For every abortion in the world, the two primary stakeholders are the mother (woman) and the preborn child (person).

I’m fully on board with protecting the rights of the woman, the mother. After all, I’m a proud husband, father, father-in-law and grandfather to nine women. I always wish the very best and equal justice for all of them.

However, in my opinion, this is not solely a women’s rights issue as many good people wish to make it. It is an equal justice issue for the mother and the preborn child.

To have equal justice in every pregnancy, in addition to consideration for the mother there is one other primary person who has equal individual rights under the US Constitution that must be protected — i.e., the preborn child whose human life begins at conception.

Every human being (person) begins her/his maturation process within the first second after conception as a single cell Zygote. The Zygote forms itself immediately as a human organism, a fact that is supported today by the preponderance of scientific evidence.

This fact is also supported by the leading abortion doctor in the USA, Dr. Willie Parker (Abortion provider Willie Parker Admits “Abortion Kills a Human Being, I Agree” | LifeNews.com). Dr. Parker estimates he has performed over 20,000 abortions.

He is a long-time, self-identified Christian, and rationalizes the dichotomy of Christian teachings opposed to abortion and his pro abortion position with the belief the mother’s/woman’s moral choice always supersedes the choice for the human being in her womb.

In his new memoir “Life’s Work,” Parker writes “I believe that as an abortion provider, I am doing God’s work, I am protecting women’s rights, their human right to decide their futures for themselves, and to live their lives as they see fit.”

With these aforementioned predicates, the human Zygote organism at conception and the fetus in latter stages of womb development are fully human. They are no less or no more human biochemically (DNA) and spiritually than a more mature version of the human person when exiting the womb. One is just more experienced, physically larger/stronger, and wiser as he/she progresses through the maturation stages of life.

This means the Zygote or the fetus is not just one of many body parts of the mother, rather it is a preborn human being living within the confines of the mother’s womb.

If the mother is living in the US, this preborn child is fully protected by the US Constitution.

One argument for many good and caring people who support elective abortion is that the preborn child at the earliest stages of the pregnancy is not life viable outside the mother’s womb, and therefore is not a separate person with individual rights provided by the US Constitution.

Not so fast.

Even after exiting the womb, children are still dependent and not life viable on their own if not provided every means of life sustenance and care by their parents. And, yet, it is well established these post born children have full individual rights provided by the US Constitution.

Therefore, life viability is not a determining factor for the applicability of individual US Constitutional rights whether at the beginning of human life or for that matter, the end of life (another topic, another day).

Now, moving on to the central point of my argument, elective abortion is defined as “the interruption of a pregnancy before the 20th week of gestation at the woman’s request for reasons other than maternal health or fetal disease. Most abortions in the United States are performed for this reason.” [From Britannica.com]

In my opinion, during the elective abortion decision making process, an advocate for the preborn child (person) is required to argue in defense of the child’s right to life. This right is established for all persons in the US by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments of the US Constitution.

In my estimation, the most relevant part of this overarching clause is the Procedural Due Process right expressed for every American. This right essentially is a “legal doctrine in the United States that requires government officials to follow fair procedures before depriving a person of life, liberty, or property except as authorized by law.” [From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia]

Because Roe v Wade is such law, albeit settled law of almost 50 years through precedence set at the US Supreme Court level and not the legislative process, abortions are protected as legal at the federal level and therefore all those involved in the abortion are protected from punishment by the government.

This automatically embeds the government as a silent partner in every elective abortion decision making process, since the mother cannot be convicted of a crime when the preborn child is put to death. Of course, neither can the abortion medical providers.

Personally, I don’t want a mother or the medical professionals who assist her to go to jail for having or assisting in an abortion. Rather, my desire is that the mother choose alternative ways to support life for the unwanted preborn child through options such as adoption; nonprofit prolife organizations providing financial aid; federal Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) centers under the Federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program of the USDA; etcetera.

As for the rights of the preborn child, the Due Process Clause should also provide protection, but today, it sadly does not.

Since the child cannot speak for him/herself, I think the government should at least provide protection for the child by appointing and financing a guardian ad litem to argue for the life of the preborn child. In deference to females naturally understanding pregnancy at a deeper and more personal level than males, I think the guardian ad litem should be female.

Actually, I’m okay with some of the good effects from Roe v Wade as settled law. It makes the healthcare facilities more safe and medical professionals more skilled at performing necessary abortion procedures, e.g., in cases of rape, incest, and the severe physical, mental, and/or emotional health of the mother. Tough decisions all.

However, I’m not in favor of carte blanche use of my tax dollars to support elective abortion organizations in the US such as Planned Parenthood. In other words, I support the Hyde Amendment which prevents that.

I also am not in favor of my US tax dollars supporting elective abortions in foreign countries. For example, I’m not in favor of President Biden’s action to rescind US policy that disallows use of US tax dollars for elective abortions in foreign countries financially supported by the US.

I’m okay with the IRA providing a check box on the individual IRS Tax Return to opt in/out of donations taken from one’s federal income tax return to support abortion provider organizations. Even though I disagree with people who want to support such organizations that provide elective abortion services, I think it is okay for them to be given the mechanism to route some of their tax dollars to those organizations if they choose.

In severe/necessary abortion cases, it often becomes a matter of which of the two primary stakeholders will die. In those cases, we need the best physical healthcare possible as well as mental and emotional care.

But, for elective abortions, I believe we need a more deliberative decision making process which should include a guardian ad litem (advocate) for the preborn child.

As it stands today, the one primary stakeholder who is guaranteed to die in every elective abortion, i.e., the preborn child, is not given her/his “day in court.”

Unfortunately, the right of Procedural Due Process for preborn children seems to be conveniently overlooked in our US society today. And, if it were invoked, it would immediately be challenged in the US Justice system by pro abortion activists.

In my opinion, this is gross negligence by our culture/society and for the betterment of our society should be corrected.

The annual average count for abortions in the US in the past 47 years is around 1,000,000 per year (mostly elective).

As a comparison, the number of COVID19 deaths for one year ending 1/21/2021 was around 415,000 in the US, less than half the yearly US average for elective abortions.

The stark difference in the “outrage meter” evoked by comparing these two counts for one year is astonishing and disappointing.

I believe as a civilized society with compassionate human beings in the US and the world we have it within us to be better than that.