"THE 14TH AMENDMENT OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND THE DOCTRINE OF PERSONHOOD"

Americans from all walks of life including the nation's power brokers in the Washington politics are heavily divided today over the exact interpretation of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution that was adopted on July 9, 1868 as one of the Reconstruction Amendments that prohibit the state and the local governments from depriving persons of life, liberty, or  property without following the due process of the law. The biggest legal issue that has troubled this 14th Amendment is the subject of personhood of a human being. The two opposite positions that are held unto religiously are:(i) The personhood of a human being start at the moment of the physical conception when the sperm of an adult male fertilizes the egg in the womb of an adult female during sexual intercourse. (ii) The personhood does not start at the moment of the physical conception in the womb of a woman and during the 9 month of the physical pregnancy, but it starts at the moment of the physical birth of a baby into this world.

The position that supports personhood from the moment of the fertilization of the egg in the womb of an adult woman by the sperm of an adult male is totally against abortion of the pregnancy and considers the abortion of the pregnancy as an act of murder. The other position does not consider abortion of pregnancy as an act of murder. The pro-life supporters do not believe that abortion should be done in very real cases, such as cases of rape or incest. The pro-abortion movement believes that a woman has 100% full rights to her own body as well as the rights to decide either to keep or not to keep her pregnancy for all the reasons under the sun. The politicians at all levels from the two majority political parties in America have won and lost local, state and federal elections based on these two divergent positions on when the personhood of a human being begins in this life.

The issue of morality, politics and religion have further polarized the subject of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment which will make it too difficult to be resolved amicably in the court of public opinion even if the Supreme Court of the United States that is the highest court of the land and the final interpreter of the United States constitution gives it the final say.