Gently down the stream
This November we're seeing a shit-ton of ballot measures to overturn Roe v. Wade. Why? First, crazy fundies trying to get out the vote. It's always that way. Second, the next president will likely put one or two justices on the Supreme Court--the anti-choice groups are saying that ballot measures enacted this November will reach the Court in 2011 or 2012 making the 2012 election "The Abortion Election."
As this WaPo article states, South Dakota is like a boxed experiment for abortion legislation. They teeter, they totter, but they can't seem to make anything stick. This new ballot measure would adopt that "personhood" begins at fertilization. It's an entirely absurd gesture to think about this from a legal standpoint and I believe the Supreme Court will find the whole charade laughable... depending on when this measure makes it to the Court. If "personhood" begins at fertilization, and most women don't even know they're pregnant until at least four weeks after that, how can we enforce the human rights of a zygote? Will we begin prosecuting pregnant women who drink or smoke? How about pregnant women who are in smokey rooms? How about pregnant women who rap on SNL? How far will we go to make pregnant women the property of the state in the best interest of the zygote? You see how absurd this is, yes? This is exactly the kind of broad, sweeping measure the the Supreme Court tends to dismiss.
As this WaPo article states, South Dakota is like a boxed experiment for abortion legislation. They teeter, they totter, but they can't seem to make anything stick. This new ballot measure would adopt that "personhood" begins at fertilization. It's an entirely absurd gesture to think about this from a legal standpoint and I believe the Supreme Court will find the whole charade laughable... depending on when this measure makes it to the Court. If "personhood" begins at fertilization, and most women don't even know they're pregnant until at least four weeks after that, how can we enforce the human rights of a zygote? Will we begin prosecuting pregnant women who drink or smoke? How about pregnant women who are in smokey rooms? How about pregnant women who rap on SNL? How far will we go to make pregnant women the property of the state in the best interest of the zygote? You see how absurd this is, yes? This is exactly the kind of broad, sweeping measure the the Supreme Court tends to dismiss.