The pro-abortion and mainstream media crowd have been crying about the wave of abortion restriction laws enacted in most states since the November 2010 elections, but their worst nightmare is PERSONHOOD.
For background, read Pro-life States Press Personhood, Abortionists Sue and also read Personhood Means Death to Roe v. Wade
-- From "Abortion Foes Push To Redefine Personhood" by Julie Rovner, NPR 6/1/11
The question being raised in legal terms is: When does someone become a person?
[Keith Mason, President of Personhood USA, says] "It's fertilization; it's when the sperm meets the egg."
[Dan Grossman, an obstetrician/gynecologist at the University of California, San Francisco, says this] could threaten the use of a long list of commonly used contraceptives, including some birth control pills and the intrauterine device.
That's because some of those methods not only may act to prevent fertilization but, if fertilization does occur, may prevent that fertilized egg from implanting in a woman's uterus.
But does that equal an abortion? Grossman doesn't think so and says most of his colleagues don't, either. "It's certainly not a view that's held by the medical profession or that's based on medical evidence, and it's certainly not consistent with what American women and couples want and use to plan their families," he says.
ACLU attorney Kolbi-Molinas says that banning forms of birth control along with abortion is exactly what the personhood backers have in mind.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Personhood USA urges abortion foes to ‘not settle for the protection of just some’" by Virginia Chamlee, Florida Independent 6/7/11
“This is the key question as we examine where we have been in the last 40 years and where we are collectively headed,” said Keith Mason, co-founder of Personhood USA, according to the release. “The video not only helps answer this question, but we also hope it inspires lifelong pro-lifers and activates a new generation to rally in defense of the lives of every human being.”
The group, whose motto is “protecting the pre-born by love and by law,” has unveiled initiatives across the country, in an attempt to undo Roe v. Wade. Personhood supporters argue that the key to outlawing abortion is to redefine what constitutes a “person,” which they argue begins at the moment of fertilization.
Mississippi residents will vote on a personhood amendment to their state constitution in November. Similar amendments were defeated in Colorado in both 2008 and 2010. A personhood initiative is also being attempted in Florida, and while it has yet to receive the signatures required to make it on the 2012 ballot, the head of the Florida affiliate has said he remains undettered.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Louisiana ‘Personhood’ bill sidetracked because legislators fear losing Medicaid dollars" by Ashley Lopez, Florida Independent 6/10/11
This week, Louisiana’s legislature sidetracked a bill that would basically outlaw all abortions in the state. The bill would criminalize all abortions and define them as “feticide.” Louisiana is joining Mississippi in seeking “personhood” rights for fetuses. These proposed laws are aimed at banning abortions for all cases, including rape and incest.
The bill was stalled because it would repeal language that allows the state to fund abortions “whenever the abortion is being sought to terminate a pregnancy resulting from an alleged act of rape … from an alleged act of incest and all of the requirements … [or] to save the life of the mother.”
Federal law under the Hyde Amendment requires that states allow women to seek abortions for such cases, as well as allow the state to cover them. Because Louisiana’s law does not provide that allowance, the state could forfeit billions in federal Medicaid dollars.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Anti-abortion efforts in states hit obstacle of own making" by Kathy Finn, Reuters 6/11/11
The Hyde Amendment . . . which has been attached to U.S. spending bills since 1976, was changed in 1977 to allow exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape or incest.
In a strange twist of fate, the Hyde Amendment -- whose purpose was to deny federal funding for abortions -- has become a stumbling block in efforts to stop abortions altogether, said Keith Mason, founder and president of the anti-abortion group Personhood USA.
In Alabama, a bill that would have redefined the word "person" in the state's legal code failed to reach a final vote on the last day of the state's legislative session. The bill stipulated that human life begins at the moment a woman's egg is fertilized and its primary aim was to ban abortion.
Personhood USA's Mason said every state vote on abortion has the potential to enlarge the anti-abortion movement. "We see we have the ability to change the opinions of the electorate by bringing it up again and again," he said. "This debate is not going away."
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
