North Dakota is the latest state in which anti-choicers are trying to pass a sneaky law that would give a fetus the same rights as a grown adult. Yes, it's an "egg law" -- the same one that was defeated by a huge margin in Colorado in 2008. (Words of Choice toured there and had an up close view. Thanks again, Colorado!)But these anti-choice folks keep roaming the nation to try and find another gullible state. Seems like North Dakota is it ... although a few others like Montana, Maryland and South Carolina are vying for the title of most foolish state legislature. The anti-choicers aligned with the hardcore Religious Right want to pass a state "human life amendment." They call it a "personhood" law and formed a group called Personhood USA to push it. But, by any measure, the proposals would wreak havoc on the law as human persons currently know it.
These laws would make abortion illegal in all circumstances. But that's not all they would do. And to explain other BAD elements, the National Advocates for Pregnant Women just posted a short video on YouTube (see link at bottom of blog entry) to explain how these proposals would harm pregnant women. NAPW is referring to pregnant women who want to carry a child to term, not those who are seeking abortions!
What are the dangers? "How Personhood USA and the Bills They Support Will Hurt ALL Pregnant Women" describes in four-to-five minutes on its video the cases of women who wanted vaginal births but were ordered to have their stomachs cut open in a Cesarean by a court because a doctor or hospital decided that was best under "fetus counts first" analyses. "These laws would affect ALL pregnant women," the video explains.
What's really great is that NAPW stepped out of the policy-wonk bubble and used a little creativity to describe in clear and factually accurate terms what can sometimes seem obscure or complex. When the propaganda of the anti-choicers is sliced away, it's pretty simple -- these "personhood" laws would benefit no one and be a disaster for women.
NAPW, located in New York City, is headed by lawyer Lynn Paltrow. The organization works to show how bad anti-choice policies affect women's reproductive lives, including those who want to give birth. According to th NAPW website: "By choosing to focus on pregnant women and the full range of attacks on their rights – including the efforts to establish fetal rights under the law and attacks made through the war on drugs–NAPW is making new allies and building new strength from a broad based and integrated approach to reproductive and human rights."
With its video, NAPW is also spreading its communications sensibilities -- and in especially admirable ways. See the NAPW video exposing the sham of "personhood" laws here.
Posted by Cindy Cooper
above: picture from video by National Association of Pregnant Women
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