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Some states will be including initiatives stating that a human life begins at the moment of fertilization, "personhood initiatives", on ballots this fall. If they are passed, fertilized eggs will be considered people with all constitutional rights.
The anti-choices hope abortions will be banned as a result; a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. According to Feminist eZine, the source for this article, this law would put a woman’s right to certain forms of contraceptive in jeopardy, which would include the IUD and emergency contraception. Stem cell research and in-vitro fertilization would also suffer repercussions.
In 2008, the Colorado Personhood Initiative was defeated by 73 percent.
The egg-as-person amendments were approved to be on the ballots this fall in Mississippi and Colorado, and anti-choicers are trying to get them approved in California. They failed in Nevada, but Personhood NV has appealed the decision to the Nevada Supreme Court; a decision will be made on May 18.
In North Dakota the House passed an egg-as-person bill last spring, but it was defeated by the Senate. In the Dominican Republic, fertilized eggs are being given constitutional rights, thus effectively banning abortion in this underdeveloped country. This lack of reproductive choice will have a tremendous effect on the poor women of this nation.
Feminist eZine says, "If you tell people that an egg is a person and should have constitutional rights enough times, people will start to believe it."
This initiative is the anti-choicers’ newest tactic, according to Feminist eZine.
“Anti-choicers want this to be an expensive fight for us. They want us to use all of our time and resources fighting something that probably doesn’t stand much of a chance at this point anyway.”
They are encouraging students on campuses, the majority of whom are pro-choice, to fight this egg-as-person initiative. The eZine says, “If you are in Colorado or Mississippi don’t waste any time! Set the stage for major defeat this fall."
Add a Comment32 Comments
Scott,
May 1, 2010 - 7:19pmYour last comment exemplifies exactly what I was talking about in my last comment. It is full of wrath, and it is insulting. You have shown that you cannot discuss this matter in a civil manner. People who make comments on this blog do not have to be personally offended, and I don't have to be offended either. Please refrain from these actions.
Anna
This Comment
I apologize. I failed to log in before posting my last entry.
May 1, 2010 - 3:35pmThis Comment
I do not condone abortions, but I do believe your views are a bit over the top. I do not believe the late stage abortions are appropriate or even humane. Considering you are so anti choice, would you be willing to adopt ALL those children who their parents didn't want?.. I'm assuming not, but I could be wrong. I believe more rights should be given to the people who already exist as a functioning person rather than focusing on one that is not yet one that can be a benefit to society. It's not a pretty world we live in, and putting these utopian views of what certain religions deem to be moral or immoral on our bodies and trying to control what we do with them is a bit unrealistic. Its sad that so many are being aborted due to so many not taking recautions to prevent pregnancy, but it's better than them suffering in a world without a home.
May 1, 2010 - 5:23pmThis Comment
I do think you have touched on an issue no one likes to talk about...the prevention of pregnancy...often an issue due to moral and religious dogma that does not allow contraception..often an issue due to lack of education..often an issue due to cost or availability...also you mention adoption..so many children are out there needing homes and love..in the foster system or orphanages in our countries and around the world...unwanted babies and toddlers and youngsters and teens who all deserve better lives and more love than they have now... how can we ask more women to add to that problem. thank you for being reasonable in your comments and i do agree late stage abortions are an issue, but they do not represent abortion as a whole, and make up only a tiny percentage of procedures.
May 19, 2010 - 4:43amThis Comment
For a start..after reading wholearmors comment...i would like to ban all talk about morals and society's slide into the abyss. This issue is private!!!!!! you sound as if you would like to legislate bans on divorce..mental illness..suicide..unhappiness..desperation...isolation...all the ills of modern society. You cannot legislate some of these things. And your comment on putting a baby into a freezer or dehumidifier after it is born is sick..sick..sick. Before a baby..embryo..egg..child..fetus..whatever...is big enough..it has its mothers blood in its veins..it is attached to and unviable without her body looking after it...it cannot breathe or live on its own..regardless of its sex or dna. god has nothing to do with any of this..if you believe in god ..he is the one who made us and our bodies and reproduction this way and he ...i believe..would prefer we look after the truly living..breathing children who need loving homes..protection from abuse and hunger..education...all the things that children who actually exist as persons need and deserve...why not focus your wrath and moralizing on those issues and leave me and my body alone???? If we go for the egg as person..we leave the door open to banning all contraception..condoms..the pill..iuds..snipping mens cords..all of it... If we leave the decision to the women involved and we educate and and help her make the right contraceptive choices...i think you will find the abortion rate will not skyrocket. Women are not stupid or irresponsible or immoral or irreligious or cruel ..nor do they look at abortion as a contraceptive..they see it as their right when the situation in their lives is untenable and impossible for them to carry the pregnancy or when it will do them damage in some way. as i said before..it is not a decision we take lightly..we struggle with it..and we are often haunted by it..but...but..it is our individual right to decide what happens to our bodies and to the ability we have to create and bring forth life..it is a womans ability to reproduce that is the issue..and she has the right to decide when where and how that happens within her life span. As i said before...i do not like it...but where do i get the right to make any decisions of that kind for any woman...if a woman feels it is right for her..where do you possibly get the idea it has anything to do with you. abortion should be legal..safe..available...your opinion is your opinion...it is not and never should be the deciding factor in anyones life but your own.
May 1, 2010 - 7:35amThis Comment
Hi,
May 1, 2010 - 9:11amToo often I've seen the wrath, self righteousness, and sometimes downright insults from extreme anti choice people. Why can't they have a civil discussion? I have thought about where all the rage comes from and the only conclusion I have reached is that it is really about the control of women's bodies. They may call themselves pro-life but is all that wrath and condemnation aimed at women who have abortions and those who support their right to do so, really on the side of life and compassion? They have a right to be anti abortion, but they do not have a right to tell women what to do with their bodies. It is up to the women to decide. They can respectfully state their views, and then go about with their own lives. All that unrelenting wrath and anger is corrosive, and sometimes it has proven fatal.
Anna
This Comment
I really don't see this actually getting passed, but if by a slim chance that it does, they should still consider it as an option to those who were raped or have severe medical problems and unable to carry the child. Yes, accidents happen and people should consider the consequences beforehand, but there are so many children out there ready for adoptions. There are some who live their entire lives in bad foster homes (not all fosters are bad), why be forced to bring more accidental beings into an already overpopulated world. If a parent simply does not want the child, they will find ways around banned abortions..it's simply how some people are.
May 1, 2010 - 5:09amThis Comment
NClark13, you're sorry all right. You and Anna are totally flying in the face of all the anti-abortion women out there with your idiotic "if men became pregnant things would be different" mantra. I assume you don't have a problem with all the men who declared abortion legal in this country, correct?
So, after a baby is born they don't have to be kept at the right temperature and moisture? Try placing a baby in a freezer or a dehumidifier and see what happens. I can't believe you're willing to tout such incredible ignorance in a public forum. Or by being kept in the womb until he matures enough to be a separate life? What is a preborn child before then? Dead? A preborn baby boy is not a separate life from his female mother? That's a biological impossibility. She's a female, he's a male. His DNA says so from day one. This is not the woman's own body we're talking about here. It's the body of a preborn little baby boy or girl. Next chance you get, look in the trash at an abortion mill and then say it's not a separate body. Anything that's really a part of a woman's body could never live outside her body no matter how mature it is. Not her heart, not her lungs, not her kidneys. A baby can live outside the woman's body because his body is separate from hers.
If a preborn human being is not a person from the moment of the beginning of their biological development, then it's up to human discretion when they can be killed or allowed to live. And when that happens, then the powers that be get to decide. If the powers are wicked, as they are now and have been since 1973, then they can continue to be killed. If the powers in this country were righteous, then abortion would be illegal once again. A country that kills their children is a country that will eventually kill itself. How have things been going in America since January 22, 1973? Are they getting better or worse? How about the murder rate? How about the divorce rate? How about the suicide rate? How about the teenage, unwed mother rate? How about the kids killing each other in schools rate? How about the domestic violence against women rate? How about the abortion rate? Whether you want to believe in God or not is up to you, but He will not and cannot continue to bless a country that murders its unborn children by the tens of millions. Unless you're unconscious every day, you can't help but notice America's steady slide into the immoral abyss.
Wake up to the fact that a person is a person no matter how small. An embryo doesn't resemble a newborn and a newborn doesn't resemble a 90-yr-old man. It's a shame preborn little baby boys and girls are being slaughtered just because they don't look the part.
Throughout human history, the innocent have always been persecuted and slaughtered in this world. Slavery and the Jewish Holocaust come immediately to mind. Why have there always been people like you who have been willing to go along with it?
April 30, 2010 - 6:20pmThis Comment
Hi Scott,
April 30, 2010 - 7:42pmPlease don't equate slavery and the Holocaust with a woman's right to have an abortion. If that's not extremist talk to the max, I don't know what it is. You are putting words in my mouth. And you may want to control women's bodies, but the fact is you can't, no matter how angry you get. Pretty simple.
Anna
This Comment
I do believe everyone is entitled to an opinion on pro life or pro choice..but you are right...they have no right to make laws that restrict reproductive choice. It just should not be an issue for anyone not directly involved in her life..it is a very private.. intimate.. difficult and sometimes harrowing choice for women to decide to have children or not and their reasons are their own..not yours..not mine..not their neighbours..not the government and not the church. if a woman decides to use contraception or not ...if she decides to remove her ovaries or have an abortion it has nothing to do with anyone but her and those she chooses to have input in the decision process. The whole issue of female reproduction is fraught with controversy..opinion..guilt..longing..desperation..women who cannot have children...women not allowed to use contraception..women who try every avenue to get pregnant...women who have abortions...women who give up children for adoption..women who grieve over miscarriages...teens who get pregnant..backroom abortions that maim and kill..childless women looked down upon by those with children...countries that restrict the number of children or deal with female children horribly..there are so many issues women face that the egg as person debate seems unfair and truly missing the point and can do nothing except make more women unhappy and their personal internal struggle that much more difficult. sorry to rant and sorry about no commas..my comma key is not working.
April 30, 2010 - 4:23pmThis Comment