Unitarian Universalist Association
Fetal Personhood Law: Violations of The U.S. Constitution
And Religious Liberty
2004 General Assembly Resolution Proposal
WHEREAS, the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004" (H.R. 1997) defines the fertilized ovum (zygote), embryo and fetus as an "unborn child", as a "child in utero", that is "a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb": and
WHEREAS, the "Unborn Victims Law" violates the 14th Amendment where only "persons born" are citizens, which precludes the unborn fetus as being legally defined as a "person" and citizen; and
WHEREAS, "fetal personhood" is a religious faith believe that is unique to certain religious faiths and dogma, e.g. the Roman Catholic Church's belief in a theology of three-stages of ensoulment, viz, vegetable, animal and rational souls that occurs at different stages of gestation where only the "rational soul" makes possible "personhood"; and
WHEREAS, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, in accordance with this theology of "hominazation", declared, "if abortion is early, it is not homicide"; and
WHEREAS, "fetal personhood" violates the religious faith and believe of the Unitarian Universalist religion that affirmed in its 1982 General Assembly Resolution Public Education, Religious Liberty, and the Separation of Church and State to "opposing all efforts through legislation or Constitutional Amendment to restrict that right or to impose by law a 'theology of fetal personhood"; and
WHEREAS, "fetal personhood" violates Jewish faith believe, which states, "Did you know that abortion can be a religious requirement? Not just permitted, but required? And that "In some religious traditions, if the fetus endangers the life of the mother, abortion is not a matter of choice; it is mandatory"; and
WHEREAS, the developing embryo or fetus cannot be a citizen under one set of circumstances and not a citizen under a different set of circumstances under the "equal protection of the laws" of the 14th Amendment; and
WHEREAS, under the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004", a "theology of personhood" now defines "citizen" that supercedes the constitutional definition of "citizen"; and
WHEREAS, under the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004", every miscarriage carries a potential liability of prosecution of the pregnant woman for "involuntary manslaughter"; and would give the state the right to seize the pregnant woman, who is deemed a threat to the fetus, which violates the 4th Amendment of "The right of the people to be secure in their persons" and other constitutional rights;
DECLARES, that the 2004 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association reaffirms its religious faith and liberty that opposes "all efforts through legislation or constitutional amendment to restrict that right or to impose by law a "theology of fetal personhood"; and
AFFIRMS, that the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 (H.R. 1997) that was signed into law by President Bush, violates several provisions of the U.S. Constitution, that among these are the First Amendment that commands "separation of church and state", where the "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion; the Fourth Amendment of "the right of the people to be secure in their persons"; the Thirteenth Amendment where "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within the United States", where compulsory pregnancy and compulsory motherhood become states of "involuntary servitude" to legalized religious dogma; and the Fourteenth Amendment that defines "persons born" as citizens, which precludes any declaration of the Congress that the developing embryo and fetus, "at any stage of development" is a citizen entitled to the protection of the U.S. Constitution, which also violates the "equal protection of the laws" of the Fourteenth Amendment; and
RESOLVES: that the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004" is unconstitutional and calls upon all citizens to reject the Bush Republican Administration's actions to legislate a citizenship based upon a "theology of fetal personhood"; and to impose other narrow-religious doctrinal beliefs upon all Americans through legislative and administrative acts.
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Submitted:
James W. Prescott, Ph.D.
212 Woodsedge Drive
Lansing, NY 14882
607.533.9105
7 May 2004
Member, The First Unitarian Church, Ithaca, New York.