Newt Gingrich now thinks this is a person
Last week, in an interview with ABC's Jake Tapper, Newt Gingrich made a horrible misstep while attempting to pander to the forced birthers:
TAPPER: Abortion is a big issue here in Iowa among conservative Republican voters and Rick Santorum has said you are inconsistent. The big argument here is that you have supported in the past embryonic stem cell research and you made a comment about how these fertilized eggs, these embryos are not yet “pre-human” because they have not been implanted. This has upset conservatives in this state who worry you don’t see these fertilized eggs as human life. When do you think human life begins?
GINGRICH: Well, I think the question of being implanted is a very big question. My friends who have ideological positions that sound good don’t then follow through the logic of: ‘So how many additional potential lives are they talking about? What are they going to do as a practical matter to make this real?’
I think that if you take a position when a woman has fertilized egg and that’s been successfully implanted that now you’re dealing with life. because otherwise you’re going to open up an extraordinary range of very difficult questions
TAPPER: So implantation is the moment for you.
GINGRICH: Implantation and successful implantation.
Sure, this sounds plenty extreme, given that women generally don't know when the moment of implantation occurs, which makes it a little tough to write legislation based on that moment. But for the Every Sperm is Sacred uber-extremists, that's not good enough. And for Newt to suggest that fertilized eggs aren't really, you know, full-grown human beings? Well, that's utter blasphemy among the base he's trying to court.
So the next day, Newt clarified changed his position:
As I have stated many times throughout the course of my public life, I believe that human life begins at conception. I believe that every unborn life is precious, no matter how conceived. I also believe that we should work for the day when there will be no abortions for any reason, and that every unborn child will be welcomed into life and protected by law.
And not just that; he also reminds us that he's totally on board with amending the Constitution to add a Personhood Amendment like the one that was just defeated in Mississippi:
In terms of new pro-life legislation, I stated as recently as November 19 at a public forum of candidates in Iowa that I support Congress enacting pro-life legislation under the 14th Amendment, including legislation that would define personhood as beginning at conception.
See, Republicans? Rest assured: Newt is completely insane and biologically ignorant!
And isn't it sweet that Newt wants those fertilized eggs to be protected by law? Of course, once those eggs are born, well, he'd like to do away with the laws that protect them—like those "truly stupid" child labor laws—and put those lazy bastards to work.
Love the fertilized egg—hate the child. That's now the minimum requirement for the "pro-life" stamp of approval in the Republican Party.
(h/t Ian Millhiser)