a sincere question

A 'pro-Life' advocate was interviewed on NPR this morning, expressing her joy in the new member of the Supreme Court. 

I am, once again, struck by her central argument, that everything flows from the central belief (that word is not chosen casually) that, after conception, we are dealing with 'a human life'.

I presume these people have no major concern about the bazillion cows, pigs, sheep, and turkeys that are about to be massacred in the coming weeks, so it's clear that 'pro-Life' is strictly limited in its application.

Therefore, there must be something that places a paramount value on 'human life', vs. a 20-pound turkey's life.  To me, Life is Life (and, I admit, is biochemically pretty cool), whether it's my dog or the big maple tree that is dumping tons of leaves for me to deal with.

To my understanding (correct me if I'm off-base), their thinking of what distinguishes Human life from Animal or Plant life is encapsulated in the (historically-abused for various interests) term 'Divine'.  A Human embryo, containing the Divine spark, is valued far and above a cat embryo (ancient Egyptians would disagree, and rightly so, according to the creature sitting by this keyboard, waiting for breakfast).

So, the anti-Abortion crusaders (that word is not chosen casually) ultimately base it all on a religious argument, that Humans possess a quality generously granted to them by The Divine, and Animals (and plants, bacteria, and, yes, viruses) do not.

Personally, to believe that Humans are NOT Animals is hard to swallow, especially since so many Humans exhibit the traits of immature baboons, but that's an unnecessary slam on baboons.

The point here, is that having a certifiably-religious opinion dictate public policy for everyone, here in We-The-People-land, does seem to violate the very first 10 words of the very first Amendment.  

I hold that truth to be self-evident, but woe be to any Legislator who has the integrity (a sadly depleted resource) to bring it up. 

A few years ago, I saw a bumper-sticker: "Against abortion? Don't have one". Why, oh why, can't Believers accept this? Why can't they see how their Self-Righteousness has poisoned the body politic? 

Why can't they hear the (silent) screams of the turkeys?