Latter Day Sinner

I consider myself prolife. The United States has laws against mutilation and murder. I believe that those laws should apply to the unborn. However I cannot in good conscience call terminating a one week old baby murder. I don’t think that the value of that child has risen to the level where an abortion provider should face the legal consequences of mutilation and murder. Part of my problem with assigning legal personhood to a newly conceived child is that there is no objective way to know exactly when that is. Laws should be both objective and specific. I favor a heartbeat standard of personhood because a fetal heartbeat can be detected and measured. It is neither arbitrary nor obscure to test for a positive sign of a heartbeat. Beyond that point I see a case for prosecuting an abortionist for murder. Before that point I personally would not even try to make that case.  Before the United States Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that found the right to an abortion was not in the Constitution favoring heartbeat laws was considered solidly prolife. The language has shifted radically in the past year and a half. People who oppose abortion from the moment of conception have since then begun to call me prochoice. I am still on their side even though they don’t agree that I am on theirs. We are a long way off from federal recognition of personhood beginning at the first heartbeat. I wish to move in that direction and if we get there will likely accept the label prochoice at that point because I will again likely resist the urge to push anti-abortion laws any further. Thank you for reading this. I am not advertising this post but if you agree you can feel free to share it.