If infants in the womb were not considered persons, it would be very easy to argue for their murder, and that is exactly what the Department of Health and Human Services wants to insinuate.
Cleverly disguised under the title “HIPAA Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care Privacy,” the HHS (Health and Human Services) proposes to redefine the medically recognized term of “Person” to exclude infants inside the womb. They have begun to reserve that term only for babies that have already successfully exited their mother’s body. In Biden’s newly proposed rule the language used to describe the intent was to “reflect long-standing statutory language defining the term [Person].”
The department is anxious to codify this rule to defend persons involved with “reproductive health care,” (their deceptive, tidy term for infant genocide) from anyone who may try to employ legal action against those involved. In order to spare women from “discrimination [… and] mental anguish,” the department will now withhold any information connected with a woman’s abortion related medical history. These procedures seek to combat legal action taken in a post “end of Roe” era.
Why is this terminology so important? Why should we be so concerned with an ordinance which resides in a small corner of the internet sitting amongst other ambiguously labeled rules? The definition of personhood stands as the cornerstone to any pro-life argument. It is essential to logical and biblical discourse on subjects like abortion, euthanasia, and assisted suicide.
I am a 22 year old intern with Georgia Right to Life. I am a committed Christian and a staunch abolitionist. However, many of my close Christian friends have their reservations about how far the government should go in abolishing abortion. As experience shaped my outlook on personhood rights, the definition of “person” became its defining feature.
Since childhood, I have known that abortion is wrong. My parents, citizens of Georgia since the late 80s, had attended many Georgia Right to Life dinners. My mama would bring home little miniature, rubber preborn baby figurines which I carefully wrapped up in tiny pieces of fabric and placed them alongside my other “children.” I always knew the importance of babies. They are crafted in God’s imagination and intricately woven in the womb of their mothers. However, as childhood faded and adulthood drew closer, abortion no longer appeared as cut and dried. Soon, Christian friends began expressing disdain for aged, backwards politicians who insisted on refusing abortion for girls our age who became pregnant and found themselves in dark circumstances. I mentally fought back at these new dangerous ideas trying to remind myself that babies are always good, but besides my knee-jerk imago Dei argument (Gen. 1:27), did I really know why?
In the midst of my junior year in college, I began working at a memory care facility which offered medical care and a safe environment for those suffering from any disease under the Dementia umbrella. I grew up interacting with family members suffering in a like manner; however, working with them day after day I began to ask myself new questions.
One lady shaped my outlook on personhood. We will call her Tina. Miss Tina frequently sat in her wheelchair every day in front of her favorite magazines. She would read the titles of the articles out loud, yelling them across the room accompanied by incoherent strings of slurs and profane language. It never appeared that she comprehended any of the page’s titles. After she finished, she would toss the magazine on the ground and begin shouting nonsense until a new one was placed before her. Tina offered no tangible benefit to society, no scintillating conversation, perhaps a meager financial contribution to the overall global economy. However, she meant much to her husband, who came and sat quietly in her presence each day. Despite the value of her husband’s ardent love, she has value. Her existence, devoid of anything to distinguish her amongst her fellow humans, carries value. She was created in the womb of a human woman and was fearfully and wonderfully made. She carries the mark of her creator and therefore carries an innate value.
When will it become that persons only include those of us who embody all of the traits of the cast of Friends: young, beautiful, sexually active and financially independent? If we allow the world to manipulate what the word person means – or doesn’t mean – we will lose it all together.
Please join Georgia Right to Life in fervent prayer for the lives of mothers and babies put in danger by these new rules and for those in power who seek to defend the rights of the preborn. Take courage in the knowledge that our Heavenly Father works everything for our good and for His glory. Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
Sources: https://catholicvote.org/redefining-the-unborn-non-persons/; https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/17/2023-07517/hipaa-privacy-rule-to-support-reproductive-health-care-privacy; https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2021-title1/pdf/USCODE-2021-title1-chap1-sec8.pdf
Virginia-Lee Finnell
Senior at Patrick Henry College
Intern with Georgia Right to Life