At a more practical level, there are some additional consequences to Emerson's amendment that might not be immediately apparent. The restrictive language of Section 1 means that all human offspring are considered persons from the moment of conception (at every stage of biological development). Some forms of contraception (the birth control pill, the IUD) work at least in part by preventing zygotes (fertilized eggs) from implanting into the wall of the uterus. These forms of contraception would be outlawed by the amendment.
Medical ethicists have wondered aloud about changes in the legal requirements for doctors should such an amendment pass. If even fertilized eggs are granted the legal status of "persons", and if a changed Constitution requires that no fertilized-egg "person" shall be deprived of life, will doctors be legally required to intervene in the case of a zygote that doesn't implant in the wall of a woman's uterus? Must all test-tube frozen embryos stored in fertility clinics be implanted in some woman's uterus? Although doctors would be permitted to perform an abortion when the life of the mother was at risk, they could not perform an abortion when a woman would merely be severely injured or permanently incapacitated as a result of a continued pregnancy. On the other hand, doctors could not perform an abortion before or after a woman received radiation therapy, thereby causing great damage to a growing fetus. How could legal compliance be reconciled with ethical responsibility in such circumstances?
Police officers, prosecutors and judges would also face trying decisions. Since zygotes, embryos and fetuses would now be "persons", must a woman who takes damaging drugs while pregnant be charged with assault or attempted homicide? Must such a pregnant woman who consequently miscarries be charged with criminally negligent homicide? What about a woman who doesn't take prescribed medications? Or who doesn't take her prenatal vitamins? Or who doesn't eat the recommended balanced diet for pregnant women? Or who fails to exercise regularly? Are these women now to be prosecuted as abusers or killers?
These ethical quandaries arise when pregnant women and the fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses are granted equal status as "persons." Pregnancy is a unique circumstance because for almost a year the fate of two entities, one already being and one just becoming, are inextricably intertwined. Without the constitutional amendment proposed in H.R. 77, the rights of a pregnant woman to control her body have trumped any claim to rights by unborn offspring. When their claim to constitutional rights are made to be legally equivalent, however, the rights of pregnant women become significantly diminished in relative terms.
