August 29, 2010 04:37 AM UTC

Never Thought I'd Write About Vaginas and Politics

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• by: nancycronk

(This is something of an overlooked gem, featuring respectful exchanges between some of our most thoughtful polsters, such as Barron X and nancycronk.  Let’s bring it out where it can get the attention it deserves and hope it doesn’t deteriorate into the “so’s your old man” exchanges that overtake so many diaries. – promoted by Voyageur)

But then again, I never thought I’d be seeing something like Amendment 62 on the ballot in CO –an initiative so “out there”, it gives full personhood rights to a fertilized egg before it even takes up residence inside a woman’s uterus.

Amendment 62 is an attempt by Personhood Colorado to give legal rights to a fertilized egg, without regard to the consequences. It would ban medical abortion in all circumstances, even in the cases of rape and incest. It would prohibit the use of common forms of birth control (the kind that prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall before becoming an embryo). It raises serious questions about enforcement. It’s similar to Amendment 48, which CO voted down 3-1 in 2008 in Colorado, but it goes even farther.

If the law passed:

A woman could potentially be accused of manslaughter if something she eats or drinks is thought of as contributing to a miscarriage. In theory, anyone interfering in the health of the pregnant woman could be complicit. Would doctors stop prescribing medication to the woman for other medical conditions to avoid side effects? Who knows?

The bill is so general it gives personhood rights even to fertilized eggs in test tubes in fertility clinics. A clinic worker could potentially be accused of murder and prosecuted for throwing out a non-viable embryo.

If pregnant women miscarry, there could potentially be “official investigations”.

If women get cancer and need chemotherapy, they  could potentially be prevented to get it if they are sexually active. Which doctors would give powerful drugs to women who may be in the early stages of an unplanned pregnancy?

Life-saving medical research using stem cells could potentially come to a screeching halt.

No one knows for sure just how crazy things could get if this bill was passed. We can’t assume no one would vote for something this extreme. We must not take the chance. We must spread the word.

Pro-choice and pro-life men and women are standing together against this bill.

VOTE NO ON AMENDMENT 62. It’s just crazy.

http://www.ballotpedia.org/wik…

http://www.ballotpedia.org/wik…