John R. Houk
© March 3, 2014
[Updated 10/14/14]
The Personhood Movement does not get a lot of publicity from the Mainstream Media because of an opinion set down by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). The decision of the SCOTUS in Roe v. Wade made abortion on demand legal regardless of any legislation or people’s initiatives on a State or Federal level. The irony of the Roe v. Wade decision is SCOTUS - then and in later decisions - were not necessarily about abortion but of personhood which left the door open legislatures – State & Federal – to define personhood. This would have a huge effect of the Secular Humanist Leftist agenda of demoralizing America. AND this is probably the reason the MSM does not give a lot of attention to the movement except to occasionally printing anti-personhood propaganda.
“Nevertheless, the Supreme Court justices enshrined this logical inconsistency in their 1973 decision to legalize abortion. By allowing mothers to abort their babies, the Court implicitly operated on the assumption that in this instance it is acceptable for one person to end the life of another, giving no regard to the innocence of that person or his God-given right to life.
This could only be done by denying the personhood of the fetus (a Latin term for the unborn child, meaning “little one”). In the face of the state of Texas’ argument that “the fetus is a ‘person’ within the language and meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Justice Harry Blackmun responded, “If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.” Justice Blackmun nevertheless concluded that, “the word ‘person’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn.”
The High Court’s confusion over the nature of personhood was again demonstrated on January 21, 2010, when it ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, that corporations are considered persons under the Constitution. Although technically corporations are identified as “legal fictions,” by extending to corporations “personhood,” the Court affirmed their right under the First Amendment to engage in political campaign speech.
AND SO the very SCOTUS decisions that activist courts made child murder legal has given an out to make abortion murder by law.
With this in mind Senator Rand Paul has been involved for some time to get voters to sign a Personhood petition to support a Federal (U.S. Congress) Life Begins at Conception Act. I will post the most recent email signed by Rand Paul that is actually sent out by the National Pro-Life Alliance in a moment. Prior to that though I am going to post a page from Personhood USA that clearly presents the Personhood case. Personhood USA must be on to something for when I Googled “Personhood Movement” that organization came with a number of Left Wing blogs and news sites doing hit pieces on it. I even noticed in a one Google summary (sorry I didn’t pay attention at the time to the link) that suggested that Personhood USA might cause a rift in the Pro-Life movement. This kind of press makes Personhood USA an organization and website to be attentive toward if irritates Leftists so much.
If you don’t want to wait to get to Rand Paul to sign the petition you can go HERE. BUT I would hope you would read through the Personhood USA definition to get a clearer understanding.
JRH 3/3/14
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What is Personhood?
Personhood is the cultural and legal recognition of the equal and unalienable rights of human beings.
“Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.”
Thomas Jefferson
When the term “person” is applied to a particular class of human beings, it is an affirmation of their individual rights. In other words, to be a person is to be protected by a series of God-given rights and constitutional guarantees such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This terrifies the pro-abortion foes!
They know that if we clearly define the preborn baby as a person, they will have the same right to life as all Americans do!
This then also begs the question, is every human being a person?
There is a very real sense in which the need to answer this second question is, in itself, an absurdity.
If you look up the word “person” in your average dictionary (we’ll use Webster’s), you’ll find something like this: “Person n. A human being.”
“After fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being. It is no longer a matter of taste or opinion…it is plain experimental evidence. Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception.”
Dr. Jerome Lejeune, “Father of Modern Genetics”
A person, simply put, is a human being. This fact should be enough. The intrinsic humanity of unborn children, by definition, makes them persons, and should, therefore, guarantee their protection under the law.
Personhood holds the key to filling the “Blackmun Hole,” a startling admission in the Roe v. Wade majority opinion:
“If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.”
Justice Harry Blackmun, Roe v. Wade
In 1973, the science of fetology was not able to prove, as it can now, that a living, fully human, and unique individual exists at the moment of fertilization and continues to grow through various stages of development in a continuum until death.
However, pick up any embryology book today and you will find that your life and every person’s life began at fertilization (Click to read more). [Blog Editor: Unfortunately the link is missing where it reads “Click to read more”.]
“[The zygote], formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new human being.”
Keith L. Moore in The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003. pp. 16, 2.
For nearly forty years, however, this has not been the case. The situation we are left with is that, in America, there is a group of living human beings who have no protection under the law and are being killed en masse every day. It is truly astounding, but not wholly unprecedented.
“In the eyes of the law…the slave is not a person.”
Virginia Supreme Court, 1858
Throughout history, certain people groups have felt the brunt of a system which denied their humanity, stripped their personhood, and subjected them to horrors beyond measure. While the legal framework that made such horrors possible has now been removed, it remains firmly in place for preborn Americans.
There remains one, and only one, group of human beings in the United States today for which being human is not enough. The inconvenience of their existence has resulted in this shameful injustice.
What is a person? A person is a human being at every age.
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Sign the petition to bypass Roe v. Wade
By Senator Rand Paul
Sent: 3/1/2014 9:08 AM
Sent From: National Pro-Life Alliance
For over 40 years, nine unelected men and women on the Supreme Court have played God with innocent human life.
They have invented laws that condemned to painful deaths without trial more than 56 million babies for the crime of being "inconvenient."
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling forced abortion-on-demand down our nation's throat.
In the past, many in the pro-life movement have felt limited to protecting a life here and there -- passing some limited law to slightly control abortion in the more outrageous cases.
But some pro-lifers always seem to tiptoe around the Supreme Court, hoping they won't be offended.
Now the time to grovel before the Supreme Court is over.
Working from what the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade, pro-life lawmakers can pass a Life at Conception Act and end abortion using the Constitution instead of amending it.
That is why it's so urgent you sign the petition to your Senators and Congressman that I will link to in a moment.
You see, in the coming year it is vital every Member of Congress be put on record.
And your petition today will help do just that.
Signing the Life at Conception Act petition will help break through the opposition clinging to abortion-on-demand and get a vote on this life-saving bill to overturn Roe v. Wade.
A Life at Conception Act declares unborn children "persons" as defined by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, entitled to legal protection.
This is the one thing the Supreme Court admitted in Roe v. Wade that would cause the case for legal abortion to "collapse."
When the Supreme Court handed down its now-infamous Roe v. Wade decision, it did so based on a new, previously undefined "right of privacy" which it "discovered" in so-called "emanations" of "penumbrae" of the Constitution.
Of course, as constitutional law it was a disaster.
But never once did the Supreme Court declare abortion itself to be a constitutional right.
Instead the Supreme Court said:
"We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins . . . the judiciary at this point in the development of man's knowledge is not in a position to speculate as to the answer."
Then the High Court made a key admission:
"If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case [i.e., "Roe" who sought an abortion], of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment."
The fact is, the 14th Amendment couldn't be clearer:
". . . nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law."
Furthermore, the 14th Amendment says:
"Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
That's exactly what a Life at Conception Act would do.
But this simple, logical and obviously right legislation will not become law without a fight.
And that's where your help is critical.
Please click here to sign your petition right away.
By turning up the heat on Congress in 2013 through a massive, national, grass-roots campaign, one of two things will happen.
If you and other pro-life activists pour on enough pressure, pro-lifers can force politicians from both parties who were elected on pro-life platforms to make good on their promises and ultimately win passage of this bill.
But even if a Life at Conception Act doesn't pass immediately, the public attention will set the stage to defeat radical abortionists in the next election.
Either way, the unborn win . . . unless you do nothing.
That's why the National Pro-Life Alliance is contacting hundreds of thousands of Americans just like you to mobilize a grass-roots army to pass a Life at Conception Act.
... Hard-hitting TV, radio and newspaper ads to be run just before each vote, detailing the horrors of abortion and mobilizing the American people.
... Extensive personal lobbying of key members of Congress by rank and file National Pro-Life Alliance members and staff.
... A series of newspaper columns to be distributed free to all 1,437 daily newspapers now published in the United States.
... An extensive email, direct mail and telephone campaign to generate at least one million petitions to Congress like the one linked to in this letter.
Of course, to do all this will take a lot of money.
Just to email and mail the letters necessary to produce one million petitions will cost at least $460,000.
Newspaper, TV and radio are even more expensive.
But I'm sure you'll agree pro-lifers cannot just sit by watching the slaughter continue.
The National Pro-Life Alliance's goal is to deliver one million petitions to the House and Senate in support of a Life at Conception Act.
When the bill comes up for a vote in Congress, it is crucial to have the full weight of an informed public backing the pro-life position.
I feel confident that the folks at National Pro-Life Alliance can gather those one million petitions.
But even though many Americans who receive this email will sign the petition, many won't be able to contribute. That's why it's vital you give $10, $25, $50, $100, or even more if you can.
Without your help the National Pro-Life Alliance will be unable to gather the one million petitions and mount the full-scale national campaign necessary to pass a Life at Conception Act.
A sacrificial gift of $35 or even $100 or $500 now could spare literally millions of innocent babies in years to come. But if that's too much, please consider chipping in with a donation of $10.
You should also know that a National Pro-Life Alliance supporter wants to make your decision to give easier by agreeing to match your donation, no matter the size, increasing its value by 50%!
So please respond right away with your signed petition.
And please help with a contribution of at least $25 or $35. Some people have already given as much as $500. Others have given $50 and $100.
But no matter how much you give, whether it's chipping in with $10 or a larger contribution of $150, I guarantee your contribution is urgently needed and will be deeply appreciated.
That's why I hope and pray that you will not delay a moment to make a contribution of $1000, $500, $100, $50, $25, or even $10 if you can.
Your contribution to the National Pro-Life Alliance and your signed petition will be the first steps toward reversing Roe v. Wade and waking up the politicians about where our barbarous pro-abortion policy is taking us.
Sincerely,
Rand Paul,
United States Senator
P.S.
The Supreme Court itself admitted -- if Congress declares unborn children "persons" under the law, the constitutional case for abortion-on-demand "collapses."
Please help make that happen. Sign your petition today to the National Pro-Life Alliance to reverse Roe v. Wade, along with a sacrificial contribution of $100, $50, $25. If that's too much, please consider chipping in with a donation of $10.
You should also know a generous donor has agreed to match all contributions, no matter the size, increasing your gift to the National Pro-Life Alliance by 50%!
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Personhood Defeats Baby Killing Abortion
John R. Houk
© March 3, 2014
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What is Personhood?
About Personhood USA
What is Personhood?
Personhood is a movement working to respect the God-given right to life
by recognizing all human beings as persons who are “created in the
image of God” from the beginning of their biological development,
without exceptions.
What is Personhood USA?
Personhood USA desires to glorify Jesus Christ in a way that creates a
culture of life so that all innocent human lives are protected by love and
by law.
Personhood USA serves the pro-life community by assisting local
groups to initiate citizen, legislative, and political action focusing on the
ultimate goal of the pro-life movement: personhood rights for all
innocent humans.
We intend to build the support of at least two thirds of the states in an
effort to reaffirm personhood within the U.S. Constitution.
Personhood USA opposes vigilante violence.
Personhood USA is a 501(c) (4) Christian ministry that welcomes those who believe in the God-given right to life.
Approved by the Personhood USA Board and Advisory Board 8/7/2010
What can we do to help?
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Sign the petition to bypass Roe v. Wade
National Pro-Life Alliance Mission
Because every human life is precious in the eyes of God, and science and common sense dictate that life begins at conception, it is clear that abortion is the wanton taking of human life and no truly great nation can allow this practice to take place.
Ever since the dreadful Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, more than 55 million precious unborn babies have lost their lives.
The National Pro-Life Alliance's members, staff and volunteers are dedicated to halting this slaughter once and for all. And despite the many remaining obstacles, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
National Pro-Life Alliance's Focus Is Passing Substantive Pro-Life Legislation
The National Pro-Life Alliance occupies a unique and important role in the pro-life movement. The focus of many other pro-life organizations is research, publications or counseling.
These are all important and worthy activities, but the National Pro-Life Alliance is singular in its focus on passing pro-life legislation that will protect the unborn from the moment of conception onward.
We believe that it is not sufficient to merely support minor regulations on abortion in a few outrageous cases.
Instead, members of the National Pro-Life Alliance lobby both incumbents and candidates for office to come out clearly for measure like a Life at Conception Act to legislatively define constitutionally-protected "personhood" as beginning at the moment of conception.
Grass-Roots Pressure Has Built Record Support in Congress for Ending, Not Merely Regulating, Abortion-on-Demand
The grass-roots lobbying efforts of our 650,000 members have garnered a record level of support and cosponsors for such substantive measures.
The fact is, even with pro-abortion politicians still in leadership positions in the Senate and a radical President in the White House, pro-lifers have record support in Congress. More than 80 new members of Congress were elected on pro-life platforms. Now pro-lifers must hold the feet of each and every self-proclaimed "pro-life" member of Congress to the fire and demand meaningful legislation to limit, and ultimately end, abortion-on-demand.
Yet pro-abortion politicians from both parties will use every trick available to stop pro-life legislation. Nevertheless, … READ THE REST
