PERSONHOOD AND THE CENSUS

                                          2030 Census - Count the unborn!

                                               Is an unborn child a person?

                                                                 YES!

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned parts of Roe v. Wade by eliminating any Constitutional right to abortion and by returning the abortion issue to the states. 

HOWEVER, THE DOBBS DECISION DID NOT OVERTURN ROE’S RULING THAT THE UNBORN ARE NOT “PERSONS.”

In his 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun wrote that, among other reasons, since, to his knowledge, unborn children had not been included in previous census counts, the Constitution does not consider them to be "persons." However, he further wrote, "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."

So, is an unborn child a "person"?

Dr. Jerome Lejeune, the world-famous geneticist, wrote of the one-celled human zygote, "He is a being, and being human, he is a human being." 

The Census Bureau equates being a human being with being a “person.” 

Thus, the Census Bureau should include each unborn human being as a "person" in its 2030 decennial census count!

​CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE -  ONE PERSON - ONE VOTE​
According to Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution, as amended by the 14th Amendment, Section 2, a census is required every 10 years to count every "person," that is, every human being who is an inhabitant of the United States. The census count is the cornerstone of the U.S. electoral system, assuring that the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are equally distributed among the states according to their population. Based on this reapportionment, states may gain or lose seats in Congress, and also gain or lose electors in the Electoral College, which casts votes for election of the President of the United States. In addition, most every state legislature is redistricted to ensure each district has an equal number of persons. Moreover, based on the population count, billions of dollars are distributed annually to cities and states. 

• Who gets counted in the Census?

The most recent Census Day was April 1, 2020. The Constitution's 14th Amendment requires that every "person" who was living in the United States on that date, that is, every human being who was an inhabitant, was supposed to be included in the 2020 Census count. 

That includes every man, woman, and child of all races, ages, and national heritage. 

Immigrants, here legally or illegally. were counted, since they are inhabitants. Tourists, since they are not inhabitants, were not counted. 

Before the Civil War, slaves were only counted as 3/5 of a person. 

The 13th Amendment banned slavery and the 14th Amendment requires that every human being be counted in the census as a full “person.”

UNBORN CHILDREN ARE HUMAN BEINGS
The 14th Amendment uses the word "person" differently in its first two sections. Section 1 concerns civil rights and the definition of a "citizen." Section 1 includes corporations as "persons,” though they are not human beings. Section 2 refers to who is to be included in the census count (i.e. - all residents) for apportionment of Congress. Rep. John Bingham, (R-OH), the author of the 14th Amendment, said the only test is, "Is it a man?" Since corporations are not part of the human community, they are not counted. Unborn children are part of the human population.  Since an unborn child is a human being, the Constitution requires that child to be included by the Census Bureau in the census count.

• Why aren't unborn children counted?

Good question! 
A child born prematurely at seven months is counted, since it has been born. But a baby still in the womb at nine months is not counted, even though it is older, bigger, maybe healthier, and just as much a "person" as the prematurely born child. 
True, some babies may die in the womb before they are born at nine months, but many adults in hospice are expected to die within six months, but they still get counted!. Why the contradictory ways of counting the young and the old?

​​​​​RECOGNITION
Excluding the unborn from the census is harmful to them in many ways regardless of their representation, or lack thereof, in Congress. This is much like the 3/5 clause that hurt slaves by reporting them as less than full persons in the census. That clause served as the Constitutional basis for the slavery system. Ratification of the 14th Amendment meant that slaves must be counted as full human beings. Likewise, unborn children should not only be included in the census count to gain adequate representation in Congress, but also to be accorded the dignity, value, social standing, civil and natural rights, and legal recognition owed to every human being.

EVERY HUMAN BEING IS A PERSON
In God’s eyes, every individual human being, born or unborn, counts. The census form simply asks for the name, sex, age and birth date of each "person" living at a certain address. An ultrasound done during pregnancy can reveal whether an unborn child is a boy or girl. A child can be named before it is born. The child's address should be the same as its mother's address. The census form could ask for a baby's due date, or month of gestation, rather than its birth date. Since the U.S. Constitution requires every "person" to be included in the census count, there is no logical or practical reason why a parent cannot list an unborn child on the census form. The Census Bureau must not unconstitutionally discriminate against the unborn by excluding them from the next  census count in 2030.