In response to proposed personhood ballot measures in states like Mississippi and Nevada — and the religious right’s broader battle against reproductive rights — Jim Fetzer has written a letter to the Wisconsin State Journal clarifying the very important difference between “human life” and “personhood”: Those who believe human life begins at conception are correct about their biology, but wrong about morality. Personhood requires recognition through legislation and enforcement. Life and personhood are not the same. If pregnancy entailed personhood, every pregnant woman qualifies not as one but as two persons. We would need morality police to maintain vigilant coverage of sexually active women to make sure that, should they become pregnant, the rights of those persons are upheld. An entity that cannot sustain…
Tagged: abortion, ethics, life, morality, personhood, reproductive rights