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“Personhood Florida,” a religious-based group, wants to constitutionally define conception as the “biological beginnings” of life. Language is still being worked out, but this would define life as beginning when the sperm meets the egg. We earlier wrote about the Virginia-based “American Life League” that is promoting this concept, but it’s important to also note the effect it will have on a women’s right to contraception.
The amendment seeks to outlaw all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest. Also criminalized: the morning-after pill and oral contraceptives taken by women, known as the pill. “There are some (birth control) methods that kill a child,” said Pat McEwan, who is leading the Personhood Florida group.
The amendment faces extremely long odds. First, supporters must gather 676,811 signatures to make the ballot — by Feb. 1, to go before voters in 2010.
They’re pushing this in a dozen other states, but only in Colorado has it ever appeared on a ballot. It was rejected there by a 3-1 margin.
At a press conference in Tallahassee, speakers blamed abortion for the financial insolvency of Social Security and the bankruptcy of American auto manufacturers, citing the millions of terminated pregnancies since Roe. v. Wade as costing the nation citizens and customers. They also said that a fetus is a person and should be given protections of law.
“It is obvious in our ultrasounds that that little baby, even at just eight weeks old, is a person,” said Brenda MacMenamin, a Personhood Florida organizer. “Their rights our self-evident and they are inalienable. We want to give the voters of the state of Florida the right to vote on personhood.”
