HAMPTON – Candidate for Iowa Senate Shawn Dietz this weekend said that he believes human life begins at conception.
The abortion issue has always been a hot-button topic, and can ignite strong feelings, especially during campaigns.
But, Dietz wasn’t afraid to publicly declare his stance on where life begins, which gives obvious clues as to legislation he would or would not support, if elected.
“Personhood is the only logical argument to me,” Mr. Dietz said. “What makes a baby at 19 weeks post conception less of a human than one at 20 weeks? It’s about where you define the beginning of life. If not at conception, then where? Heartbeat? Brain activity? Both of those things are happening possibly before a pregnancy is even known. The argument of the past 40+ years where we have wrongfully accepted the notion that a life does not begin until birth has been long since dispelled in the evidence of crying and movement from babies who were victims of failed abortion attempts. I was always pro-life. I became a strong advocate for what I now know as “personhood” when I first learned I was going to be a father because it was at that moment, not birth, when we had another life to care for. That’s my perspective. Anything short of that is still allowing and permitting the death of an innocent human life.”
Dietz went on to say that “The difference [between being simply pro-life and advocating for personhood] “is the traditional pro-life argument leaves open the option for killing the baby. Personhood says that baby becomes a human at the moment of conception, and requires all legal rights and protections as any other human.”
Dietz is a Republican, running against Democratic incumbent Amanda Ragan, generally known as a pro-choice politician, for Senate District 27, covering Franklin, Butler and Cerro Gordo counties. She was elected in 2010 to her third term in the Iowa Senate.
Dietz said that Ragan voted against a bill that would have banned abortion past 20 weeks.
“She also voted many times to use tax payer money to fund Planned Parenthood and abortion services,” he said.
