New Hampshire GOP Adds ‘Personhood’ To Party Platform
“Personhood” has recently found its way to the Republican Platform in New Hampshire. This past weekend the Party announced that the platform now states: “support the unborn child’s fundamental right to life and establish that, in NH law, personhood begins at conception”
[su_center_ad]
If you’re a liberal in America there’s little that will make you cringe like the term “personhood.” Historically, “personhood” has been used to protect and defend the rights of people in this country. From the abolition of slavery to women’s rights, the civil rights movement and immigration, personhood establishes that only a natural person, by law, can be afforded the rights of citizenship, equality and liberty. What a fantastic concept.
Like so many fantastic concepts, “personhood” has been hijacked by conservatives. Their goal, of course, is to deny women the right to make their own health care decisions, from terminating an unwanted pregnancy up to and including access to birth control. They believe an unborn fetus should have the same protections as a living person, making a woman who decides to abort a murderer and a pharmacist who fills a Plan B prescription guilty of conspiracy. These “pre-born” people should be afforded the rights of a person in the United States under the 14th amendment. It’s ludicrous, it violates the 1st amendment by imposing the religious beliefs of one group of people on our governing laws, and it disregards the Roe v Wade decision that saved the lives of countless women by making safe abortion legal.
The party is no stranger to supporting the pro life position, but the addition of “personhood” could pose potential trouble for Republican Senatorial Candidate Scott Brown.
“Personhood,” put Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown, who was a pro-choice Senator in Massachusetts, in a potentially precarious position, but his camp released a statement that Brown is not with the party on this one.
In an emailed statement, a Brown aide made clear that the former Massachusetts senator does not agree with the personhood language, which defines life as starting at conception and grants fetuses the same rights as human beings.
“Scott Brown is pro-choice and will protect a woman’s right to choose,” Brown spokeswoman Elizabeth Guyton said.
You have to give the man kudos for not going all Mitt Romney and deciding to simply change his mind when the political wind blows. You also have to give kudos, if you’re a liberal, to the New Hampshire Republican Party for shooting themselves in the foot. [su_csky_ad]
Jake September 23rd, 2014 at 3:51 pm
And, given that corporations are now people, are small businesses children? And do patents qualify for personhood?
Carla Akins September 23rd, 2014 at 5:10 pm
And if so, how does that effect the “spanking” debate?
uzza September 23rd, 2014 at 5:21 pm
When a corporation declares bankruptcy, is it suicide or murder?
M D Reese September 23rd, 2014 at 10:13 pm
I’m still waiting for a corporation to be arrested and thrown in jail.
M D Reese September 23rd, 2014 at 10:12 pm
Excellent questions!
mmaynard119 September 24th, 2014 at 9:08 am
Jake – those questions are brilliant. Well done!
tracey marie September 23rd, 2014 at 4:01 pm
lol, he says whatever will get him elected. He tried saying he was for choice and equal pay…but he voted against both once elected. he believs a persons religous beliefs out weigh a persons autonomy over their own body
Bunya September 23rd, 2014 at 4:27 pm
His base consists of feeble-minded religious dimwits, so he’s merely appealing to their beliefs, regardless of how illogical.
For example, if his constituents believed a martian alien invasion is imminent, he’d be crying for a war against mars.
M D Reese September 23rd, 2014 at 10:12 pm
Just one small quibble–He believes that male RWNJs’ religious beliefs outweigh a woman’s autonomy over her own body. Men–who of course rule over women–can still do whatever they want with their man parts. One preacher just described women as “homes for god’s penis” …
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/church-reeling-pastor-calls-women-penis-homes-article-1.1934308
Anomaly 100 September 23rd, 2014 at 4:46 pm
Good to see Busta Troll contributing here!
Maxx44 September 23rd, 2014 at 5:06 pm
So birth certificates in NH will show the date of conception as the DOB?
M D Reese September 23rd, 2014 at 10:07 pm
That could change the voting age.
rg9rts September 24th, 2014 at 8:22 am
Only if they vote the right way
Carla Akins September 23rd, 2014 at 5:12 pm
And let’s not forget, a Personhood law virtually annihilates any invitro practice.
uzza September 23rd, 2014 at 5:16 pm
All those protesters outside the fertility clinics will have to go.
uzza September 23rd, 2014 at 5:20 pm
If a blastocyte is a person, with constitutional rights to privacy, then ultrasounds will have to be banned as a clear violation of the fourth amendment.
StoneyCurtisll September 23rd, 2014 at 6:02 pm
“Blastocytes are people my friend”…:)
Dwendt44 September 23rd, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Corporations are people, churches will soon be people, why not sperm?
M D Reese September 23rd, 2014 at 10:06 pm
Good point. Of course, the WOMAN has no right to privacy on her own…
Terryl Terrell September 23rd, 2014 at 6:38 pm
Okay, so any conceived child will become a dependent that I can use as a tax deduction even prior to birth. Any benefits for which dependents receive compensation, like my VA benefits will have to include my unborn child. Because let’s be honest, kids are expensive even before you have them. Prenatal care, healthy foods, all of that.
Glad I had my tubes tied. This is getting ridiculous. Many pregnancies end in miscarriage before the mother even knows she is pregnant. Many miscarriages occur after that. So I guess the courts will be burdened with charging women who have miscarriages with murder.
These people are crazy. Get them the hell out of office before they start sending women to death row for having a miscarriage.
Dwendt44 September 23rd, 2014 at 6:58 pm
Up to 80% of conceptions are miscarried. Investigate all pregnancies, put the 800 number of the local sheriff in all pregnancy tests, and make sure all Ob/Gyns are aware of the new rule.
M D Reese September 23rd, 2014 at 10:15 pm
Gotta love that GOPTP “small government” and personal responsibility and all…
tiredoftea September 23rd, 2014 at 6:56 pm
When the first woman in N.H. gives birth to a corporation, I’ll vote for the Repubs platform.
rg9rts September 24th, 2014 at 8:24 am
And the clown car hasn’t even shown up
mmaynard119 September 24th, 2014 at 9:06 am
Koch Brothers and ALEC strike again. It’s part of the overall campaign to deflect attention from the real issue – make more money for the 1%. They must be getting concerned since their boy toy Zoolander is losing.
Darlene Pawlik September 27th, 2014 at 8:41 am
It would appear that the author thinks assigning “personhood” is comparable to assigning a religious title. It merely states the obvious, factual and scientific condition of a human being. The term doesn’t deny women anything, except maybe to discount that her decisions affect another human being. All of our decisions affect other people.
There is a lot of very silly extrapolations about miscarriage etc. here people.
It’s a non-binding Statement, obviously. If Scott Brown can immediately discount it, it is a standard that some people will uphold and others will not.
Carla Akins September 27th, 2014 at 9:34 am
Uh, no. It’s not obvious and factual science does not back you up – the exact moment of fertilization varies and is not known, a fertilized egg is not a person, and assigning rights to a zygote is a dangerous precedent. It may be non-binding but adding it the party platform does matters if the party comes into power – then it becomes a very big deal. Zygotes and fetus cannot exist separate from their mother and to assign them rights over and above their mother is ridiculous. Personhood laws would criminalize abortion with no exceptions, ban common forms of birth control, stem-cell research, and in-vitro fertilization. You know …..obvious factual science stuff.