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October 17, 2014 12:49 PM UTC

Investigating Miscarriages? It's Baked In The Personhood Cake

  • 37 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Tim Neville.
Tim Neville.

9NEWS' Steve Staeger has an interesting story up about a mailer hitting SD-16 Republican Senate candidate Tim Neville on his longstanding (and as far as we know, ongoing) support for the Colorado Personhood abortion ban amendments. As has emerged as a major controversy in Colorado's U.S. Senate race this year, the language in the Personhood measures conferring rights from "the moment of fertilization" could have a broad range of consequences, including outlawing common forms of so-called "abortifacient" birth control.

And as the mailer in question from Mainstream Colorado explains to SD-16 voters, Personhood could do something else, too:

The mailer, sent to women in the 16th State Senate District, claims Tim Neville supports a plan that could allow the government to investigate women who have suffered a miscarriage.

"Why would anyone in their right mind try to do something like that," Neville responded to the ad…

"We know that Tim Neville has supported personhood measures in the past," said Cathy Alderman, VP of public affairs for Planned Parenthood Votes Colorado.

Alderman says personhood measures can lead to investigations into miscarriages by police or district attorneys.

"If a woman were to lose that pregnancy or choose to terminate that pregnancy that is then determined to be the death of a person, and so any actions she takes in regards to that pregnancy could be investigated as a potential felony or a manslaughter claim," she said. [Pols emphasis]

Alderman admits the bill does not specifically allow investigations into miscarriages, as the ad seems to claim…

That's technically true. As we've noted repeatedly, the Personhood abortion ban amendments that Colorado voters have rejected over and over are very short–one or two sentences defining unborn as persons with rights from "the moment of fertilization." But as experts, fact checkers, and even the proponents of the Personhood measures agree, those words would have very broad effects: outlawing all abortions including in cases of rape or incest, and even outlawing birth control that would have the effect of "killing" a fertilized egg.

It is precisely those "penumbral" conseqeunces of Personhood that led Cory Gardner to publicly abandon support for the measures soon after entering the U.S. Senate race. The exact interpretation of the law if passed would be hashed out by the courts and enabling legislation, but it's the very same language granting rights from "the moment of fertilization" that creates the potential for a ban on "abortifacient" birth control–and yes, even criminal investigations of miscarriages.

In Wednesday's U.S. Senate debate, moderator Kyle Clark coolly informed Gardner that "we will not debate" the effects of his federal Life at Conception Act–Gardner's federal Personhood bill with the same "moment of fertilization" language that opens the door to the measure's worst hypothetical effects. Meaning that for the purposes of that debate, Clark was not interested in hearing diversionary arguments that conflict with the plain and very simple language of the bill.

Well, folks, if it's true for Cory Gardner, it's true for Tim Neville too.

Comments

37 thoughts on “Investigating Miscarriages? It’s Baked In The Personhood Cake

  1. Surprised this personhood article is not by Jason Personhood.  He must be looking into the details of the drug dealer who currently holds the office.

    I guess when the Cory didn't really play football story was blown up the guys decided to go back to abortion 24 X 7.  After all, it was working so well.

    1. They can no longer conceal their desperation. What will be in the "legal penumbras" next? Prima Nocta? It's limited only by the vivid imaginations of desperate Democrats.

      But it's almost over…

    2. While Pols is protected from libel claims under the DMCA, that protection doesn't extend to commenters.  While you may believe Mark Udall got off easy when he was arrested with drugs on board decades ago, saying someone is a drug dealer is not saying that.

        1. Was he charged with intent to distribute? Was there a scale involved? Was the marijuana separated into separate baggies? Were there confidential informants saying they were being sold drugs?

            1. In any case, it doesn't matter. This is not even close to becoming an issue in this election. Udall haters no doubt think it's terrific but it's not even being talked about in a general way.  So people who would never vote for Udall eat this stuff up.  So what?

                  1. We're chock full of delightful images on here:

                    • drive thru Jiffy Lubes for male abortions
                    • troll defecating in the corner
                    • forensic vagina investigators

                    It must be election season. We get the mental images that are not safe for prime time. 

        2. Well, it doesn't infer because only a reasoning entity can do that, nor does it imply, which is what you meant to say.  Common error.

          As for the rest, no, having a large amount of drugs doesn't imply that one is a dealer, which requires selling those drugs on to others, one might be saving them for one's own use, buying them for others who chipped in for a score, etc.  My statement, however, was less about the implication and more about the fact that making defamatory statements can have unfortunate ramifications and, as a troll, you should be careful when walking that line.

          1. As a troll I'm sure his intention is to be as defamatory as possible and doesn't recognize that there is a line, much less care about walking it. Why feed it?

          2. PC, Here is what I found:

            In order to charge someone with this crime, the court must find that the person who possessed the illegal item intended to offer it to other people, for sale or otherwise. This intent to distribute may be inferred based on the various circumstances. For instance, if someone is arrested while in possession of several small individually bagged portions of an illegal drug, then it may be assumed that those bags were for sale and the person may be charged with possession with intent to distribute. The circumstances do not have to be that obvious that the person is intending to sell the illicit object. Simply by finding unusually large amounts of an illicit substance can imply intent to distribute.

            http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-possession-with-intent-to-distribute.htm

    3. Don't worry about this jerk off.  He is grasping at straws because this article isn't about Udall.  It's about Tim Neville and he is up against a really good Democrat in Jeanne Nicholson.  She has been running a great campaign in Jeffco and knows how to win after getting by Tim Leonard in to 2010 Republican wave year.  Neville has also been undermined by his relative on the Jeffco School Board.

      This little jerk off has conceded the governors race and retaking the state legislature so the only thing he/she/it has left is heaping on the abuse of Udall.  Where I come from they are known as losers in life.  Petty little people who get their kicks out of interrogating devastated women to find out if that it was her diet that caused the murder.  Fuck them and their obsession with controlling women.  Nicholson is a formidable opponent who voted for better gun regulations and a more effective government.  She has an excellent chance of winning reelection based on her merits.

  2. Nah, that could never happen, oh wait:

    That is such a relief to hear, and I imagine it’s most comforting of all to women like El Salvador’s Christina Quintanilla. El Salvador, for those who aren’t aware, has some of the strictest anti-abortion legislation in the world, and terminating a pregnancy isn’t allowed even if it is the product of rape, or (as you may remember from last year) if it is potentially fatal. In El Salvador, the moment a sperm collides with an egg, a person with more rights than its host is created, just as anti-choice activists are trying to make happen here. So when Quintanilla suffered a miscarriage at the age of 17, she woke up in the hospital to the scene of her own arrest for the death of her stillborn baby. Under the cover of anonymity, a worker at the hospital, who suspected Quintanilla of a botched abortion, alerted authorities. Quintanilla was dragged through a year-long court case, and found guilty despite the non-existent evidence against her. (What more evidence do you need that a women didn’t want to be pregnant than the fact that she isn’t pregnant?) Her sentence: thirty years in prison, of which she served four years before being released to her family.

    http://www.fakegeekmom.com/personhood-amendments-criminalize-miscarriage/

    But WIFone and WIFtwo above don't care!  Lie, cheat, steal — it's just about winning — consequences of their actions are other people's problem, not theirs.

    1. It's just common sense that once a fertilized egg is declared a person it must be treated as a person under the law.  That would certainly make all abortion murder and miscarriages could certainly be subject to investigation just as sudden deaths of babies, crib death, or of anyone, for that matter, is subject to investigation. There's no sense in any of the pro-personhood folks denying that because it's so clearly true. A legal person is a legal person with the same rights as any other. Period. I think we can all just take that obvious reality as a given and make our decisions about  personhood amendments and the candidates that support them bearing that in mind. 

      1. Every uterus a crime scene, which the coroner must secure until the body can be examined.  It's the law.  There's no escaping the stupid with this shit.

  3. Con Man Cory Gardner and this Neville jackass are cut from the same corrupt, misogynistic cloth. Both will be punished severely and decisively by CO women at the ballot box.

    In short: Keep your filthy goddam fat old white-man Teabagger hands off of and out of womens' bodies, you female-hating, condescending pricks!

    1. .Once again, piling on to old white men…there are many old, white, men, ( not as svelte as they once were) who are quite progressive and are not at all like the stereotype you are discussing. While I wholeheartedly admit that the majority of OWM have, through the centuries, made life miserable for many who were not OWM, not all of us, ahem… are like that.

      Once in a while it would be nice to hear a kind word for benevolent old white guys…fat or otherwise….smiley

      just saying….

      1. ". . . We're good guys, but we can't be good every night.  We're good guys, but we can't be good out whole lives . . ."   Our Whole lives — Hold Steady

        . . . that's about all I got, buddy!

  4. I happen to be married to an old white guy and he is progressive and pretty nice.  It does seem that for the most part, men like to dictate what a woman does with her body.  I don't know if I would get an abortion if I had to make that decision, but I don't feel like I can dictate what a person what a person does (whether it is a member of the disgraceful congress or any other person).  I should not put everyone in the same barrel and I am sorry for that.

    1. No apology necessary, Debbie…if I may call you Debbie (my sisters' name).

      I am not upset in any way about your comments, because they are not untruthful. For instance, this comment…

      If old white men had to have babies, abortion clinics would be like drive though jiffy lubes.

      …is  accurate, I believe. It is quite proper for you to rail at the blatant unfairness perpetrated by a society ruled by old, white, unenlightened men. But once in a while, try to remember that we are not all the same and toss a kind thought at some OWM who deserves it.

      By the way…I happen to be a member of the Mesa County League of Womens' Voters (not for women only!) and have been a spokesperson for that group for quite a while. I encourage all you OWM out there to join and participate in the very important work being done by the League…then you, too, can be an N-OWM (nice old white man) smiley

       

  5. Colorado’s No on 67 Coalition Demands Hulu Allow Rape Survivor Ad To Run

     Online ad-supported video service Hulu refused to air an ad by a rape survivor opposing Colorado’s Amendment 67. Amendment 67 would ban abortion, emergency contraception, and common forms of birth control. A coalition of groups opposing Amendment 67 including Planned Parenthood Votes Colorado, NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, ProgressNow Colorado Education, and the Vote NO 67 Campaign are launching a campaign to demand that #HuluLetHerSpeak and air the rape survivor’s story.

     

  6. Of course it meand investigating every pregnancy that doesn’t end in live birth.
    it means a zygote can own property.
    it means a fertilized egg is a citizen of the USA (read the 14th amendment); if it was fertilized here.
    it means a pregnant woman can be charged with child abuse.

    It means doctors who end pregnanancient can get longer sentences than a rapist.

    It means that the logical next step is to restore biblical marriage which included a rapist wed to his victim (s).

    1. It means that any woman who hasn't given birth by age 30 is suspect of illegal contraception. 

      When IUDs are outlawed, only outlaws will have IUDs . . .

  7. What's missing in the discussion is any talk about heterosexual sex that involves women of child-bearing age. It's already established that "personhood" (I refuse to dignify the concept by using a capital 'P') would abolish many forms of birth control. The Pill is probably on the way out because it would prevent creation of a "human being;" same for condoms. That leaves only the tried and true "rhythm method" favored by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, but good only for married couples. So much for the SCOTUS decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, a prime target of many religious right organizations.

    So, will married women, who have sex, have to submit for immediate testing to determine if an egg has been fertilized? I'll offer that control of sex is the ultimate objective of the personhood crowd; and establishing religious control over the reproductive lives of Colorado families and citizens.     Regards, C.H.B.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

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