Sanity

Michael Berube has something to say about Dred Scott and the anti-abortionist movement:

Dred Scott was viable outside the womb at the time his case came before the Supreme Court. Pass it on...

when you’re debating stem cell research, absolutely, absolutely do not genuflect before fundamentalist extremists when they equate five-day embryos with living persons and refuse to allow scientific research on the former in order to relieve pain, suffering, and disease among the latter...

Insist in the face of their religious fundamentalism that the conflation of actual with potential persons does harm to actual persons (including, notably, pregnant women) in both substantive and consequentialist senses (that is, it violates a principle of care for living persons, and it has nasty effects to boot)...

granting full personhood and full human rights to entities that cannot survive outside the womb does a profound injustice to actual living persons. And likening fetuses to slaves is simply obscene.

Yes. Kerry came close Friday when he adopted (no pun intended) very reasonable positions on third trimester abortions and parental notification. My own position is that I trust women to make the right decisions FOR THEMSELVES. No one has the right to take that decision away--and the rights of a woman will ALWAYS be more important than the rights of a fetus. End of story.