Alabama

Apparently, an Alabama Republican legislator made the following unfortunate statement in an interview regarding an abortion regulation bill:  

When a physician removes a child from a woman, that is the largest organ in a body. That's a big thing. That's a big surgery. You don't have any other organs in your body that are bigger than that.

What I find entertaining is the reaction by pro-aborts. They’re so fired up to say that a Republican is an idiot that they forget their own talking points. You can hardly have an abortion argument without a pro-abort burnishing his anti-science credentials by claiming that an unborn child is part of the mother’s body. But now, they’ve finally realized that unborn baby isn’t “an organ” but a separate living being.

We should celebrate. It’s a big step for pro-aborts to actually acknowledge a well recognized scientific fact.

When I saw Imani Gandy’s claim that the Alabama Supreme Court’s recent Ankrom ruling was “judicial activism”, it concerned me.  It’s true that pregnant women who harm their unborn children should be prosecuted. No reasonable justice system would look away when women (or men) poison or in any other way harm their children, born or unborn. Even so, we should expect the courts to be true to the law, not to change it to their own liking. It is exactly this kind of twisting of law that got us Roe v. Wade.

Of course, I don’t trust Ms. Gandy, considering her heartfelt support for killing unborn babies. But even pro-aborts can be correct once in awhile.

So, I read the Court’s opinion and I found it persuasive. The term “child” in other parts of the Alabama code includes unborn children. The term in regular speech is commonly used to include unborn children. The dictionary definition of “child” includes the unborn at any stage of development. The case also tracks closely with one in South Carolina where the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that “child” includes the unborn.

In her piece, Ms. Gandy offers numerous gripes, most of which are directly addressed in the Court’s opinion.

If legislators want to neglect their duty to protect innocent unborn babies in their jurisdiction, they need to specify that the protection only applies to born children.

I read the Chief Justice’s dissent and I found it unpersuasive. He ponders a hypothetical situation regarding a woman who doesn’t know she’s pregnant having a glass of wine. That hypothetical is answered in footnote 32 of the opinion:

Wine is not a controlled substance, chemical substance, or drug paraphernalia as those terms are defined in the Code, and the mens rea provisions of § 26-15¬3.2 would arguably require that a defendant know that a child is present. Such mens rea requirement would also arguably not be satisfied in the situation where an expectant mother is administered a prescription drug under the direction of a physician; it is difficult to conclude that the requisite criminal intent exists where a woman--in good faith--acts in accord with the superior medical knowledge of her treating physician. Thus, no exception for physician-prescribed controlled substances would appear to be necessary.

Back to the ruling opinion -- it disturbed me when it kept referring to “viability” as a deciding point when your rights get protected.  But then at end, came the best part:

[O]utside the right to abortion created in Roe and upheld in Planned Parenthood, the viability distinction has no place in the laws of this State.(Emphasis added)

Which naturally leads me to college sports.  Go Alabama!

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/crime/2012/05/08/nr-felon-moms-in-alaba…

Montgomery, AL – The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that a chemical endangerment statute must protect children who have not been born yet. The strongly worded ruling is the most important affirmation of the personhood of the pre-born child since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

The case was appealed to the AL Supreme Court by Amanda Kimbrough, a mother who admits that she smoked meth three days before her baby was born at 25 weeks. Tragically, baby Timmy lived for only a few minutes. The autopsy showed that the baby died from methamphetamine exposure.

“The Alabama Supreme Court has dealt a massive blow to the constitutional fraud of Roe v. Wade by recognizing that the preborn child is a person,” explained Personhood USA Legal Analyst Gualberto Garcia Jones, J.D. “This is yet another confirmation that the fight for personhood is targeting the Achilles’ heel of the abortion industry and Roe v. Wade.”

Kimbrough’s attorney had previously debated Personhood Alabama founding member Attorney Ben DuPre on CNN. Kimbrough’s attorney claimed in the interview that their case hinged upon the fact that the law regarding methamphetamine exposure to children did not apply to unborn children, only to born children.

The New York Times covered Kimbrough’s case in in April, when she was found guilty of a Class A felony. The article quoted assistant district attorney Angela Hulsey as stating, “She caused the death of another person, a person that will never have the chance to go to school, go to the prom, get married, have children of their own. You’re dealing with the most innocent of victims.”

The Alabama Supreme Court agreed with Hulsey, stating in their ruling that, “The decision of this Court today is in keeping with the widespread legal recognition that unborn children are persons with rights that should be protected by law.”

“The Alabama Supreme Court ruling is a monumental victory for the personhood rights of preborn children,” affirmed Personhood Alabama member Dan Becker. “Personhood Alabama is committed to continuing our fight for the rights of every baby in Alabama.”

Personhood Alabama is a chapter of Personhood USA, an organization established to seek protection for the personhood rights of every human being, born and unborn.. In April of 2012, Personhood Alabama delivered a copy of Ray Comfort’s groundbreaking film “180” to every Alabama legislator.

by Sofia Resnick | 06.09.11 | 4:30 pm

http://washingtonindependent.com/110766/personhood-mississippi-sends-dau…

Before Mississippians have a chance vote on the criminalization of abortion in the 2011 general election (and before the Mississippi Supreme Court rules whether or not to prevent the constitutional amendment from going on the ballot), the anti-abortion rights activists behind the movement are making concerted efforts to ensure the measure has the votes to pass.

The inclusion of the “personhood” ballot question — “Should the term ‘person’ be defined to include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the equivalent thereof?” — was the result of a citizens’ initiative, led by anti-abortion rights group Personhood Mississippi, the local affiliate of Personhood USA.

Last week, in a preemptive move to diffuse any concerns that the measure — Amendment 26 — criminalizing abortion would negatively impact victims of rape or incest, Personhood Mississippi held a week-long “Conceived in Rape Lecture Series,” held in Southaven, Laurel, Meridian and Gulfport, during which Personhood spokesperson and attorney Rebecca Kiessling told her story.

According to Kiessling, she was conceived during rape and put up for adoption. Then when she located her birth mother as a young adult, she says her mother told her that, had abortion been legal at the time of her pregnancy, she would have aborted Kiessling.

Kiessling on being a prospective target for abortion:

According to Personhood USA spokesperson Jennifer Mason, the tour also served as a fundraiser; donations go to so-called crisis pregnancy centers in the state.

On the Rachel Maddow Show Wednesday night, Maddow blasted the group’s tour, saying the Personhood activists “are forcing women who are victims in rape to bear the rapist’s child.”

Watch an excerpt from the show:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

On Thursday, Personhood USA released a statement in response to Maddow’s comments:

“I am not the rapist’s child!” Kiessling writes in the statement. “He doesn’t even know of my existence, as in most rape cases. And what an insult to the majority of rape victims who not only choose life for their child, but choose to raise their child — after everything they’ve been through, Maddow has the audacity to refer to the rape victim’s child as being ‘the rapist’s child’?! She does not speak for the majority of rape victims who express that their child has brought them healing, helping them to overcome the rape. The ones who abort are four times more likely to die within the next year. If you truly have compassion for a rape victim, you’d want to protect her from the abortion and not the baby! A baby is not the worst thing that could ever happen to a rape victim — an abortion is.”

Mason said Personhood USA is confident Mississippians will adopt Amendment 26 in the next election, particularly because most people in the state are against abortion rights.

“Most people who are pro-life are pro-life in every circumstance, ” Mason said. “I think people in Mississippi are ready for a personhood amendment, [to give] everyone a chance to live.”

Challenges to Roe v. Wade, by making providing abortions a crime –- even in the case of rape or incest –- have seen progress in states such as Alabama and Louisiana. As the Florida Independent recently reported, last month in Louisiana, Rep. John LaBruzzo (R-Metairie), compared abortion to illegal drug use at a hearing for a bill criminalizing abortion, which on Wednesday was recommitted to the House Committee on Appropriations. At the same hearing, Kiessling made the case that criminalizing abortion will end rape and incest because, “not only does the rape typically end after [the mother] gives birth, but also for all the other young women in the household who are being raped.”

Personhood Mississippi’s website lists endorsements for Amendment 26 from churches and Christians ministries, medical professionals and elected officials and political leaders. Listed supporting politicians include candidates for various offices, such as Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, who is running for governor; several House representatives, such as Reps. Larry Baker (R-District 8), Philip Gunn (R-District 56); and several state senators, including Sens. Chris McDaniel (R-District 42), Lee Yancey (R-District 20), Billy Hewes (R-District 49), Eric Powell (D-District 4), Nickey Browning (D-District 3), Merle Flowers (D-District 19), Joey Fillingame (R-District 41), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-District 39). Republican U.S. Rep. Alan Nunnelee is also listed as a supporter for the amendment.