A Republican lawmaker in Alabama says that he wants to pursue a so-called "personhood" bill outlawing abortion rights for women because the Bible proves that a fetus "is life inside of a mother," but he's not sure if "aborted babies" are going to Heaven or Hell.
In a recent interview with the Times-Journal, state Sen. Shadrack McGill lamented that "you can be charged up to $250,000 for destroying an eagle egg, but you can destroy babies in the womb?"
McGill explained that his interpretation of Psalm 22 made it clear that life began at fertilization.
"Just based on the Scripture alone, the Psalm that talks about God knowing us before he placed us in our mother’s womb, is enough for me to know that that is a life inside of a mother," he said.
"So my question concerning aborted babies is, where do they go, heaven or hell?"
State Sen. Phil Williams (R), who has sponsored "personhood" bills during the last two legislative sessions, recently told The Anniston Star that he was reluctant to bring it up again.
Past bills had reportedly failed because many worried that they would have given rights to embyros created in fertility clinics, effectively banning in-vitro fertilization as well as some forms of contraception.
"I sympathize with the folks who have had to go the expensive route of the in-vitro process, and thank God for that knowledge that the doctors possess," McGill opined to the Times-Journal. "My understanding of that process is they fertilize 10 eggs in a petri dish. Basically they take three of the strongest and insert those into the womb, into the mother, and pray for the best."
"If the mother conceives, then what do you do with the seven remaining fertilized eggs?" he pointed out, adding that he had suggested that Williams reword the bill to include only "fertilization inside the mother’s womb."
"And I never had peace about that," McGill admitted. “That’s what we tried and that failed.”
The Republican lawmaker hoped that future legislation would force doctors to implant all fertilized eggs in the potential mother.
“That union between the sperm and the egg is where life begins, and maybe where God places his spirit inside that child, so to speak,” McGill insisted. “Therefore, I would hope that the legislation that we push in the future would state that all the eggs fertilized need to be placed in the mother’s womb.”
(h/t: Salon, RH Reality Check)
