The Boston Globe today asks: “When does a fertilized egg become a person?” While that question has been debated for many, many years, they are acknowledging a major event occurring yesterday in California; pro-life advocates with the California Civil Rights Foundation launched a new campaign to establish personhood in their state. Joining with several other states, they are going to attempt to gather the 690,000 petition signatures to get the California Human Rights Amendment on the ballot in 2010.
The amendment reads:
The term “person” applies to all living human organisms from the beginning of their biological development as human organisms — regardless of the means by which they were procreated, method of reproduction, age, race, sex, gender, physical well-being, function, or condition of physical or mental dependency and/or disability.
American Life League and Personhood USA are two organizations leading the charge on personhood, and issues this statement following a press conference Monday in Sacramento:
“The preborn, while demonstrably alive and demonstrably human, are not protected ‘persons’ under our state constitution,” said Lila Rose, the 21-year-old student pro-life activist, president of Live Action and cosponsor of the amendment. “Our laws must protect each person’s basic human right to life, from the beginning of his or her life until the end.”
The push is backed by the California Civil Rights Foundation, a coalition of pro-lifers including Rose and sponsor Walter Hoye, the pastor arrested and imprisoned in 2008 for standing in silent witness outside an abortion mill.
“The California Human Rights Amendment recognizes that valuing human life is fundamental to life itself,” Hoye said at the press conference, “and is the cornerstone of peace and prosperity for any society.”
Hoye and Rose were joined by Judie Brown, president of American Life League, and Keith Mason, founder of PersonhoodUSA.
The activists stressed that personhood fulfills the dream of the civil rights movement.
“The injustice of denying the personhood of whole classes of human beings is an injustice that cannot go unchallenged,” Brown said. “Now is the time for justice. Nothing less is acceptable in a republic based on the principle of equal justice for one and all.”
“The preborn, while demonstrably alive and demonstrably human, are not protected ‘persons’ under our state constitution,” said Lila Rose, the 21-year-old student pro-life activist, president of Live Action and cosponsor of the amendment. “Our laws must protect each person’s basic human right to life, from the beginning of his or her life until the end.”
The push is backed by the California Civil Rights Foundation, a coalition of pro-lifers including Rose and sponsor Walter Hoye, the pastor arrested and imprisoned in 2008 for standing in silent witness outside an abortion mill.
“The California Human Rights Amendment recognizes that valuing human life is fundamental to life itself,” Hoye said at the press conference, “and is the cornerstone of peace and prosperity for any society.”
Hoye and Rose were joined by Judie Brown, president of American Life League, and Keith Mason, founder of PersonhoodUSA.
The activists stressed that personhood fulfills the dream of the civil rights movement.
“The injustice of denying the personhood of whole classes of human beings is an injustice that cannot go unchallenged,” Brown said. “Now is the time for justice. Nothing less is acceptable in a republic based on the principle of equal justice for one and all.”
We wish the best of luck to the pro-lifers in California, as they seek to gather the hundreds of thousands of petition signatures needed to get this on the ballot!
For more reading on personhood, check out American Life League’s personhood page and Personhood.net
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