Abortion

 

People

People,
People who need people,
Are the luckiest people in the world

Are unborn fetuses people?

The sovereign in the United states is the People.  The People, and their representation, are enumerated in the decennial census.  People is NOT synonymous with voters.  The constitution infamously made it clear that enslaved persons are counted as 3/5 of a person, but were not allowed to vote. Eventually  slavery was prohibited. Women are counted as persons, but did receive the right to not vote until a constitutional amendment.  Children are counted, but are not allowed to vote.  The decennial census does not now, and never has, included unborn fetuses.  At least as far as the constitution is concerned, unborn fetuses appear not to be considered to be people.  This is an observation, not a moral judgment. It is understood that fetus are considered people by many, but according to the Census fetuses are not counted.  Children are counted after they are born but not before then.

If fetuses are not people, it is not clear that they have any standing for consideration of constitutional protection.  The Supreme Court has ruled that a fetus who is viable, that is could survive on their own or with medical intervention, is protected, but while fetuses can be protected, they appear not to be considered as people according to the US constitution and its census. (Again an observation, not a moral judgment).  It appears that a constitutional amendment, which would include enumerating unborn fetuses in the Census would be necessary to change this status.  As such it is not clear how women who do not know that they are pregnant, as in the recent Texas law, could answer that they have an unborn fetus to the US Census and thus it is not clear that those fetuses could ever be people as defined in the constitution.