South Dakota has reawakened the abortion debate in this country with its new law that essentially bans abortion in all cases except when the life of the pregnant woman (mother?) is at stake.
While it's doubtful the Constitution has anything specific to say about abortion "rights," the Roe v. Wade ruling regarding privacy always seemed a bit of a stretch since the right to privacy itself strains Constitutional interpretation.
The Constitution does point out that the powers granted to the federal government are enumerated, and those that are not, are left to the states and the people. It's a shame this obvious point is often ignored and states are not allowed to compete for ideas on how to best govern and the people are usually told what they can and cannot do.
I applaud the South Dakota stance, though I do not agree with it. Abortion has always been a moral dilemma for me, but I'm not one to demand a law to fix every moral quandary. The fact that the states can compete on these ideas is better to me than having a forced federal mandate.
What strikes me, though, is the idea that there are legal protections for a fetus. Traditionally, legal rights are afforded only to those who have been born. If the law allows that abortion is illegal because it denies the rights of the fetus, the implications seem far reaching.
If a fetus is deemed a person with legal rights, a pregnant woman literally becomes two people in all of her actions.
If she enters an adults-only location, will she be violating the law with respect to minors?
Could a movie theater or airline force a pregnant woman to buy two tickets (or more should it be known the pregnancy involves twins, triplets or more)?
Would jailing a pregnant woman imply that the fetus is unjustly incarcerated simply because of its association with a criminal?
What if the woman doesn't know she's pregnant, is she still liable for the life of the unborn?
Can a woman's use of illegal drugs, alcohol or even strenuous exercise that results in miscarriage be grounds to prosecute her for manslaughter?
Will miscarriages require a homicide investigation as would occur for the unexpected death of a baby?
Will insurance companies be forced to provide full medical care coverage for the unborn?
Will children's ages begin with conception rather than birth? I mean, can you be legally protected by the law for 9 months without aging?
Can assets and gifts be transferred to a fetus?
Can a fetus apply for a social security number?
Can a reluctant father be forced to pay child support while the mother is pregnant?
Will abortion be considered first degree murder?
Will the Catholic Church want to baptize fetuses to avoid an uncertain afterlife fate (limbo) should the fetus die?
Will the criminal death of a pregnant woman result in a second criminal death of the fetus?
Will a pregnant woman be eligible for social security and other benefits for her fetus that apply to children today?
Will we have a two-tiered legal structure for babies, one for the born and the other for the unborn?
What about an abortion of one fetus in the situation in which there are multiple fetuses? Can one fetus be killed to save the life of the other fetuses? Who determines if the life of the other fetuses is really in jeopardy?
What does it mean that a mother can choose to kill her unborn baby if her life depends on it? Could it be applied in some odd circumstance to newborn or older babies? Who determines that the mother's life "depends" on it, giving her the right to kill another to save her own skin?
Will we need a new law to allow a fetus to ride in a car unrestrained while it's still illegal to do so with a newborn?
Can a foreign, pregnant woman claim that her fetus is an American because it was conceived in the United States, regardless of where it was born? Will a foreign woman who gives birth no longer have the baby considered an American unless the baby was conceived in the U.S.?
Clearly, the history of law suggests that legal rights are only conferred upon those once they are born. But we'll never be able to wrestle with these issues if the states are not allowed to experiment, and the rights of the people are denied because of a twisted interpretation of the Constitution.