Do the States have the right to be wrong?
It's a question that has perplexed philosophers, theologians and scientists for thousands of years.
Pythagorean Greeks, early Christian church fathers, Talmudic rabbis, Sunni and Shia thinkers, Hindu brahmin and modern bioethicists have grappled with the fundamental, ultimately unknowable, mystery: At what point in our biological development are we infused with a soul? At what point do we become human?
On May 14, the final day of their legislative session, Missouri lawmakers declared the answer, and last month, by withholding his veto, Gov. Jay Nixon signaled that he agreed. On Aug. 28, their answer will become the law of the land.
"The life of each human being begins at conception," according to Senate Bill 793, which will add new regulations to the state's 24-hour informed consent law for abortions. "Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being."
Those words will be displayed "prominently" on brochures that abortion providers will be required to hand out to every woman seeking the procedure - even if they don't happen to believe the Christian theology the words represent.
"Those are not sentiments that all the world's religions, or all the people in the state, believe in," said Paula Gianino, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.
But supporters of the new law say they see no conflict between religion and the law's definition of life.
Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay, one of the sponsors of the bills, said the language on the new brochures "is not a religious statement. It's a scientific statement."
It's a false argument - yes cell masses are alive, including human embryos, no one debates this. The only legitimate debate(and I'm going to ignore unprovable arguments about the soul that have vexxed philosophers for all of human history) is about when the rights of Personhood are assigned. And no state legislature is going to alter the standard definition of 'born, living human' so instead there's just a series of laws passed on the state level to scare, humiliate, "educate" women who want an abortion - forced viewing of ultrasounds, etc. Most of which read more like an Onion parody.
It would be awesome if state legislators(I'm looking at you, Party of Small Government) stuck to the actual business of their states and didn't try to ramrod their personal ideology into law for the brief time it will take for court challenges to dismantle. This is part of why we can't have nice things.
Pythagorean Greeks, early Christian church fathers, Talmudic rabbis, Sunni and Shia thinkers, Hindu brahmin and modern bioethicists have grappled with the fundamental, ultimately unknowable, mystery: At what point in our biological development are we infused with a soul? At what point do we become human?
On May 14, the final day of their legislative session, Missouri lawmakers declared the answer, and last month, by withholding his veto, Gov. Jay Nixon signaled that he agreed. On Aug. 28, their answer will become the law of the land.
"The life of each human being begins at conception," according to Senate Bill 793, which will add new regulations to the state's 24-hour informed consent law for abortions. "Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being."
Those words will be displayed "prominently" on brochures that abortion providers will be required to hand out to every woman seeking the procedure - even if they don't happen to believe the Christian theology the words represent.
"Those are not sentiments that all the world's religions, or all the people in the state, believe in," said Paula Gianino, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.
But supporters of the new law say they see no conflict between religion and the law's definition of life.
Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay, one of the sponsors of the bills, said the language on the new brochures "is not a religious statement. It's a scientific statement."
It's a false argument - yes cell masses are alive, including human embryos, no one debates this. The only legitimate debate(and I'm going to ignore unprovable arguments about the soul that have vexxed philosophers for all of human history) is about when the rights of Personhood are assigned. And no state legislature is going to alter the standard definition of 'born, living human' so instead there's just a series of laws passed on the state level to scare, humiliate, "educate" women who want an abortion - forced viewing of ultrasounds, etc. Most of which read more like an Onion parody.
It would be awesome if state legislators(I'm looking at you, Party of Small Government) stuck to the actual business of their states and didn't try to ramrod their personal ideology into law for the brief time it will take for court challenges to dismantle. This is part of why we can't have nice things.