‘Personhood’ reminds us of the complexity of maintaining respect for all persons when campaigning against abortion in the legal sphere.
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Most pro-life Christians are well versed in the scriptural, philosophical, and scientific arguments that support our belief that the fetus is a person. We can probably quote Psalm 139:15–16 and several other passages that affirm the value of unborn life. We can appeal to science by pointing out that from the moment of conception, the zygote has a unique genetic code and therefore isn’t merely an appendage of his or her mother.
Yet we may never have examined the complexities of legal recognition of fetal personhood. The pro-life movement has argued for the last 60 years that the Constitution affirms the rights of people from the moment of conception. So far, the Supreme Court hasn’t accepted this argument.
