Hopefully, third time is not the charm

Still more catching up. I will eventually.

For the third time, the House of Representatives has voted to make attacks on a pregnant woman into two attacks: one on her and one on the fetus. That is, any harm to the fetus would be regarded as a separate crime from harm to the woman, thereby according a fetus a legal status independent of the woman's.

The anti-woman crowd, ever-vigilant for some means to restrict and ultimately outlaw abortion, has latched onto the tragedy of Laci Peterson as a backdoor means to advance their agenda, even going so far as to call their assault on logic the Laci and Conner Peterson Act.

But of course at the same time they insisted that abortion was the furthest thing from their minds. In fact, they pointed to language in the bill that specifically protects those carrying out legal abortions from prosecution. But even so, they just couldn't contain themselves.

"There are two victims in these kinds of attacks," said Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Pa., chief sponsor of the legislation. "That is so clear from the Laci and Conner Peterson case." ...

"You deny personhood, which is a legal concept, to the unborn," Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., a strong opponent of abortion, said to critics of the bill.

Which is exactly the point: The bill aims to provide "personhood" to a fetus, affording it legal status and legal rights. In fact, the bill

defines "unborn child" as "a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb."

Critics said that under this definition even a fertilized egg would have the same rights as the born, setting the stage for future challenges to abortion rights.

That supporters of the bill would deny that effect shows how far they are prepared to twist reality to suit their ends.

The battle moves to the Senate, where prospects are better. The previous two times the House has passed such legislation, 1999 and 2001, the Senate declined to consider it. This time, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he will bring it up, but it's doubtful he has the votes to pass it.

Footnote: The House rejected an alternative that would have made injury to the fetus an aggravating factor in any assault on the woman, again showing that their purpose was not the protection of either but the elevation of the fetus to equal legal status with the woman.