Pro-Life Wisconsin is looking forward to becoming a charter member of the National Personhood Alliance (NPA), a confederation of Christian, pro-life organizations dedicated to advancing personhood legislation at the state and federal level. The charter members believe securing personhood rights is the only way to fully protect innocent human beings at all stages of biological development. The new organization will be formally established this October at a convention in Atlanta, GA.via ProLifeWI
Please click here for the full story.
Showing posts with label personhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personhood. Show all posts
Pro-Life Wisconsin to become charter member of newly formed National Personhood Alliance
Pro-Life Wisconsin running new Personhood ad in theaters
Wait, I missed another one from a few months back... I'm losing a step folks.
Pro-Life Wisconsin first statewide organization to become associate of Personhood USA
Pro-Life Wisconsin, Inc. is proud to be the first statewide organization to become an associate member of Personhood USA! Since its founding in 2008, Personhood USA has been leading the fight for preborn personhood, working with legislators on a state and federal level as well as supporting grassroots organizations that are working to defend the dignity of the human person.image
Together, we will collaborate to pass the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment and build a culture of life in the state of Wisconsin through legislative action, grassroots activism, and education.
“We are seeing great enthusiasm for personhood and believe it is the only way to truly bring an end to abortion in Wisconsin,” said Matt Sande, Legislative Director for Pro-Life Wisconsin. “The Wisconsin Personhood Amendment and our Personhood Wisconsin website will help advance personhood legislatively and educationally across our great state. We are proud to stand alongside Personhood USA and support each other in our efforts,” he said.
For the official Personhood USA press release, click here.
Wisconsin Personhood Amendment being circulated for co-sponsorship
continue at Pro-Life WisconsinThe pro-life movement is founded on the bedrock principle that all human beings, at all stages of their development, deserve full protection under the law. To that end State Representative Andre Jacque (R-Green Bay) has begun circulating for co-sponsorship the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment, legislation that extends the inalienable right to life already found in the Wisconsin Constitution to all preborn children from the beginning of their lives. Click here for a copy of the amendment and click here to read PLW’s legislative memo.
The personhood amendment seeks to end abortion in Wisconsin, not to regulate or restrict it. It seeks to end all violence toward preborn children in Wisconsin – surgical, chemical, experimental, etc. – at all stages of development.
Take Action:
Please CALL or EMAIL your state representative and state senator NOW and urge him or her to co-sponsor LRB 0130/1, the “Wisconsin Personhood Amendment.” Click here to find out who your state legislators are and how to contact them.
Tell your legislators to extend the inalienable right to life already found in the Wisconsin Constitution to all preborn children at all stages of development.
Also a new website launched
PLW: Pope Benedict XVI: The Pope of Personhood
On Thursday, February 28, Pope Benedict XVI abdicated the see of St. Peter. Since then, the world’s Catholics have been expressing their gratitude for this wonderful man of God. Indeed, Pope Benedict will be remembered for many things—his kindness and warmth, his intellectual brilliance, his reforms of the liturgy, and his commitment to Christian unity. But he should also be remembered for his pro-life efforts, and especially for his recognition of the personhood of the unborn.continue at Pro-Life Wisconsin
In 2010, Pope Benedict made it unequivocally clear that the unborn are human persons, and the personhood begins at conception. He said during a homily:
“I wish to express my thanks to all who are specifically dedicated to welcoming and safeguarding human life in different situations of fragility, especially in its early days and in its early stages.”
“There is no reason not to consider [the human embryo] a person from conception.”
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North Dakota Senate passes personhood amendment!
North Dakota may be on the verge of becoming the first state in the union that protects human beings from the moment of conception after the Senate passed the state’s personhood amendment.continue at LifeSite
Similar personhood amendments passed the House of Representatives in 2009 and 2011 but died in the Senate. This is the first time the legislation earned the support of the Senate. The bill will now go to the House for a vote.
Jennifer Mason, spokesperson for Personhood USA, told LifeSiteNews.com in a telephone interview that she believes the legislation has a very good chance of passing the House and being signed by the governor.
“We just need the North Dakota House of Representatives to stay strong and vote as they did before,” she said, “and we’ll see this pass for the first time in the United States.”
It may be the first, but it won't be the last.
Say it with me. USA! USA! USA!
Why Personhood – Part 1: What is Personhood?
continue at Pro-Life WisconsinPersonhood is a hot topic in pro-life circles, and Pro-Life Wisconsin is dedicated to achieving legal personhood for the unborn. But what exactly is legal personhood? What does it mean to be a person?
In a nutshell, “person” is a legal term used to describe any human being entitled to equal protection under the law. If you’re legally recognized as a person, you have Constitutional rights. If you’re not a legal person, you don’t. The term “personhood”, then, is used to denote the pro-life movement that seeks to recognize the unborn as legal persons.
PLW is going to do a series of blog posts on Personhood.
Also via American Life League, an interesting video by CNN on Personhood.
Pro-Life Wisconsin Personhood conference March 7th
Thursday, March 7, 2013 at the Monona Terrace in Madison
8-9 a.m. Check-in
9 a.m. Sit-down breakfast & Speakers
Noon Capitol visits
Click here to register online or download a flier. You MUST pre-register in order to attend.
Paul Ryan cosponsors federal Personhood legislation
The 113th United States Congress has introduced legislation that establishes the legal personhood of the preborn child. The bill applies 14th Amendment protections to all human beings from conception.via Pro-Life Wisconsin
On January 3, 2013, U.S. Representative Paul Broun (R-GA) introduced House Resolution (H.R.) 23, the Sanctity of Human Life Act. It has so far been co-sponsored by 18 representatives, including Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, and has been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. The bill declares that:
1) the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being, and is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person; and
2) the life of each human being begins with fertilization, cloning, or its functional equivalent, irrespective of sex, health, function or disability, defect, stage of biological development, or condition of dependency, at which time every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.
Click here to view the full text of H.R. 23.
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Paul Ryan supports Personhood
While Republican candidate Mitt Romney was the only leading mainstream candidate to miss all three presidential debates hosted by Personhood USA earlier this year, his decision to keep the personhood movement at arm’s length is not shared by his running mate.continue at LifeSite
Romney’s choice for VP, Paul Ryan, is currently one of the 64 co-sponsors of the pro-personhood H.R. 212, known as the Sanctity of Human Life Act. He also co-sponsored the 2009 Sanctity of Human Life Act, H.R. 227.
The Sanctity of Human Life Act states that under “Congress’ power under section 5 of the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution of the United State ... the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being, and is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person” and that “the life of each human being begins with fertilization.”
“In supporting Personhood, Congressman Ryan has taken a consistent pro-life position, one that is called for by the Republican party’s own platform” remarked Gualberto Garcia Jones, J.D., Legal Analyst for Personhood USA.
The Republican party’s platform states that “we support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.”
Several major pro-life organizations in this country oppose personhood entirely.
It makes the Romney pick of Ryan all the more interesting.
By the way, Dale Ahlquist said he is not voting for the Romney/Ryan ticket. It has gotten quite a bit of feedback(more so on any other issue in the history of their magazine), mostly positive believe it or not. Gilbert Magazine is not online so I can't quote his article, but perhaps they will post it online at some point. Some conservatives did not show up to vote for McCain, and they may not this time around either.
HT PLW
Paul Ryan supports personhood
Image. [For anyone who may be interested, the "Hey Girl, It's Paul Ryan" Tumblr is still active. Just sayin']
LifeSiteNews:
While Republican candidate Mitt Romney was the only leading mainstream candidate to miss all three presidential debates hosted by Personhood USA earlier this year, his decision to keep the personhood movement at arm’s length is not shared by his running mate.
Romney’s choice for VP, Paul Ryan, is currently one of the 64 co-sponsors of the pro-personhood H.R. 212, known as the Sanctity of Human Life Act. He also co-sponsored the 2009 Sanctity of Human Life Act, H.R. 227.
The Sanctity of Human Life Act states that under “Congress’ power under section 5 of the 14th article of amendment to the Constitution of the United State ... the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being, and is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person” and that “the life of each human being begins with fertilization.”
“In supporting Personhood, Congressman Ryan has taken a consistent pro-life position, one that is called for by the Republican party’s own platform” remarked Gualberto Garcia Jones, J.D., Legal Analyst for Personhood USA.
The Republican party’s platform states that “we support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.”
Vatican backs European personhood initiative
From LifeSiteNews:
The Vatican is backing a petition campaign in the European Union that seeks a debate about enshrining personhood for the unborn from the moment of conception.
The Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Laity says the campaign, which must gather at least one million signatures from 7 EU states by May 11th, 2013, is a "significant opportunity to send a wake-up call to the people of Europe."
While the EU cannot change the laws of member states to protect unborn life, the petition aims to ensure the EU respects life in its areas of competence, particularly in terms of development aid and scientific research.
The petition's organizing committee includes representatives from 21 pro-life organizations in 21 EU states. The campaign involves a coordinated effort by Christian associations and movements across the continent with the support of educational and cultural activities in each of the 27 states, and organizers hope to secure far more than minimum of a million signatures.
According to the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the organizers view the effort as "far more than a need," saying it "is in fact urgent."
Read the rest here. Could Cardinal Burke, who is strongly pro-personhood, be an influence here?
In October 2011, the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment was introduced in the Wisconsin legislature, the first time personhood has been proposed as law in the state. Read more about the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment here.
LifeSiteNews did a brief article about a recent animated video PLW did about personhood, which you can read here.
How is personhood connected to slavery, Native Americans, the disabled and the preborn?
A brand-new, ground-breaking animated video from Pro-Life Wisconsin makes the connection in a visually entertaining way.
“We aimed to engage viewers through the use of animation, and this video really is the first animated video to discuss personhood,” said Peggy Hamill, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin.
“This video is especially important given the high rate of abortions in Wisconsin and the United States. We must work toward the day when all babies, at all stages of development and in all circumstances, are protected in law. And that legal protection will occur through personhood,” Hamill concluded.
The video is available on Pro-Life Wisconsin’s YouTube channel here:
Please watch and share this powerful tool with your friends, church groups, and anyone else who believes in the sanctity of human life for ALL!
Find out more about Personhood Wisconsin here: www.PersonhoodWisconsin.com.
Roe v Wade + 39: The Corruptness of the Pro-Life Movement
Anyway, I want to talk about something else on this sad anniversary: not the pro-abortion rights brigade, but we abortion Abolitionists, we politically-minded pro-lifers. The other side has often accused us of being sheep, willing to support anyone who talks a good talk about abortion, regardless of whether they actually do anything to protect innocent life under the law. I’ve started to wonder whether there may be some truth to the charge.
The NRLC website is a mess. If there were internet laws, it would be sent to the design gulag.
The NRLC, the much healthier AUL, and the Catholic dioceses of Jackson and Biloxi all declined to support Personhood this past fall
Following up on Personhood, some of the reasons given for opposing it (by state orgs, as the national arms remain silent) appear to this non-lawyer to be abject nonsense.It's a little long but this article is essential reading for anyone serious about the pro-life movement.
Wisconsin Legislative Council debunks Wisconsin Right to Life's main argument against personhood amendment
The Wisconsin Legislative Council (WLC), a non-partisan service agency that provides legal services to the Wisconsin Legislature, drafted a memo for State Representative Andre Jacque addressing the implications of the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment (Assembly Joint Resolution [AJR] 77) on Wisconsin’s pre-Roe v. Wade criminal abortion ban (Wis. Stats. 940.04). Representative Jacque, author of the personhood amendment, released the WLC memo to his fellow legislators this morning along with his own memo summarizing their conclusions.Photo
Wisconsin Right to Life’s central argument against introduction and passage of a personhood constitutional amendment is that it would overturn by “implied repeal” Wisconsin’s pre-Roe criminal abortion statute. The WLC concludes the opposite.
Citing United States and Wisconsin Supreme Court case law, the WLC memo states that it is unlikely that 940.04 would be vacated in its entirety by implied repeal. If anything were to be impliedly repealed (and that’s a big if), it would be only those sections of 940.04 that may conflict with the equality provision in the amendment – for example, the life-of-the-mother exception and the differing penalties for killing a quick versus non-quick child. And removing these inequitable sections would only strengthen 940.04!
Rep. Jacque states in his memo that, “I therefore agree with the WLC when it states in its memo that ‘the statute appears to complement rather than conflict with the proposed constitutional amendment, insofar as the amendment expands the inherent right to life recognized in the Wisconsin Constitution to unborn persons and the statute provides a basis for criminal liability for harm to such persons.’”
Given the WLC’s conclusion, Pro-Life Wisconsin hopes that Wisconsin Right to Life will promptly remove its opposition to the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment. It is clear that AJR 77 would not harm Wisconsin Statutes 940.04 by “implied repeal” or otherwise. Accordingly, concerns over 940.04 should not stand in the way of supporting PLW’s personhood amendment.
Please click here to view AJR 77, and please go to PersonhoodWisconsin.com for more information on the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment campaign.
Wisconsin Personhood Amendment introduced
Legislation that would amend the Wisconsin Constitution to apply personhood rights to preborn children at all stages of development was introduced on Thursday. Assembly Joint Resolution (AJR) 77, authored by Representative Andre Jacque (R-Green Bay), extends the inalienable right to life found in the Wisconsin Constitution to all preborn children from the beginning of their lives. Senator Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) is the lead author in the State Senate. An amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution requires passage in two successive legislatures followed by a simple majority vote of the people. Click here to read the amendment language, and click here to view PLW's legislative memo. Click here for a national story on the opposition’s reaction.Pro-Life Wisconsin
From a pro-life perspective, the Wisconsin Constitution contains a glaring error at its outset. In specifying the beneficiaries of its human rights, our state constitution leaves out the preborn. It applies rights to only those people who are "born." Representative Jacque is proposing a minimal but absolutely essential correction, a personhood amendment, to make the Wisconsin Constitution cover all people, every person, at any stage of development.
Assembly Joint Resolution 77 tracks the original constitutional language as closely as grammatically possible, only substituting the inclusive personhood definition for the word "born." That definition is as follows: As applied to the right to life, the terms "people" and "person” shall apply to every human being at any stage of development. Such a definition is indispensable to spreading the protective cover of Wisconsin’s constitution over all its citizens.
The amendment language reads as follows:
Article 1. Declaration of Rights. Equality; inherent rights. SECTION 1. All people are equally free and independet, and have certain inherent rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; to secure these rights, governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. As applied to the right to life, the terms "people" and "person" shall apply to every human being at any stage of development.
Should Roe v. Wade be overturned someday and the abortion issue remanded to the states, an activist Wisconsin Supreme Court could (and very likely would) use the word “born” in our current state constitution to deny the right to life of the preborn by interpreting an independent right to abortion in that document. In so doing, the court could nullify any present or future pro-life laws in our state. The changing makeup of the Wisconsin Legislature could also jeopardize any pro-life laws in our state. Every two years our state election process determines the majority party in Madison. Legal protection of the preborn should not (and must not) be contingent upon which party controls the state legislature. The right to life should not be subject to the whims of a politicized supreme court or an ever-changing legislature. Only by enshrining the right to life in our state constitution will preborn children be afforded full and lasting legal protection.
The introduction of the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment is a watershed moment in the history of the pro-life movement in our state. It seeks to end abortion in Wisconsin, not to regulate or restrict it. It seeks to end all violence toward preborn children in Wisconsin – surgical, chemical, experimental, etc. – at all stages of development. We have been working toward the introduction of such an amendment for the last five years, and we thank Representative Jacque for demonstrating the courage of his convictions in finally making it a reality.
We also thank the co-sponsors of the bill for their principled stand in supporting the amendment: Senator Grothman and Representatives Dan LeMahieu, Don Pridemore, David Craig, Jeremy Thiesfeldt, Evan Wynn, and Tom Larson.
The Wisconsin Personhood Amendment is not intended, or worded, as a challenge to Roe, or as an attempt to define personhood under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. It seeks only to bring into the Wisconsin Constitution a true definition of human life as endorsed by Wisconsin citizens speaking through the amendment process, thus making the highest law in our state cover all people, every person, at any stage of development. We recognize that its protections cannot be fully effective as long as Roe remains law, but we believe a proper definition of personhood should be in place should Wisconsin be freed from the effects of that noxious decision.
The Wisconsin Personhood Amendment has been endorsed by Wisconsin Family Action, Personhood USA, Pastor Walter Hoye of the Issues4Life Foundation, American Life League, and Charles E. Rice, Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Notre Dame. For more information on the Wisconsin Personhood Amendment, check out www.personhoodwisconsin.com.
Take Action!
Please CALL or EMAIL your state representative and state senator now and urge him or her to support AJR 77, the “Wisconsin Personhood Amendment.”
Tell your legislators to extend the inalienable right to life found in the Wisconsin Constitution to all preborn children at all stages of development.
If your legislator is a co-sponsor of AJR 77, please thank him!
To find out who your state legislators are, click here for PLW's website and scroll over the Legislative Affairs menu item at the top of the page. A drop down menu will appear. Click on the Speak Up icon and then scroll down the page and click on Who Are My Wisconsin Lawmakers? Type in your street address, city and zip code. The names and contact information of your state senator and state representative will appear.
Once you know who your state legislators are, go back to the Speak Up page and use the links listed under Email Your Government Officials to send your email to your state senator and state representative. That way PLW will receive a copy of your email which will enable us to monitor the activity of our grassroots advocacy campaigns.
If you prefer to leave a telephone message with your state legislator, call the toll-free State Legislative Hotline at (800) 362-9472. Or call the legislator’s office directly. Thank you!
Mississippi fails to pass Personhood amendment
In a highly anticipated race last night, Mississippi’s Amendment 26 failed to garner sufficient votes to extend the definition of ‘person’ to every human being from the moment of fertilization. Voters rejected the amendment by a margin of 58 to 42 percent.continue at LifeSiteNews
“Personhood USA understands that changing a culture - and changing a country - will not happen with one election, and so it is not unexpected. We thank the over one quarter of a million Mississippians who voted for Amendment 26,” said Keith Mason, president of Personhood USA, after the vote.
Personhood Mississippi had hoped that their efforts would work to erode the 38 year death grip that Roe v. Wade has held on human life in the womb through legalized abortion.
“Personhood is the key to all human rights,” Mason had said prior to the vote.
To put the amendment on last night’s ballot, Personhood Mississippi was required to collect and certify 89,285 signatures from registered voters. They exceeded that requirement by over 40,000 signatures.
A legal memorandum on the Mississippi Personhood Amendment prepared by Liberty Counsel stated that the term “fertilization” was used in the Amendment instead of the more familiar term “conception” to avoid “confusion and varying interpretations by some in the scientific, medical, and/or bioethics fields.”
The initiative was controversial even among pro-life leaders, some of whom were skeptical that the amendment would do any good for the pro-life cause, saying that it was not the right legislative vehicle to end abortion.
Don't be that disappointed. 42% voted for this thing! I hope you do understand how significant that is. Half the pro-life bureaucracy opposes Personhood and it still despite all their efforts (not to mention the abortion community's push) got 42%. That tells me Personhood really can be passed. It is not just a pipe dream anymore, it is the movement that could define this country for the next 100 years.
WRTL: "do not co-sponsor or support personhood"
It will be interesting to see if WRTL ever brings up the whole might infringe on contraceptive rights argument. The whole hypothetical argument that we end up worse off than we are today that has no legal precedent isn't convincing anybody on either side in this state so far. National Right to Life has a vested interest. If things get "bad" I would expect them to start sending more people in to scare people away from voting for it. This state passed the marriage amendment 60-40... the hardest part of the battle is likely getting it on the ballot with pro-abort Republicans eager to be "sensible."TO: State lawmakers
FROM: Susan Armacost, Legislative Director
RE: Please do not co-sponsor or support personhood bill (LRB 2859/1)
Wisconsin Right to Life has been forthright in our opposition to legislation to declare unborn children persons under the State Constitution. We appreciate the fact the author and the organizations that support his legislation want to protect the lives of unborn children. However, the personhood proposal is not only unnecessary, it would also put efforts to protect Wisconsin unborn children at extreme risk.
In a few weeks, we will be presenting you with an extensive legal white paper pointing out the pitfalls of the personhood legislation. The white paper will be signed by numerous constitutional legal experts on the state and national levels.
In the meantime, we would like to make the following points:
A prominent Wisconsin attorney who works with Wisconsin Right to Life was quoted out of context by supporters of the personhood bill, giving the impression that this attorney does not support Wisconsin Right to Life's position on personhood. This is inaccurate.
The impression was given by supporters of the personhood bill that a different constitutional expert who works with Wisconsin Right to Life has changed his mind on the personhood issue. This is also inaccurate.
Wisconsin Right to Life and its multiple legal advisors disagree with the legal analyses circulated to date by supporters of the personhood bill. The Wisconsin Right to Life legal white paper that will be sent to you will be signed by numerous legal experts and will outline the legal concerns with the personhood legislation.
We continue to ask legislators not to co-sponsor or support this legislation.
Thank you.
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