By Kathleen Gilbert
October 21, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Michigan and Montana have recently joined with dozens of other States currently seeking what proponents call “the final chapter of the civil rights movement”: the affirmation of personhood rights for all human beings.
In Michigan this week, Rep. Jim Slezack (Democrat) sponsored a joint resolution that states: “Every human person has a right to life, which is the paramount and most fundamental right guaranteed under the constitution and laws of the state.”
It continues, “With respect to the fundamental and inalienable right to life, the word 'person' applies to all human beings, irrespective of age, race, gender, health, function, condition of dependency, including physical or mental dependency, or method of reproduction, from the beginning of their biological development, including fertilization.”
The Michigan Personhood Amendment is co-sponsored by 22 other Michigan representatives: Paul Scott, Tim Moore, Richard LeBlanc, James Bolger, Kevin Green, Rick Jones, Pete Lund, Matt Lori, John Walsh, Kenneth Kurtz, Tom McMillin, Robert Dean, Bob Genetski, Wayne Schmidt, Joe Haveman, Kevin Daley, Marty Knollenberg, Eileen Kowall, Goeff Hansen, Dudley Spade, Joel Sheltrown, and Jeff Mayes.
“It is tremendous that for the first time in Michigan Legislature history, an Amendment has been introduced to protect ALL humans no matter how small, by love and by law,” said Michigan's Cal Zastrow, a co-founder of Personhood USA.
American Life League's Judie Brown hailed the legislation, saying, “It is long past due for the citizens of Michigan, and indeed the nation, to recognize that each human being has value, dignity, human rights and a civil right to be protected by law from the moment his or her life begins.”
The previous week, the American Life League joined Montana's Pro-Life Coalition for a multi-city tour to kick off a constitutional ballot initiative supporting personhood.
Earlier this year, personhood measures in Montana's and North Dakota's legislatures failed, but garnered notable support among lawmakers in both states. The measure passed the North Dakota House of Representatives before being rejected by the Senate; in Montana, the Senate passed the amendment before stalling in a House committee.
In September, the Florida Secretary of State's office approved ballot language for a constitutional personhood initiative proposed by Personhood Florida and the American Life League.
While receiving relatively little media attention, the personhood movement is coming to be seen as a significant force by pro-abortion activists.
Allyson Hagen, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Montana, said the fact that Montana's last personhood bid garnered a simple majority in the Senate “was pretty scary.”
Widely derided by pro-aborts as “egg-as-person campaigns,” the movement was referred to by RH Reality Check writer Jodi Jacobson as “spreading like the swine-flu in state legislatures” across America. Jacobson attacked the Michigan measure by faulting lawmakers for considering it while pressing financial issues faced the state. “But no: We will make sure that every fertilized egg has its day in court,” she wrote.
One prominent move against the personhood movement, launched by the pro-abortion National Advocates for Pregnant Women, has been the claim that such laws subject women to coercion in their medical decisions. A video published by the group on YouTube purports to expose how the legislation would “hurt all pregnant women,” including those wanting to keep their babies, by forcing women to have unwanted caesarian sections perceived as beneficial to the unborn child.
The American Life League, however, published a reply to the campaign, pointing out how the NAPW video misrepresented each of the four case studies presented in order to build its case.