In Tuesday's Post, an editorial (Intractable) on the proposed South Dakota abortion ban read, It is not the government's place to infringe upon a person's freedom unless it comes into conflict with another citizen's life - and until the actual birth
a child is not a citizen.
While it is true the fetuses are not citizens, this fact is quite irrelevant to the question of whether or not abortion ought to be legal. In the United States, persons who are U.S. citizens and those who are not are afforded different rights under the law in many cases. For instance, a non-citizen does not have the same rights concerning voting and federal aid that a citizen does. However, people, whether they are citizens of this country, another country or no country, cannot legally be killed in the United States (except as the result of a criminal sentence in some states). The right to protection against death at the hands of others is not a right determined by an individual's status as a citizen, but rather by an individual's status as a person.
Thus, the question of whether or not abortion ought to be legal in South Dakota or anywhere else in the United States hinges on the question of whether or not fetuses are persons. It has nothing to do with their not being citizens.
- Daniel Layman is a sophomore philosophy major. 17
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