Last weekend, I tabled for NARAL at the Capital Hill Peoples’ Fair. I don’t mean tabled as in, “stopped considering,” I mean tabled as in, “sat at a table and talked to strangers about reproductive rights.”
Come November, Colorado voters will be asked to decide whether the state constitution should be amended to define “personhood” as starting at conception. In short, the purveyors of this initiative want to grant legal rights to clumps of fetal tissue. Here is the actual text of the proposed Personhood Initiative:
Section 1. Article II of the constitution of the state of Colorado is amended by the addition of a new section to read:
Section 31: Person defined. As used in sections 3, 6, and 25 of Article II of the state constitution, the terms “person” or “persons” shall include any human being from the moment of fertilization.
And just what is “personhood” anyway, according to the lawmakers in this fair square state?
Article II, Section 3. Inalienable Rights. All persons, including any human beings from the moment of fertilization, have certain natural, essential and inalienable rights, among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; of acquiring, possessing and protecting property; and of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.
Acquiring, possessing, and protecting property? Does anybody else find it more than mildy disturbing that material acquisition plays such an integral role in the the legal definition of “personhood?” Pray tell, what sort of “property” would the aforementioned clusters of undifferentiated cells stake their lives and liberties upon?
Article II, Section 6. Equality of Justice. Courts of justice shall be open to every person, including any human being from the moment of fertilization, and a speedy remedy afforded for every injury to person, including any human being from the moment of fertilization, property or character; and right and justice should be administered without sale, denial or delay.
Article II, Section 25. Due Process of Law. No person, including any human being from the moment of fertilization, shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.
If it passes, this amendment will cause numerous negative reprocussions regarding women’s health, as well as setting an alarming precedent. Obviously, abortion would no longer be legal in this state. Birth control would be the next target, since all hormonal forms of birth control (the Pill, the patch, the ring, the shot) as well as intra-uterine devices, prevent fertilized embryos from attaching to the uterine lining. Furthermore, the wording of this initiative leaves the door open for a plethora of ethical conundrums about miscarriages, in vitro fertilization, and women’s liability.
In short, the initiative renders women hapless fetus-incubators, the thought of which makes me shudder.
Even people who fall on the pro-life side of the fence should understand that birth control and education and access prevent abortions. Putting political predilections aside, can’t we all agree that less abortions would be a good thing?
I don’t care for whom you cast your vote in November. Okay, well, that’s kind of a lie, but the point still stands. Even if you don’t give a leaping, flopping, flying fuck about the presidential election, get out and vote against this “Personhood” abomination. Pretty please with a strawberry on top: this is vitally important. Vote, dammit.
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