Abortion Debate: When do a Person's Rights Begin?

The debate on abortion will continue to be exploited.

The pro-choice advocates took a major hit as the Virginia House of Delegates passed House Bill 1. The bill outlaws abortions in the state, asserting that the rights of a person begin as soon as sperm and egg unite. The future of this debate will revolve around what just happened in Virginia, but it started decades ago.

Prior to Roe v. Wade, there was no federal mandate legalizing abortion—it was decided by the states. After “Roe”, the it was decided that “the right of personal privacy includes the abortion decision.” Although every state is able to apply their specific interests to to their communities, the Supreme Court essentially ruled in favor of pro-choice groups. They also enacted a “trimester” system that gave insight into the fetus’s “viability” (or it’s likely survival outside the uterus).

[ALSO READ: 7 Lessons Learned From Susan G. Komen Gate]

Not all states have been acceptable to this course of action obviously.  The snow ball gained traction when South and North Dakota decided to try and enact laws that would give rights to unborn or partially born children. The Personhood of Children Act of North Dakota was initially passed in 2009 but was eventually overturned. That was enough to give pro-life activists enough steam. Since then, there’s been a major influx of activist groups from both sides cited religious freedom and personal privacy as their foundation.

Roe also requires that states finance abortions in the event of rape, incest, and life endangerment. What many politicians have done is argue a certain inappropriateness when it comes to abortion funding—that the federal government shouldn’t force states to use tax-payer money to fund it.  Take this approach and you can convince many people that abortion as a whole is wrong, when many probably didn’t know (yet alone care) about someone else’s abortion.