Santorum: It’s ‘A Biological Fact That Life Begins At Conception,’ Thus Every Fertilized Egg Should Have Full Rights

GOP presidential “fringe runner” Rick Santorum has put a lot of effort into becoming the most anti-choice candidate in the field. Having cast 99 votes against women’s rights while in Congress, Santorum not only supports a federal abortion ban but is a consistent supporter of “personhood” rights for embryos. Those who subscribe to “personhood” ideology believe life begins at the moment of fertilization, which, if enshrined in law, would effectively ban contraception like birth control pills.

Yesterday in an interview with CNN host Piers Morgan, Santorum corrected his “belief” that life begins at conception. “I shouldn’t say I believe it,” he told Morgan, because “it’s a biological fact that life begins at conception.” This “fact,” he argued, bestows every right guaranteed under the Constitution to a zygote:

SANTORUM: I do believe that life begins at conception. I shouldn’t say I believe it, it’s a biological fact that life begins at conception. That child in the womb is biologically human — completely and fully human — and alive. Therefore, a human life. It’s reason that tells me that person that is now alive and human should be given the rights of any person under the Constitution. Where they are or where they’re located at the particular time in their life cycle shouldn’t determine whether they have constitutional rights or not. So, that’s something I came to as a matter of study more than anything else.

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The medical community has long been in agreement that fertilization does not mark the beginning of pregnancy. Fully half of fertilized eggs never result in a pregnancy because they never begin dividing, never implant, or implant but spontaneously abort, often so early on a woman never knows she may have been pregnant. Some conservatives consider birth control pills tantamount to abortion because they can act to prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus.

There’s no actual scientific moment at which life is agreed to begin — many scientists will explain life is an unceasing continuum that doesn’t “begin” at any one moment. The “fact” Santorum speaks of doesn’t exist. Nevertheless, embryos are not viable outside the uterus until at least their 23rd week. This standard of viability is a critically important medical distinction for practical purposes and forms the basis of the Roe v. Wade decision. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee on Ethics stated in 2006 that an embryo left or maintained outside the uterus “cannot develop into a human being.”

Regardless of the rhetoric-based debate about when life begins, extrapolating from personal religious belief that a single-celled fertilized egg inherently deserves the same exact rights as a human being ignores some pretty glaring biological differences — not to mention women’s constitutionally-protected right to an abortion.

Santorum’s ideology drives him far to the right of most Americans and even most Republicans who allow abortion exceptions to victims of rape or incest. During Fox’s GOP presidential debate this month, he used the “moment of conception” belief to argue that “the child is an innocent victim” and that rape victims should not be allowed to have abortion because that would be traumatizing them twice.