Personhood ... For Colorado Women

By Amy Phillips Bursch, Media Relations Manager

The “personhood” people just can’t take no for an answer, can they?

The Daily Beast’s Abigail Pesta reports that once again, Personhood Colorado is collecting signatures to give fertilized eggs all of the rights you and I enjoy as fully formed human beings. Keep in mind that Coloradoans already said “heck no” twice – once in 2008 and again in 2010. Only 27 percent and 30 percent voted in favor of the ballot measures, respectively.

The “personhood” drive is one of the more ridiculous ways antichoice organizations are trying to overturn Roe v. Wade – and make motherhood mandatory. “Personhood” is so radical, in fact, that some "pro-life" groups have tried to distance themselves when “personhood” has shown up on state ballots.

So what would “personhood” do? A whole lot of things most voters don’t like:

• Ban abortion in ALL CASES – including rape, incest, when a woman’s life is threatened or when a pregnancy is not viable. In other words, the fetus will die upon birth, but the mom-to-be has to carry it for nine months beforehand anyway. If that isn’t torture, I don’t know what is.
• Ban the most effective forms of contraception, including birth control pills, hormonal implants and IUDs. Way to increase unplanned pregnancies and abortions, pro-lifers!
• Place burdensome restrictions on families who hope to have a child through in vitro fertilization. It’s funny how conservatives always decry unnecessary regulations – until they don’t.
• Place more burdensome (job-killing!) regulations on stem cell research. You know, the kind of research scientists are doing to cure Parkinson’s and other really nasty diseases.
• Potentially criminalize miscarriages. I doubt anyone wants to intentionally criminalize miscarriages. But in this blog post, Joe Center explains how a woman could be charged with a crime if her pregnancy ends and she lives in a state with a "personhood" amendment. Sound far-fetched? Then you haven’t heard of Christine Taylor, Amanda Kimbrough or Bei Bei Shuai.

Coloradoans prefer that humans enjoy human rights. (Flickr)

“Personhood” could have all sorts of less serious unintended consequences, too. Would Colorado women be eligible for a child tax exemption the moment the pregnancy test read “positive?” Could they use carpool lanes when they’re driving alone? Could movie theaters charge them admission for two? Could women sue their fetus for distress after weeks of unrelenting heartburn and nausea? If the pregnancy was unintended, could women sue their fetus for trespassing? No wonder “personhood” has failed everywhere it’s been tried. 

Colorado voters prefer that their mothers, daughters, sisters and wives enjoy more human rights than a fertilized egg. I couldn't agree with them more.