Personhood – The Wedge Issue that Could Swing 2012

Filed in National by on November 9, 2011

A lot of people are cheering the defeat of the Mississippi Personhood amendment yesterday. Its defeat marked the 3rd time since 2008 that this type of amendment has gone down in flames (the other two were in Colorado).

But as Nick Baumann writes in Mother Jones, this is a grand plan by the GOP to continue fighting the culture wars.

Like the Mississippi measure, these [Congressional] bills, which are not constitutional amendments, would extend the rights of legal personhood—including equal protection under the law—to a zygote, the single cell formed when a human sperm fuses with an egg. The national measures are “designed to achieve the same end” as the Mississippi effort, says Sara Rosenbaum, a health law expert and professor at George Washington University who frequently testifies before Congress on reproductive rights issues. “The aim of the bills is to reclassify or to overturn…the fundamental constitutional fact on which Roe v. Wade rests,” she adds. Opponents of abortion rights agree with Rosenbaum’s analysis: The National Pro-Life Alliance, a group that backs all three bills, calls them “a frontal assault on Roe v. Wade” and sees them as a way of “legislatively overturning” the Supreme Court decision.

Also in Mother Jones, Kate Sheppard writes about how initiatives are being prepared for battleground states in 2012. The states being eyed are California, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Ohio, and Florida. Obama carried all of those except for Montana in 2008. This effort is similar to the anti-equal marriage amendments that flooded the ballots in 2004 and was probably the reason Kerry lost Ohio.

I was a Kerry traveler in 2004 and spent the last week of the campaign in Columbus, OH, working the phones, going door-to-door, and working the polls on Election Day. The right-wing had geared up for battle and had people everywhere pushing Issue 1. Many of the people I spoke to on Election Day said they were coming out to vote in favor of Issue 1, which passed overwhelmingly. Voting for W was an afterthought. It had the backing of the GOP establishment (in fact, Ken Blackwell rode the success of Issue 1 to the GOP nomination for Governor in 2006).

And this is the problem with the initiative process. So-called local groups, whose funding is almost totally from outside the state, push to get these issues on the ballot, paying people to circulate petitions. I doubt that this is what those who originally championed the initiative process had in mind. You have groups like the Mormon Church bankrolling Proposition 8 in California and Personhood USA, based in Arvada, CO (Arvada is a shit hole of a suburb in the Denver area) which backed Amendment 26 in Mississippi and is pushing the initiatives for 2012. And if you had any doubt about this group’s beliefs, here’s an excerpt from their website:

What is Personhood?

Personhood is a movement working to respect the G-d-given right to life by recognizing all human beings as persons who are “created in the image of G-d” from the beginning of their biological development, without exceptions.

What is Personhood USA?

Personhood USA desires to glorify Jesus Christ in a way that creates a culture of life so that all innocent human lives are protected by love and by law.

Personhood USA serves the pro-life community by assisting local groups to initiate citizen, legislative, and political action focusing on the ultimate goal of the pro-life movement: personhood rights for all innocent humans.

We intend to build the support of at least two thirds of the states in an effort to reaffirm personhood within the U.S. Constitution.

Personhood USA opposes vigilante violence.

Personhood USA is a 501(c)(4) Christian ministry that welcomes those who believe in the G-d-given right to life.

Well, the last time we mixed politics and religion, people were burnt at the stake. We cannot allow this wedge issue to make the ballots next year. We must do whatever we can to help those in the 6 target states to fight Personhood USA in keeping these off next year’s ballot.

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A rabble-rousing bureaucrat living in Sussex County

Comments (7)

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  1. SOCIALISTIC BEN says:

    What if…. just a hypothetical musing…. they DO get these issues on the ballot and it has the opposite effect. That is to say, if the negative reaction to these theocratic dictates is so much that it hurts repukes in Confederate states? just another take on the issue.

  2. MJ says:

    SB – usually our side doesn’t pay that much attention to initiatives, which is why Prop 8 passed. It would be nice if something like this did drive our voters to the polls, but I doubt it will.

  3. Aoine says:

    OK – so let me get this straight

    Personhood= respect the G-d-given right to life by recognizing all human beings as persons who are “created in the image of G-d” from the beginning of their biological development, without exceptions.

    Personhood USA opposes vigilante violence

    so, illegal immigrants – are they human under “personhood?”

    and if so, and if Bachman loves babies so much why did she call the children of these folks “anchor babies” and that she “would do nothing to help the children of illegal immigrants”?

    and Herman Cain wants to “electrocute” them by erecting a fence “20” feet tall, with barbed wire on top and electrify it, and it will kill you, but we will put up signs explaining this”

    would this be protecting and promoting PERSONHOOD? does that sound right to you folks? (pun intended)

    or like most other RWNJ issues – is this PERSONHOOD only reserved for the 1% – the WHITE 1%

    Brown people need not apply……….

  4. MJ says:

    And if you’re the victim of rape or incest, carry that baby to full term.

  5. Aoine says:

    so women have no control over their bodies – the state does..

    so much for small government

    They can have the “Baby Bureaucracy”, thats a nice catchy title

    anyone read a book called “the Handmaid’s Tale?” or see the movie

    I did, years ago – this reminds me of that

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handmaid%27s_Tale

    scary shit

  6. Aoine says:

    Im so sorry – I cant resist posting this

    The Handmaid’s Tale is set in the near future in the Republic of Gilead….

    It was founded by a racist, male chauvinist, nativist, theocratic-organized military coup as an ideologically driven response to the pervasive ecological, physical and social degradation of the country.

    Beginning with a staged terrorist attack (blamed on Islamic extremist terrorists…..suspended the United States Constitution

    freeze the assets of all women and other “undesirables” in the country, stripping them of their rights…new militarized, hierarchical, compulsorily Christian regime of Old Testament-inspired social and religious orthodoxy

    The character is one of a class of individuals kept as concubines (“handmaids”) for reproductive purposes by the ruling class in an era of declining births.

    Holy Crap!!! – its Sussex County – as Eric Bodenweiser sees it!!! AGAGHHAAA – or if the RWNJs win!

    they read?? life imitating art??

  7. just curious says:

    “so women have no control over their bodies – the state does”

    Shoulda thought about control BEFORE getting pregnant…but seriously, if an abortion were a legitimate medical procedure, such as an appendectomy, then the state would have no say. However, if the sole purpose is after-the-fact-birth control, then yes the government does have a say. Why? Because one of the actual jobs of the government is to do what it can to protect those who cannot protect themselves. An unborn child fits that descriptions, no? As far as “personhood” goes….its a KISS principle solution. Few people will argue that a 1 or 2 day old zygote is viable outside the mother’s womb. Similarly, few people would support the “aborting” of a pregnancy in say, the 39th week, because viability is clearly present. Where is the line? Technology has allowed for premature babies to survive with less and less time in the womb. My making the “personhood” law, it cleans things up, and eliminates the gray area of when terminating a pregnancy would be OK.