We are told it is immoral, unethical and perhaps illegal to terminate the life of the embryo once an egg and sperm cell have united to create a new person.

And we are told that corporations are people in the view of the U.S. Supreme Court, with legal rights defined in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights and enlarged through legislation. Just like people, they can sue and be sued. They pay taxes, enter into contracts and can move to another country.

Whether through mergers and acquisitions or internal corporate strategies, corporations create new entities or business units in attempts to grow and improve the corporation’s product or service lines.

Do all these new enterprises prosper and grow as hoped? Of course not – it happens all the time in business. Think Edsel, eight-track tape players or New Coke. The new corporate person didn’t work out, so it’s terminated.

Consider this future, all ye corporate persons: Is it immoral, unethical and perhaps illegal to terminate the life of a merged, acquired or startup corporate person? If not, why not?

It’s complicated being an actual person. Perhaps you’re not a person. Perhaps you’re more like an android, a robot programmed by a bottom line rather than a conscience.

Fair enough. Perhaps you should not be extended all the rights and privileges of the Constitution in a country whose Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal.

Douglas Posson

Rockport