Anti-Choicers Lobbying States for Wildly Unpopular "Personhood Begins at Conception" Amendment

Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo at 8:39 AM on September 29, 2009.

Here's the latest "pro-life" tactic, which I'm sure will be a lot of fun for all of us:

It is one of the enduring questions of religion and science, and lately of American politics: When does a fertilized egg become a person?

Abortion foes, tired of a profusion of laws that limit but do not abolish abortion, are trying to answer the question in a way that they hope could put an end to legalized abortion.

Across the country, they have revived efforts to amend state constitutions to declare that personhood -- and all rights accorded human beings -- begins at conception.

From Florida to California, abortion foes are gathering signatures, pressing state legislators and raising money to put personhood measures on ballots next year. In Louisiana, a class at a Catholic high school is lobbying state legislators as part of a civics exercise.

[...]

"I realize it's been defeated in every state where it's been attempted, but I am not discouraged," said Hoye, who has founded the California Civil Rights Foundation to push the initiative. "Everywhere I go from now on, we are going to be talking about personhood. Imagine the discussion statewide on whether the child inside the womb is human or not."

Yes. Imagine. Ugh.

This is just another harrassment strategy to wear down the population until they finally just give in out of sheer fatigue. I certainly know more than a few liberals who would love to add this to the death penalty, gun control column.

Tagged as: anti-choice, abortion, pro-life, pro-choice, conservatives, conception

Digby is the proprietor of Hullabaloo.