Questions About Personhood and Amendment 62
What is the goal of Amendment 62?
The goal is very simple, END ABORTION NOW by protecting all innocent human life from the beginning of biological development.
How will you achieve this?
By proclaiming the truth without equivocation or apology: all human beings are valuable individuals regardless of their age, stage of development, or disability. Therefore, all human beings must have the same rights under the law.
It is a basic principle of American constitutional law, that the power to provide for the public welfare, security, health, and safety of individuals belongs to the state. While federal constitution provides minimum standards through the bill of rights, the states have every right to provide greater protections.
Colorado courts and Colorado lawmakers must obey the Colorado constitution. By amending the Colorado constitution, we will be ensuring that only those laws that do not discriminate against the preborn child meet the standard which the state courts are obligated to uphold.
Upon passage of the 2010 Personhood Amendment, all laws which clearly discriminate against the preborn child will be rendered moot, much like the 3/5 clause of Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution (which declared that Africans Americans were to be counted as only 3/5 of a person) was rendered moot by passage of the 13th amendment to the U.S. constitution (which outlawed slavery.)
So what does "Personhood" mean?
Personhood is a term used to describe the status of a human being vis-a-vis his or her individual human rights.
With respect to abortion, the term was used by Justice Blackmun in Roe v. Wade to create a class of human beings without the constitutional right to life: the preborn child.
Throughout history, when tyrannical rulers sought to dehumanize a certain section of their population, they would resort to stripping them of "personhood." This was the case with African Americans, who were deemed to be property instead of persons. It was also the case with Nazi Germany, which deemed minorities, the disabled, and above all Jewish individuals to be non-persons.
What is the Beginning of Biological Development?
The beginning of the biological development of a human being who is created through sexual reproduction is the instant when the sperm and the ovum touch to form a unique human being. It is different from fertilization or conception in that it accounts for modern forms of asexual reproduction such as cloning. In the case of a cloned human being, his or her biological beginning is when the DNA in the cell/cells is deprogrammed or reprogrammed to the same state of differentiation as a human organism.
Why do some pro-lifers not support Personhood?
A number of national "pro-life" special interest groups don't support Personhood. These are some of the reasons that are often circulated against Personhood Amendments:
1. Isn't Personhood a direct attack on Roe v. Wade at a time when we don't have the votes in the Supreme Court to overturn Roe. Isn't this imprudent?
The fundamental flaw behind this objection is that it doesn't recognize that the greatest enemy of the child in the womb, and of liberty in general, is inaction and lack of courage. Personhood is a leadership strategy in that it seeks to put principle over politics and Supreme Court predictions. Unless we are able to stand for a solid principle, we will never change the hearts of men and women. And unless we change the hearts and minds of citizens, judges and politicians (an unfortunate modern synonym) will continue to allow the slaughter of the preborn child in the womb.
Another flaw to this argument, is that there is no end in sight for people to fight for. The fact of the matter is that if we look at the judiciary as a whole, and even at the Supreme Court, so called "pro-life" Republicans presidents have seated pro-abortion judges like Harry Blackmun, the author of Roe v. Wade, and Sandra Day O'Connor, the author of Casey. In other words, if a Democrat is in office they will stack the court with pro-abortion justices, if a Republican is in office, we might get half and half, if we're lucky. Judging by the current make-up of our congress and the presidency, what in the world makes people think we will be able to get a majority to overturn Roe in the next years? We won't. The best we can do, is to put forth a strong case for our fundamental belief, and that is Personhood.
2. Passing a state personhood amendment could "set the pro-life movement back":
Many pro-lifers believe this, and yet it is hard to believe. Set us back to when? The number of children murdered in the womb remains pretty steady at 1 million per year. Furthermore, the statistics are totally unreliable, since a) they are voluntary, b) many states don't report, and c) the recent and significant increase in the number of chemical abortions is not even taken into account.
Real pro-lifers are becoming more and more rare in mainstream politics, as evidenced by the growing number of prominent pro-abort Republicans (Arnold, Rudy, Laura Bush, Colin Powell, et.al.)
It is easier to find communists at our universities than outspoken pro-lifers.
Church leaders are more and more timid in their fight against abortion, as evidenced by the disgraceful honoring of abortion advocate extraordinaire, Barack Obama, at Notre Dame.
In other words, our culture of death has become the status quo, what in the world would be wrong with rocking the boat?
3. Even if a state passed a personhood amendment, it would immediately be overturned by a Federal court, and then the Supreme Court would not even consider the case:
Just because we live in a state of federal judicial tyranny doesn't mean we have to accept it. State personhood amendments are like a man standing in front of the proverbial tank. Surely, the tank can crush the man, but by that act of violence the real enemy is uncovered.
State personhood amendments rely on two very solid constitutional legal theories:
i. Federalism and the Tenth Amendment: The states have traditionally enjoyed the power to regulate health, safety, and morals. This is called the police power. The police power is dictated by the Tenth Amendment, which states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." In other words, if it is not in the letter of the Constitution, then the states should deal with it. That is why theft, rape, and murder are dealt with at the state level. The U.S. Constitution's built in protection for life, liberty, and property, has been read out of the constitution by activist judges, but we can stil assert the state's powers to say enough is enough, we will not kill more innocent children in our state.
ii. Direct challenge to Roe: Until now, no legislature, no law, has been brought to the Supreme Court completely rejecting Roe. Every law that pro-lifers pass is litigated as a if it could be acceptable under Roe or Casey. No true pro-life law is compatible with Roe or Casey, because Roe and Casey are built upon the belief that a child in the womb is not a person. As such, Roe and its progeny, are unjust laws and an unjust law is no law at all. It is time we bring a case that actually represents our real beliefs and is a positive affirmation.
4. Personhood is a "waste of valuable resources":
This is the most ridiculous charge of all. Every person that is working on the Colorado Personhood Amendment is a volunteer. All that we require to put the amendment on the ballot is for churches to muster up the courage to simply spend thirty minutes at the end of two services or masses collecting signatures from the faithful. How is this a waste of valuable resources? In one hour, and without spending a dime, people's voices will have been given a platform, and the baby's will have found new advocates. How is this a waste of valuable resources?
In a political climate where both chambers of the state legislature, the Governor and almost every federal congressional representative is outspokenly pro-abortion, isn't it the perfect time for a popular intiative that goes straight to the people? Isn't it a bigger waste of resources to try to work within a political system completely dominated by pro-aborts?
For more in-depth information on the science and law behind our language please visit www.personhoodeducation.com
Regardless of how a human being comes about, he or she deserves the same protection and rights as the rest of humanity.
