The fight against abortion is about to score one of its more significant victories in years, perhaps decades. Tuesday, the Virginia House passed a bill declaring that the rights of persons begin the moment the sperm and egg unite.
If the bill becomes law, Virginia will become the first state in the Union with a "personhood" law, a law defining that life begins at conception.
Past efforts to pass personhood legislation have failed in Virginia, Colorado and Mississippi, but there are many states considering the legislation this year, including Utah.
Virginia's senate is projected to pass the bill, and Gov. Bob McDonnell has already said he will sign it.
While at first glance such legislation might not seem significant, proponents say Roe v. Wade, the famous Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, was based on the notion that a fetus is not a person, and that if a fetus is legally established as a person, then the Supreme Court will be obliged to hear another case on the subject and overturn Roe v. Wade.
Justice Harry Blackmun, writing the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, said, “If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.”
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