What's Your Question?
Please click the question to expand or collapse the answer.
» Will eggs have rights?
No! Neither the egg (i.e., oocyte) carried by the woman nor the sperm carried by the man is affected by personhood.
» Who Will Be Protected?
All living human beings will be protected.
» Will Personhood ban In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)?
No! Personhood Is Not A Criminal Statute.
Personhood does not criminalize anything. Personhood will not ban In Vitro Fertilization (http://bit.ly/sz0XVA).
» Will Personhood outlaw contraceptives?
No! Personhood Is Not A Criminal Statute.
Personhood does not criminalize anything. Personhood will not outlaw contraceptives (http://bit.ly/rOnMwF).
» Will Women be arrested for miscarriages?
No! Personhood Is Not A Criminal Statute.
Personhood does not criminalize anything. Women will not be arrested for miscarriages.
» Will Mothers Be Prosecuted?
No! Personhood Is Not A Criminal Statute.
Personhood does not criminalize anything. Mothers will not be prosecuted.
» Does a Woman's bodily autonomy trump the child's rights?
Personhood views the life of the mother and child as equals. Both the mother and the child have been created in the image of God. In extreme cases where continuing the pregnancy is not possible, the mother's life is at stake, and the mother chooses not to die for her child, it is always best for the doctors to take extraordinary measures to first save her and subsequently attempt to save her baby. In the unfortunate event that either person (the mother or the child) dies, their death must not be intentional or caused by an inherently unethical treatment and must be acknowledged, officially documented, mourned accordingly.
» What About Rape and Incest?
A child conceived in rape or incest is no less a person and like all living human beings, deserves to be treated with dignity and protected by love and by law.
» Is legal personhood for the child in the woman's body extreme?
No! We believe it is extreme to take the life of an innocent living human being.
» Really, no exceptions?
Yes! We believe God is the author of life. We believe all human life is created in His image and that all of us from the beginning of our biological development as human beings, regardless of the means by which we were procreated, method of reproduction, age, race, sex, gender, physical well-being, function, size, level of development, environment, and/or degree of physical or mental dependency and/or disability, deserve to be protected by love and by law.
» Isn't a single cell embryo just a Blob of tissue?
No! From the first moment of our biological development as human beings we are very complex human beings, with our own unique DNA that is very different from the DNA of the mother or the father. The unicellular human organism formed sexually at fertilization, and the single or multi-cellular organism formed by various asexual methods, contains a staggering amount of genetic and molecular information, that sets in motion what follows and is sufficient to control our continuous growth and development for our entire lifetime.
» When does a human being, begin to exist?
Both sexually and asexually reproduced human beings can begin to exist either in the woman's body (in vivo) or outside her body, e.g., in a petri dish (in vitro). Sexually reproduced human beings begin to exist at the beginning of the process of fertilization, when the male sperm penetrates the female oocyte while both are in the woman's fallopian tube. Asexually reproduced human beings being to exist without the immediate use of sperm and oocyte, as soon as the DNA in the cell(s) is changed back to that of an organism.
» Will Personhood entrench Roe V. Wade, Doe V. Bolton and kill the Pro-Life movement?
No! Kathryn Kolbert, J.D., a lawyer who is widely acknowledged as "saving" Roe v. Wade when it was directly challenged in the Supreme Court in 1992, isn't worried about Roe and Doe being challenged and is on record saying: "the Supreme Court has consistently struck down efforts to ban abortion at the federal level, thus safeguarding Roe v. Wade as a federal statute." Okay, let's get real. According to Clarke Forsythe, Senior Legal Council for Americans United For Life, there have been at least twenty-five (25) cases and briefs attempting to overturn Roe v. Wade and|or argue 14th Amendment Personhood (http://bit.ly/vEeaEx). Any challenge to the status quo of abortion on demand has the potential to entrench Roe and Doe. However, just as slavery, segregation and misogyny were once entrenched in the hearts and minds of the United States Supreme Court Justices, today such is not acceptable and the purveyors of such vile racism and sexism are no longer socially received. Alveda C. King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., put it this way: "Can we make abortion unthinkable? Racism was common when I was a girl. Today it's unacceptable. Can we change abortion laws after they've been in effect for so long? Yes. We ended 'legal' segregation statutes that had been around longer than Roe v. Wade." In regards to the Pro-Life movement, it is our understanding that Jesus Christ is head of the Pro-Life movement and that His holy and sovereign reign on the throne will never end.
» Personhood uses State constitutions to define words used in our Federal constitution?
No! According to Paul Benjamin Linton, Esq., "The Challenge of State 'Personhood' Proposals" at the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities Diocesan Pro-Life Leadership Conference, Monday, August 10th, 2009: "The Supreme Court's interpretation of the United States Constitution can be changed only by a subsequent decision of the Court overruling or modifying its earlier holding (i.e., Casey modified Roe) or by a federal constitutional amendment."
» Personhood assumes State Statutes can dictate how language is interpreted?
No! Personhood understands that some states such as Georgia, North Dakota and South Carolina require pursuing legislative measures while others (i.e., California, Mississippi and Florida, etc.) can use ballot initiative measures. Nevertheless, just as several states have passed state constitutional amendments defining marriage as being between one man and one woman, state constitutional amendments can also define the term person to apply to all living human beings.
» Personhood assumes the Supreme Court will dissent from her "Personhood" holdings?
No! According to Justice Breyer's opinion for the Court in Stenberg v. Carhart (530 U.S. 914 (2000): "Nor is there any reason to believe that there are five (5) justices on the Court who would be willing to overrule Roe and restore to the States their authority to prohibit abortion. The Justices understand the facts of human development and what happens in an abortion."
» Personhood assumes defining the term "Person" will end abortion?
No! Personhood understands that even if Roe and Doe were reversed, state level legislation would have to be reversed as well to end abortion.
» Can Personhood win without polls, political equity, proper funding and past performance models?
Yes! Slavery has been abolished, women now have the right to vote and the Civil Rights Acts of 1960 and 1964 have all been enacted without polls, political equity, proper funding and past performance models.
