By Judie Brown
South Carolina’s legislature is considering a so-called personhood bill (H.R. 3530), though currently lawmakers are trying to water it down.
As the bill moves forward, what surprises me is not its weak language, but the arguments of some medical doctors and fertility specialists. These people are peddling rhetoric that is so flawed that I decided to set the record straight.
Let’s start with Dr. Amy Crockett, a maternal-fetal specialist who told a local newspaper that, because the proposal does not contain a life-of-the-mother exception, it could bring about a “nightmare scenario” in which a doctor might have to choose between saving the baby’s mother or “murdering” an embryo.
This is outrageous on so many levels that it is hard to know where to start. But let’s unpack it for the sake of clarity. A personhood proposal is not about abortion at all. It is a proposal that, if enacted, would recognize human beings as persons deserving of protection under the Constitution because they are human beings, even though they are not yet born.
Attorney Robert Cetrulo writes: “The severance of ‘human being’ from ‘personhood’—dishonestly constructed by the Roe Court—is arbitrary, artificial, unscientific, and contrary to history and to traditional constitutional interpretation.”
In other words, personhood is about recognizing the preborn child as a human being and giving him the same constitutional protections that you and I have. That is what justice is all about.
Personhood is about recognizing the preborn child as a human being and giving him the same constitutional protections that you and I have. That is what #justice is all about.
— Judie Brown (@Judie_Brown) February 6, 2018
Does this mean that abortion would be against the law? Yes, but only after state and federal laws were rewritten based on the personhood of the preborn.
Further, in the case of the alleged “life-of-the-mother” exception, today’s medical practices can and should save them both. Medicine has not gone backward; it is always advancing. Therefore, there is never a reason to kill one of the people involved in a pregnancy to save the other. Both human beings are equally valuable, and both deserve to be saved. The ethical doctor will do all he can to save both people. Why? Because it is his moral obligation to do so.
What about in vitro fertilization and other reproductive technologies?
South Carolina obstetrician/gynecologist and fertility specialist Heather Cook argues that the personhood bill, if passed, would be bad for business. A local NBC station reports on Cook’s interview:
“For any of our couples needing fertility services that deal with in-vitro fertilization or fertility preservation, this bill would essentially eliminate those options for couples so much that some may actually be forced to go out of state to seek fertility care,” Cook said.
One of the main problems Cook said is defining an embryo as a person.
The difficulty with Cook’s argument is clear. The human embryo already IS a person, but the Supreme Court doomed her to death by its disastrous decisions. This is precisely why we need personhood in the USA!
You see, if personhood became law, those who prefer to market the creation of embryonic children in laboratories instead of helping infertile couples have babies in ethical ways would be out of business. In my opinion, that would be a very good thing! Why? Because God is the author of life, not man. According to Lifeissues.net: “The Church has always taught that there is an ‘inseparable connection established by God between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act.’ In this sense in vitro fertilization, by doing away with the unitive meaning, is the mirror image of contraception which suppresses the procreative meaning of the conjugal act.”
Debunking the false statements of the enemies of God’s little ones requires a clear understanding of one critical fact: the truth. And the truth is that God, Who is love, is our only avenue for shining a light in this darkness.
The preborn child is not junk. God does not make junk. In every sense, the preborn child is a human being!
Study the facts, pray for wisdom, and teach the truth.
_____________________________________________
Pray for America.
Teach your children that human dignity and respect for life begin at the beginning and never end regardless of age, health, or condition of dependency.
Expose the lies and learn why organizations like Planned Parenthood should never receive our tax dollars to peddle their ideology.
Get involved in your community by serving a local pregnancy care center or protesting at the local abortion mill. Spread the good news that people of every age from creation to death deserve to be protected.