CHICAGO – Columnist Dennis Byrne makes an excellent and saddening point about the Illinois "Reproductive Health Act" in which for the first time to his knowledge, a state declared any person – specifically in this case young, helpless babies forming in their mothers' wombs – as having no independent rights.
"A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this State," the Illinois' newly enacted Reproductive Health Act says.
The thought of government officials making such a declaration is, well, inhumane, Byrne writes.
Among all the extreme provisions of the Illinois Reproductive Act, the most cruel and inhumane is the enshrinement in law of the principle that a fetus has no rights, ever. Not after viability, when it can live on his or her own. Not in the last week of gestation when his or her survival is greater. Not at the moment of birth, as when the body has been delivered and the head punctured while still in the birth canal to make its removal easier.
Byrne goes on
Now that the idea that such a person has no rights–none at all–is enshrine in law should send shivers down our spines. That such a person has not even a sliver of any right to be balanced with the mother's rights. That one person has life or death authority over another person's life.
Byrne's thoughts demand attention.
Those that sponsored and pushed for this state position on little, helpless human beings applauded its implementation. Their glee and celebration begs the question of what these same people will do when a larger segment of our state's society grows old, helpless and totally at the mercy of those caring for them? Their seniors' care will cost lots and will be an inconvenient burden.
Illinois Review asks: Will these same people applaud when those humans' rights are threatened?
