JOHN LEO'S BLOG

Jacob Sullum reports that the antismoking lobby is now talking about the rights of the unborn child to be smoke free–rhetoric that could quickly bring antiabortion activists into the debate.

Even without the abortion argument, the threat of the slippery slope seems to apply. If cigarettes are criminalized for pregnant women, what about alcohol, eating poorly, failing to see a doctor, or exercising too vigorously? Not to worry, said John Banzhaf, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health: Laws make distinctions all the time without leading the public down any slippery slopes.

Arkansas Gov. Michael Huckabee is intrigued by the suggestion of a state ban, but he says he fears it would have to be applied to "all the other things that are equally unhealthy for the child."

State Rep. Bob Mathis of Arkansas, who is pushing consideration of the ban, wonders if the fetus has a constitutional right to be smoke free. This was too much for Baylen Linnekin, who blogs at tothepeople.com. Linnekin wrote: "The word 'constitutional' is not a synonym for 'the right thing to do' or 'good for the people,' Bob. It refers, Bob, to the text of the U.S. Constitution, which happens to be an actual document."