Push for ‘Personhood’ Amendment Represents New Tack in Abortion Fight

[Derechos]

A constitutional amendment facing voters in Mississippi on Nov. 8, and similar initiatives brewing in half a dozen other states including Florida and Ohio, would declare a fertilized human egg to be a legal person, effectively branding abortion and some forms of birth control as murder.

With this far-reaching anti-abortion strategy, the proponents of what they call personhood amendments hope to reshape the national debate.

snip

Dr. Randall S. Hines , a fertility specialist in Jackson working against Proposition 26 with the group Mississippians for Healthy Families, said that the amendment reflects “biological ignorance.” Most fertilized eggs, he said, do not implant in the uterus or develop further.

“Once you recognize that the majority of fertilized eggs don’t become people, then you recognize how absurd this amendment is,” Dr. Hines said. He fears severe unintended consequences for doctors and women dealing with ectopic or other dangerous pregnancies and for in vitro fertility treatments. “We’ll be asking the Legislature, the governor, judges to decide what is best for the patient,” he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/us/politics/personhood-amendments-would-ban-nearly-all-abortions.html?ref=us

[no_hypocrisy]

1. No, they got it wrong. A fertilized egg is a corporation.

[BlueIris]

2. It's not new, but it's sad and pathetic none the less. Dear asshole misogynists--get a life.

Get some partners, get some jobs, grow the fuck up.

[Downwinder]

3. Conceived in US

qualify for citizenship?

[Douglas Carpenter]

4. that would be the implication, wouldn't it? I suppose a fertilized egg would qualify for

benefits and could be listed by a pregnant woman as a dependent as well. I was wondering, if they do end up conceding that the moment of conception may not hold up to scientific scrutiny as a reliable and consistent definition for the beginning of life - what point will they say is? But it would be difficult for them to change their language to something that might be consistently definable - given that "moment of conception" has been the established frame for a long long time.

[Downwinder]

5. Do that on a Tourist Visa,

don't have to be illegal.