The Alaska Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court’s ruling that a 2011 personhood initiative attempt was clearly unconstitutional and could not be permitted on the ballot. Personhood will not appear now or in the future on the Alaska ballot.
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As a speaker at the PCRS Annual Meeting last week, I also had the opportunity to attend panels and learn more about the latest developments in infertility medicine. The more I learn about the current research, the more obvious it is that personhood conflicts with almost every aspect of infertility treatment.
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Last week, the Iowa Legislature introduced two proposed personhood amendments which would put personhood on the ballot in Iowa. Deadlines indicate that the bills cannot pass in 2013, but they would potentially carry over to 2014 and put personhood on the 2016 ballot.
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While it’s sometimes argued that the right to self-defense would allow women to terminate life-threatening pregnancies, this view is philosophically and legally suspect, given that embryos and fetuses are not engaged in criminal activity.
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A proposed personhood bill failed to pass the North Dakota House today, but a second bill now places personhood before the voters in 2014.
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In North Dakota, personhood is one step closer to the 2014 ballot, but personhood bill SB-2303 received an unfavorable committee report. Both bills are due to be voted on by the House on Wednesday.
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Personhood bills have died for 2013 in Georgia and Iowa. Notably, the Iowa bills have apparently failed to advance over a disagreement about whether to criminalize the actions of pregnant women.
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The new proposed Mississippi personhood initiative is not largely different from the failed Initiative 26, and it would have just as severe consequences for infertility, pregnancy complications, and contraception. In the press conference, organizers even pointed at HB-819 and HB-937, which would have effectively banned IVF, to show their intentions regarding infertility treatment.
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Personhood advocates sometimes write bills with clauses that claim to be IVF exceptions, but the unfortunate fact is that the nature of personhood does not permit exceptions. These “exceptions” are actually prohibitions on infertility treatment.
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