… believe it or not, that’s what we’re talking about when it comes to personhood laws like North Dakota and a smattering of other republican lead states: an embryo has the same human rights as a human being. Extreme republicans in North Dakota want to put a full stop on abortion, but they’re trying to do it in a way that opens a door to absurdities yet unseen. If you want to end abortion, fine, but do it in a way that doesn’t destroy other rights and kill personal liberty in this country.
The far right loves to talk about NOT having more laws because of the possibility of a snowball of bad implications – “it’s a slippery slope!” they shout about every bill that comes from the left side of the aisle. But when it comes to abortion, they seem totally blind to the snowball, slippery slope consequences of what personhood laws – “life beings at conception” – would actually mean. You can’t just pass the law and deal with what the law actually means later on. Shoot first and aim later? (Staying true to Dick Cheney, I guess.)
As one Republican state legislator in North Dakota told the Huffington Post, North Dakota hasn’t even passed a primary seatbelt law, but we have the most invasive attack on womens health anywhere…” Bottom line: if you believe in freedom and liberty, you can’t support these kinds of personhood bills.
What does it mean for an embryo to have human rights? If the Tea Party flank balk and say, “Well, we didn’t mean embryos should have ALL human rights…” then where do we draw the line? Do we start saying some humans have fewer rights than others… because clearly that’s what they would be saying. Didn’t the United States go through “some humans have more rights than others” already? How is one person’s personal liberties more important than another’s? It’s not. That’s why personhood bills is the WRONG way to go about trying to stop abortion.
Those who shout the loudest about “Freedom” and “Liberty!” day in and day out… you really, really need to stop restricting the freedoms of those around you. The rest of us are getting tired of you forcing your twisted view of liberty onto the rest of us. If you truly believe in individual freedom, if you truly believe in personal liberties and unobtrusive government: then you’re pro choice on the abortion issue. Being pro choice is the freedom position and the small government position.
The truth is, these far right whack jobs have have no idea about the legal implications nor the hyper-hypocritical reality of the North Dakota personhood bill. They don’t care. These laws aren’t about practicality; they’re about proving one’s status as an ultra-conservative, and doing everything the can to keep America looking and acting like it did in the 1950s. They are terrified of change, and terrified of strong, independent women who might dare to do something that shows they have control over their own lives.
Human Rights of the Embryo Under Republican Extremism
I would like to know how we grant property rights to embryos. Do we have to run a credit check on them? Can they drink? If a mother miscarries, is that murder? How about this: if the pregnancy will end up killing the mother what in the world happens then? Abort and then mom goes to jail. Don’t abort and the mom dies, but then we have to charge the baby with murder because it, being fully recognized as a human with human rights as granted by society, also has obligations to society – like don’t kill people.
What happens when the mother crosses state lines? Does that mean that the embryo needs a visa to travel overseas? Does their citizenship occur at conception or birth? What if mom and dad got it on in Mexico and conceived little Billy in Mazatlan… does that mean by coming back into the United States they’re harboring an illegal immigrant?
We already know that personhood laws would make many forms of the pill (contraception) illegal. Beyond that, it would make many forms of the pill a deadly weapon. Take the pill in North Dakota and get life in prison. (But no worries, with all their oil money they can afford to build more prisons.)
Will there have to be some form of extradition? If the mother robs a bank, is the embryo an accomplice to the crime? What if the judge decides they should serve their prison sentence for said bank robbery in different prisons?
How about this human right, Republicans: Privacy. Get off my damn lawn. You aren’t welcome in my hoo haa.
Personally, I think it’s an excuse for North Dakota preppers and the far right extremist in the Republican Party to buy more guns. “Hey, what can I do?”, so says the happy new mother, “My embryo wants guns, too, and it has a right to bear arms just like I do.” Does that qualify as a straw purchase?
Thankfully, the measure in North Dakota has to be approved by voters. Even Mississippi voters shot down a personhood bill, so that gives hope that reason will prevail in North Dakota as well. Someone in this country has to have some common sense, and clearly it’s not our elected officials, so we can at least hope the real citizens might.
Drilled down, this is just another example of the Republican Party using politics to make statements, not govern. They want to make a point, not actually do anything. To the far right, anti-choice politicians: stop wasting our time. Go buy a bunker somewhere, hide yourself away, write a manifesto, and let the rest of the country move forward onto better things.
Published: by | Updated: 07-14-2014 16:45:30
