the medical professionals MUST save whoever they can, and usually that is the mother.
You can thank Margaret Sanger, not the catholic church. She targeted the black community with her sterilization efforts. It's only natural that someone return to the black community and stop what she started.
It is unreasonable, but I assume you are referring to the fact that some of the effects of this bill are unreasonable. Yes, but some are not. Where would you be if the fetus in your mom's womb during the 9 months prior to your birth had been destroyed?
Going to another state for abortion? Transporting minors across state line? How about that!
excellent points. thank you!!!!!! my comment regarding excellent referred to the points made about the medical points made by a writer discussing where fertilization takes place and ectopic pregnancy, not to the anti- choice rhetoric.
THANK YOU! But no one will likely address this, sadly. If the Black community truly understood Sanger's efforts, they would band together to banish abortion!
Why are we continuing to butt heads on this issue of outlawing abortion? I am pro-choice, pro-doctors and pro-adoption. Wouldn't a better use of our resources be to make adoption easier for pregnant women. Take away the stigma of having children, provide child care for women to work, and pumping stations for them to pump. Wouldn't making motherhood easier be much more effective than outlawing abortion?
Personally, I think that if you outlaw abortion, it is not going to stop it. I would much rather spending the resources on making life easier and safer for the woman, than adding criminal consequences to medical decisions.
Seems disingenuous to fret about ectopic and other life-threatening pregnancies when a threat to the mother's life is as much a threat to the fetus's life; meaning complaints about no protection for the life of the mother are trite scare tactics. Obviously terminating such pregnancies would still be permitted since failing to do so could cause two deaths instead of one.
These kind of ridiculous discussions probably took place when child welfare initiatives were put in place. Should we stop all child welfare investigations? What right does the state have to come in and tell a family how to raise their children?
These are questions that are going to be asked. But, if we are going to continue to evolve as a species we really have to stop being so cruel to our most vulnerable members.
I wish that could be the case. But unfortunatly once a non viable baby is removed, they will die. They must have that connection to their mother to survive. But if we could do it, it would be an awesome thing!
I am very concerned that my three daughters will be reduced to incubaters under this law. It is the responsibility of the govrnment to represent all citizens, even the ones who can not speak for them selves but this is beyond representation. I feel like I am entering a science fiction / horror novel...
In keeping with the slippery slope arguments, what if I am vacationing in Mississippi and am on the pill or IUD birth control...am I then guilty of murder/manslaughter?
It is interesting to me that this is presented as a concern of the citizens of Mississippi. Mississippi ranks first in illiteracy, obesiity, and poverty. Aren't there more pressing issues?
Absurd! So will a doctor that chooses on the side of a fetus in the case of a complicated pregnancy (ectopic, etc.) be charged with attempted murder of the woman? Tax code, inheritance, rights of the woman???
When will our government turn around and deal with issues at hand that are out of the private domain? Hello! We have wars, jobs, and environment to deal with people!
Following up the telling a friend before leaving the state to end a pregnancy. Perhaps the state would have no jurisdiction to prosecute the "crime" committed outside the state. But what about the person who was told of the plan? Would that person have a legal obligation to try to stop this "murder"? Could the person be an accessory if he or she does not call the police? What about conspiracy?
Is there room in the body politic for something as rational as a "pro-life liberal"? From a consistency stand-point, it would seem most logical to believe that life means life, regardless of age or development. Hence, it is not the place of one human to restrict or terminate the life of another, whether that be a prisoner, an invalid, or a fetus.
The right to reproduce is a God-given right, and with all rights come responsibilities. It is selfish and irresponsible to use of one's reproductive rights to create a human being (often as the result of promiscuous or irresponsible, gratuitous sexual behavior) that they know is not wanted. It did not surprise me to hear one of your guests refer to eliminating (killing) an embryo as being consistent with "American Values" and law (any law) trying to protect the rights of an unborn human being as NOT being consistent with those same "American Values".
This would not be an issue if people used their reproductive RIGHTS in a thoughtful and responsible way, and didn't produce unwanted children to begin with.
Why does the fetus' personhood take precedence over the woman's personhood?
Totalatarian enactments are why we revolted! My moral opinion should not dictate your moral obligations. Educate not legislate.
Are you aware that the ethical code of doctors is to save whoever they can. Doctors will still be obligated to save the mother or be liabel for 2 deaths. There is a medical term for this though I don't remember it, it refers to the fact that they save who they can at the loss of the one that will not survive either way. In other words a baby implanted in the fallopian tube will die no matter what and a Doctor with a sound mind who thinks rationally will not allow the woman to die. If he is not sound, then he should be prosecuted.
If the woman dies and the fetus lives, then under this amendment, the fetus could be charged with murder.
Condoms are not always effective, that is how my son is here. Also, I have endometriosis and am on nuvaring as a treatment for that, which is one of the forms of birth controls that could be made illegal, with the passage of this bill. My husband had a vassectomy, so there is no chance of me getting pregnant, but I might be denied medical treatment?
Women who are raped are not healed by abortion, rather they are further traumatized. You can not heal from a violent attack by having an abortion. That is a fallacious argument. Rape is traumatic. Women who are raped do not necessarily want to have an abortion, rather, our pro-abortion society makes them feel as if they should.
Thank you Diane Rehm for bringing this important issue to my attention. I personally see it as a scary slippery slope to ending women's reproductive rights.
@ GBark, yes, your point is one worth considering.