North Dakota’s House of Representatives has passed a bill recognizing a fertilized egg as a “person” worthy of rights. The bill, which now moves to the Senate, is a direct and legally interesting challenge to Roe V. Wade and is seen by many as a backdoor to outlawing abortion.
The House voted 51-41 yesterday declaring that a fertilized egg has all the rights of any person.
Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, sponsor of the legislation was quoted as saying “This is very simply defining when life begins, and giving that life some protections under our Constitution — the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
He said that the language in the bill is what’s required by Roe vs. Wade to overturn abortion. The backdoor legal maneuver is being called the “Blackmun Hole” in the Roe v. Wade decision. Justice Blackmun implied in the Roe decision that if the case were established that the embryo was a person, the argument for abortion would necessarily collapse. So with this legislation, the House (backed by a grassroots organization called Personhood USA) is acknowledging the “fetus” as a “person” and therefore claiming the right to life.
It’s all quite brilliant if you ask me. But some pro-choice Democrats are arguing against the bill due to fiscal responsibility (HA! A little late for that isn’t it? Interesting angle from the stimulus party?) because the bill will almost certainly land North Dakota in a long drawn out expensive court case.
Personhood USA has said that North Dakota isn’t alone in this. Rep. Duncan Hunter has introduced H.R. 881, the Right to Life Act , on the federal level.
Amd five States have now introduced bills affirming the personhood rights of pre-born humans from the moment of fertilization including:
Maryland / HB925 Delegate Don Dwyer
North Dakota / H.R. 1572 Rep. Dan Ruby
Montana / SB 406 Sen. Daniel W McGee
South Carolina / H.3526 Rep. Liston Barfield
Alabama / SB-335 Sen. Hank ErwinOregon has begun a personhood amendment petition drive, and Mississippi’s personhood amendment petition drive is expected to launch within weeks.
February 19, 2009 at 4:42 am
While I’m glad this passed, my happiness is reserved. My guess is that if it gets all the way through it will be a springboard to FOCA…but I’m sorta’ skeptical like that.
Even if FOCA went through, though, the bill would still hold up for embryonic humans prior to implantation — meaning pre-IVF and pre-experimentation. This would mean a striking case of cognitive dissonance, heightening the ridiculousness that is our abortion jurisprudence.
Whatever the ultimate result, I’d sure like to see it go all the way through. Good is good, and that’s what we’re to do.
God Bless,
Ryan
February 19, 2009 at 4:54 am
We can’t not do something good because we’re afraid of them doing something bad. It’s already bad. And they’re going to make it more bad.
We must take the fight to them.
February 19, 2009 at 12:39 pm
BRAVO! On a theological level, I thought only we Catholics believed that humanity begins at conception. Do fundies believe this too? Regardless, well done.
February 19, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I’m glad to see someone in my state of Maryland doing something. I really wish Delegate Dwyer luck because he is going to need it. Maryland is only a little less commie then Massachusetts or California.
February 19, 2009 at 4:22 pm
It’s sad when they argue finances over life. Don’t they EVER second guess their staunch pro-abort status?
February 19, 2009 at 5:59 pm
We are close to being able to pass a de facto Constitutional Amendment without realizing it. An amendment needs 3/4 of the states (or 38 states) for an amendment to pass. This is what was needed to officially end slavery after the Civil War (13th Amendment).
In the U.S. I believe there are 30-35 states that already have laws on the books that essentially state that if a pregnant woman is murdered and her unborn child is also killed, then the perpetrator of the crime is charged with TWO counts of murder – thus revealing the backdoor "personhood" of the unborn child. For a state to reject the personhood of the fetus will thus result in their rejecting the murder law already on the books.
So, they will have to choose which of the two "choices" they want: no personhood to allow abortion but disallow the murder of the unborn baby in the commission of a felony crime, or maintain the felony crime on the books and thus make abortion illegal.
Get the citizens of 38 states to face that dichotomy, and be forced to choose between the two — making sure that families of the victims of these felony murders are front & center to plead their case that their loved ones' killers should be charged with two counts of murder — and we get the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
February 20, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Nice to see the law catching up to basic biology– although “fertilized egg” would just be a rather odd way to say “embryo.”
The bill declares that “any organism with the genome of homo sapiens” is a person protected by rights granted by the North Dakota Constitution and state laws.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/18/north-dakota-house-gives-fertilized-eggs-human-status/
I like this phrasing.
February 20, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Hm, maybe they said “fertilized egg” because “zygote” sounds technical….