24 October 2022: Fertilized egg personhood

Fertilized egg personhood

Any proposal to grant “personhood” to fertilized eggs will do much more than eliminating abortion. It may also severely restrict the permissible activities of all girls or women of reproductive age, as indicated below. This is important because many states are proposing to grant “personhood” (i.e. the rights of babies that are born alive) to fertilized eggs (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/31/opinion/abortion-fetal-personhood.html). Although called “fetal personhood”, this terminology is improper because a fetus is defined as 8 weeks gestation compared to 0 weeks for a fertilized egg - thus, fertilized egg personhood is a more accurate term for these laws.

Here are some possible consequences of fertilized egg personhood laws:

1. These laws may ultimately require all girls or women ages 9-59 (i.e. ages at which they could possibly become pregnant), to get regular pregnancy tests unless it is medically impossible for them to get pregnant (i.e. clearly post-menopausal or lacking a uterus or ovaries). This testing would be necessary because society would have an obligation to protect the health of the unborn baby (who has rights equal to that of any person), but this could not be done until its existence is known.

2. This testing would have to be done by the State to protect the unborn baby because the law presumes that the mother may have adverse interests to her unborn baby.

3. It might be necessary to have a separate physician for the unborn baby and possibly even to have a guardian appointed to protect its interests.

4. In some cases, there will be disputes between the best interests and treatment for the two "persons", which the treating physicians may not be able to resolve between themselves. Thus, there may need to be "maternity judges" to settle these disputes.

5. These factors will cause marked changes in the standard of care for pregnant girls or women. Already, in anti-abortion states, pregnant girls or women may suffer delayed or altered care due to miscarriages or medical emergencies (https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blog/post/edit/5625050818749205890/4203045862329327302)

6. Every positive pregnancy test that does not result in a live birth may give rise to an investigation and possible criminal charges against the pregnant girl or woman, her friends, family, employer or anyone else who may have contributed to the death of the unborn baby (https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/01/prosecutions-drugs-miscarriages-meth-stillbirths/). This means that pregnancy will be considered a high risk condition and will limit the activities of pregnant girls or women.

7. Society may presume that any girl or woman aged 9-59 is pregnant to avoid any activities that may harm the fertilized egg person and lead to a murder charge. This also limits the medical care given to girls or women, who are presumed to be pregnant or possibly to become pregnant at any time. Specifically, it might affect treatment for cancer, arthritis (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21120498/) or other inflammatory diseases because treatment (chemotherapy, radiation therapy, anti-inflammatory or other drugs) might damage an unborn baby. 

8. This presumption of pregnancy and the fear of being investigated for murder for any miscarriage will greatly impair the types of activities that people want to engage in with girls or women, including employment. The only activities that may be widely tolerated are those that are safe for pregnant girls or women.

To many of us, these consequences are extremely offensive. However, it is foreseeable that they will occur, at least in some states.

@NatPpolitics