Wisconsin Personhood Amendment in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Today's MJS:

Equal rights for unborn proposed
By Annysa Johnson

A freshman lawmaker is proposing to change Wisconsin's Constitution to grant equal rights to the unborn as part of a national push to reframe the abortion debate, a strategy that has failed in at least two states and has divided abortion opponents in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

State Rep. Andre Jacque (R-Bellevue) introduced the so-called personhood amendment in November. He says it's needed to protect the state's decades-old abortion ban still on the books - one of just a few around the country - in the event of legal challenges if Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision nullifying such statutes, is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The measure is supported so far by a handful of Republican lawmakers and the Catholic-based anti-abortion group Pro-Life Wisconsin, which helped to draft it.

But critics are lining up in opposition, including physicians, social workers and Pro-Life Wisconsin's larger ally in the anti-abortion movement, Wisconsin Right to Life.

Critics say such bills would have wide-ranging legal and societal repercussions;outlawing certain types of birth control; in vitro fertilization; embryonic stem cell research and abortion in all cases, including when the mother's life is in danger, an exception that exists in the current statute.

Jacque, who is Catholic and was endorsed by both anti-abortion groups, said he introduced the measure in part because of his religious beliefs. But the state's Catholic bishops are not rushing to back him up.

Bishops around the country have rejected or stood neutral on similar measures, and John Huebscher of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference said it has not yet made a decision on whether it will weigh in.

Said Huebscher: "We're still assessing the bill and the arguments."

Read the article in its entirety here.