Personhood Bills Planned Across United States
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
WASHINGTON,D.C., USA (Worthy News) — As part of a nation-wide trend, states – stretching from Montana to Maryland — are introducing personhood bills to affirm the right to life for the unborn, starting from the moment of conception, Worthy News monitored Friday, February 27.
For some states, the bill defines a “person” as applying to all stages of human life, regardless of biological development or dependency.
This month North Dakota passed a personhood bill, known as ‘HR 1572’, by 51-41, declaring a person “a human being at all stages of human development of life, including the state of fertilization or conception.”
The sponsor of the bill, Republican Representative Dan Ruby, said it would give “constitutional rights” to an unborn baby which he said would challenge Roe vs. Wade, a Supreme Court court ruling that legalized abortion in the United States.
Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, who was the author of the Roe vs. Wade ruling agreed. Blackmun once said that if the legal definition of personhood includes the unborn, the case for abortion rights collapses as the “right to life would be guaranteed to everyone under the Constitution.”
Ruby said that while some people expressed “anger and disappointment” with his bill, most were supportive, “mainly because it is basic science of when life begins and when a human being can be determined genetically and with DNA from its mother.”
Similar initiatives are underway in Alabama, Maryland, Montana, and South Carolina, advocacy group Personhood USA said. The bills have apparently inspired Mississippi – seen as one of the nation’s most pro-life states – to start their own personhood petition drive following a similar move in Oregon.
Last year, Colorado became the first state to vote on a proposed personhood amendment, which defined a fertilized egg as a person. However, it was defeated in the November election.