By Scott Tibbs, April 18, 2013
The Internet lit up when Planned Parenthood lobbyist Alisa LaPolt Snow was asked what should happen to a baby that survives an abortion and is born alive. She said "We believe that any decision that’s made should be left up to the woman, her family, and the physician." But this should not be a surprise.
What Planned Parenthood knows is that when you admit that there is a point where the state has a legitimate reason to intervene in abortion to protect human life, even after a baby is born, you have left a huge hole in your argument. Once you admit there is a point at which life should be protected, the question is where you draw the line. Once you draw the line, you open yourself up to reasonable criticism that the line is arbitrary and illogical.
After all, there is no real difference between the baby struggling for life on a table and that same baby a few hours earlier. Why is it that the location of the baby is the sole determining factor in whether or not that baby has a right to life? There is no real difference between that baby now and that baby a day or a week ago. In fact, no matter where you draw the line, a case can be made that the line is arbitrary and should be moved back.
Planned Parenthood knows this. PP knows that when you draw any line after which a baby can be protected, that line is artificial, illogical and arbitrary. The entire house of cards depends on the right to kill a baby at any point, for any reason, up to and including the ninth month of pregnancy - and sometimes after the baby is born. That is why they cannot compromise, and why they cannot even bring themselves to admit that killing a newborn baby is wrong and should be prohibited, even though the premise of a woman having sovereignty over "her body" is irrelevant by then.
That is why there should be no line. Biologically speaking, a human being is created when a sperm cell and egg join. From that point forward, we have a completely new organism that with a unique DNA code. That organism - that human being - resides in the mother's body but is not part of the mother's body. The new human being should be protected from the moment of fertilization onward - and fertilization happens before implantation.
