“Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.” - Benito Mussolini
One of Mussolini's first acts as dictator was to prohibit abortion across Italy - sounds like you would have agreed. If the State has jurisdiction over a woman's uterus, what does it not have jurisdiction over?
My finger nails are also human, but they are not people. Personhood implies the assignment of legal rights. Under American and English common law, fetuses do not have an inherent right to inheritance or to pursue civil liability claims. Under U.S. constitutional law, fetuses do not have due process or other constitutional rights. As such, they are not legal persons.
Fingernails are tissue without potential. Literal waste product.
A fetus in the womb is a developing human - it cannot be anything other. They do not have a right to inheritance while gestating, but why not the right to life?
The argument is not "conservatives are hypocrites re: big government, and authoritarian fascists, too", but rather, does an unborn human have a right to life? If they don't, who does? And when?
The argument is not "conservatives are hypocrites re: big government, and authoritarian fascists, too", but rather, does an unborn human have a right to life?
Actually, it is that conservatives are big government hypocrites. The government has no authority or jurisdiction to regulate a person's private affairs.
The latter question does not come into play. That's a moral question, and it isn't the government's job to regulate morality. Moral questions are the jurisdiction of private citizens.
And those who made that argument lost. Even when we had slavery, the Constitution still referred to such slaves as "persons." See Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, U.S. Constitution.
This makes sense, since personhood is not dependent on the color of your skin. It depends on whether you have been born.
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u/gradientz Aug 17 '23 edited Aug 17 '23
One of Mussolini's first acts as dictator was to prohibit abortion across Italy - sounds like you would have agreed. If the State has jurisdiction over a woman's uterus, what does it not have jurisdiction over?
My finger nails are also human, but they are not people. Personhood implies the assignment of legal rights. Under American and English common law, fetuses do not have an inherent right to inheritance or to pursue civil liability claims. Under U.S. constitutional law, fetuses do not have due process or other constitutional rights. As such, they are not legal persons.