To the Editor:

In response to those who lament the pro-life legislation sweeping our country, arguing that a woman should have sovereignty over her own body, they miss or ignore the real issue. No one disputes a woman’s right to decide what happens to her body. The truth is that the baby in her womb is not part of her body, but is a distinct human person. Every cell in the human body carries the identical DNA. The baby’s genetic code is the combination of genes from the father and the mother, and is not the same as either parent. Even the heartbeat is separate and distinct from the mother’s.

The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision affirming the right to abortion differs little from the Supreme Court’s 1856 Dred Scott decision which determined that Scott (a black slave) was not a “citizen” endowed with rights under the Constitution, but rather was nothing more than the property of his owner.

DJ Demas

Columbus, IN