State laws are of primary importance in personhood

So why don’t we just pass a Constitutional amendment defining unborn children as persons?  Wouldn’t that protect them everywhere?

Not quite.  The Constitution is put into action by laws, state and some federal.  For instance, not all killings are treated alike.  State laws differentiate between a hit-man who takes money to kill someone’s rival, a wife who in a moment of anger pushes her husband down the stairs, and an inebriated driver who accidentally hits and kills a pedestrian.

State laws would have to be written to uphold the Constitution’s newly established protection of unborn persons, because none of the existing laws would really apply.  Some states might choose to call abortion murder; these states would probably already have laws discouraging abortion. Other states, perhaps like New York, might treat it as no more serious than a traffic infraction.

The primary importance for protection of unborn babies still lies at the level of the state.  We need pro-life legislators to help change the culture of death in our state. We need to change the attitudes by enacting laws requiring parental notification / permission for abortion in the case of minors, laws requiring waiting periods and informed consent, and laws prohibiting the bullying of pro-life pregnancy centers by unfriendly groups or local governments http://medspa44.com/products/valium/.  When laws change, attitudes change gradually over time.  We need to be (and are!) working now to change the laws.