The Conception Conundrum

When does a person’s life as a person begin? By “as a person” I mean having the usual rights that are considered human rights, plus legal rights such as citizenship. Does personhood begin at birth? Or does it begin at conception? Anti-abortionists (or “pro-lifers”, if you prefer) claim that personhood exists from the moment of conception as opposed to birth. That is why they believe abortion is murder. But this claim creates a new set of questions.

If a woman becomes pregnant, is the fertilized ovum a person? If it isn’t a person, then at what point in its development does the new life become a person? And why at that point and not earlier or later?

If the fertilized ovum is a person, then does that person have citizenship? Suppose a woman is in the U.S. illegally when she becomes pregnant. Is the new person a U.S. citizen? If the new life is recognized as a person who has spent their entire life in the U.S. and has not broken any laws, what is the justification for denying the new person citizenship?

Suppose that before the baby is born, the woman returns to her home country, where she gives birth. Is the baby still a U.S. citizen? Or is the baby a citizen of its birth country? Does the baby have dual citizenship? Why should it matter where birth occurs? At birth, the new person is already nine months old. The new person should be able to return to the U.S. as a citizen.

This conundrum goes away if we consider personhood as beginning at birth. Then the country of conception would be irrelevant. But if personhood begins at conception, then birth is only an event in the person’s life and not the beginning of that person. Should a baby conceived in the U.S. and born outside the U.S. be deported back to the U.S.? It sounds strange, but that is a real question if personhood begins at conception.

I don’t know when personhood begins. God hasn’t let me in on that secret. But from a practical standpoint, I can see that defining personhood as beginning at birth creates fewer problematical questions, some of which may be unanswerable.

Not that logic or reason will change any minds on this subject.