Missouri Group Launches Campaign for

Personhood Rights of Pre-Born Babies

By Jim Day

On September 17th, pro-life Missourians submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to the Missouri Secretary of State to bring the protection of the Missouri Constitution to our most defenseless citizens - pre-born children.

The amendment, which is known as the Personhood Amendment, will define all human beings as equal persons under the law from the very beginning of their biological development – which is conception.

Led by local pro-lifers, Gregory Thompson and Pastor Mark Kiser the Missouri Personhood Amendment joins Florida, Montana, Colorado, and Mississippi, which started Personhood efforts earlier this year. “No human being in the state of Missouri should ever be considered property,” stated Gregory Thompson of Personhood Missouri. “Right now, the child in the womb has no rights. The Personhood Amendment will simply ensure that our laws recognize what we already know: a person’s a person no matter how small.”

“Personhood USA is proud to stand with those in Missouri as they work to have all humans protected by love and by law,” added Keith Mason of Personhood USA.

So, Who or What is Personhood USA?

Personhood USA is a grassroots Christian organization founded to establish personhood efforts across America to create protection for every child by love and by law. The organization is committed to assisting and supporting personhood legislation and constitutional amendments and building local pro-life organizations through raising awareness of the personhood of the pre-born. When the term “Person” is granted to a human being, it refers to the presence of a particular set of characteristics that grant that individual certain rights such as the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In other words, to be a person is to be protected by a series of God given and constitutionally protected rights. This terrifies the pro-abortion camp!

Pro-abortion forces know that if we clearly define the pre-born baby as a person then they will have the same right to life as all Americans do! This amendment has the promise of plugging the “Blackmun Hole,” a startling admission that if personhood could be established for the pre-born, the arguments in Roe v. Wade would collapse.

Justice Harry Blackmun wrote in the majority opinion for Roe v. Wade in 1973:

“The appellee and certain amici [pro-lifers] argue that the fetus is a ‘person’ within the language and meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. In support of this, they outline at length and in detail the well-known facts of fetal development. If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant’s case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.”

During Blackmun’s time, the “well-known facts of fetal development” were a far cry from what is known today. Ultrasonography and DNA testing were yet to be invented. In 1973, most held that “life” began at “quickening,” or when a woman first feels movement of the baby in the womb at 18 to 24 weeks. Some even held to the “Recapitulation Theory,” the scientifically debunked notion that the human baby underwent his entire evolutionary cycle in the womb, being first a simple one-celled creature, then later a fish, then later a mammal, then finally a human, which of course now seems absurd.

The science of fetology in 1973 was not able to prove, as it can now, that a fully human and unique individual exists at the moment of fertilization and continues to grow through various stages of development in a continuum (barring tragedy) until natural death from old age.

If the Court considers the humanity of the pre-born child, for which there is overwhelming scientific evidence, it could restore the legal protections of person-hood to the pre-born under the 14th Amendment as Blackmun foretold, stopping abortion in a few and then in all fifty states!

From abort73.com we have this explanation: “There are essentially two issues which must be resolved concerning unborn embryos and fetuses. The first is, ‘Are they human beings?’ The second is, ‘Should they be recognized as persons under the law?’ We’ve already established that there is no debate on the first question. It is a matter of plain, objective science. Embryos and fetuses are fully and individually human from the moment of fertilization on. If this were not true, if unborn children were not demonstrably human, there would be no need to even talk about rights of personhood. Removing a fetus would be the moral equivalent of pulling a tooth. This, however, is not the case, and so the debate must now enter the political arena.”

There is a very real sense in which the need to answer this second question that is, in itself, an absurdity. If you look up the word “person” in your average dictionary (we’ll use Webster’s), you’ll find something like this: “Person n. A human being.”

A person, simply put, is a human being. This fact should be enough. The intrinsic humanity of unborn children, by definition, makes them persons and should, therefore, guarantee their protection under the law. For more than thirty years, however, this has not been the case. The situation we are left with is this. In America today, there is a huge and singular group of living human beings who have no protection under the law and are being killed en masse every day. Is that not astounding?! It is astounding, but not wholly unprecedented.

There have been at least two other instances in American history in which specific groups of human beings were stripped of their rights of personhood as a means of justifying their horrible mistreatment. African-Americans and Native-Americans both felt the brunt of a system which denied their humanity, stripped their personhood and subjected them to horrors beyond measure. While the legal framework that made such injustice possible has now been removed, it remains firmly in place for unborn Americans.

There remains one, and only one, group of human beings in the U.S. today for which being human is not enough. The inconvenience of their existence has resulted in a legal loophole of shameful proportions. What is a person? A person is a human being (unless, of course, you haven’t been born yet, in which case we’ll define personhood in any way possible so as to exclude you, kill you and forget you).

Language for Initiative Petition

The following is the initiative ballot language that has been proposed by Personhood Missouri:

“Be it resolved by the people of the State of Missouri that the Constitution be amended.

One new section is adopted to be known as section 35 of Article I, (or if section 35 of Article I already exists, then this proposal shall add a new section to Article I in the next available numeric order), to read as follows: Section 35, Person defined. As used in sections 2, 10, and 14 of Article I of the State Constitution, the term ‘person’ shall apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.”

Personhood Missouri also provided a suggestion for the Ballot Title (the question which voters will see on their ballots): “Shall there be an amendment to the Missouri Constitution applying the term ‘person,’ as used in those provisions of the Missouri Constitution relating to natural rights, due process of law, and access to courts of justice to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being?”

Initiative Petition Signatures Needed

At the time of this report Personhood Missouri was right on tract for their 31 day process, which started September 17th, for going forward with their initiative petition. If successful, their constitutional amendment will be on the ballot in November of 2010.

According to Thompson, Personhood Missouri is looking for approximately 2,500 people across the State to help gather signatures when they can start collecting signatures (which won’t be until the Secretary of State approves their petition). According to State statutes, the actual number of petition signatures needed amounts to eight percent of the registered voters in six of Missouri’s nine Congressional Districts. Thompson has been advised to gather at least 225,000 signatures to allow a margin of error for signatures which might be disqualified.

During my interview with Thompson I asked him what his greatest need was. In the spirit of a true man of God, which he is, he asked first and foremost for prayer. “I ask people to pray that we will not have any roadblocks in our process and that our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, will bless our efforts with success to His glory.” He continued, “God has spoken to us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 on how to heal our land. He said ‘If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.’ There is no doubt in my mind that we are under judgment in this nation for turning our backs on God and literally murdering our children, which is an abomination to a Holy God. I pray that we listen to God and turn from our wicked ways. I pray that those who are our Shepherds will lead as Jesus would, and always put principal over pragmatism. Jesus knows that a child at the beginning of its biological development is a ‘person’ and He would protect them. My prayer is that everyone who reads your article will call and volunteer to help us. There is a lot to be done and we need help – physically, financially and spiritually.”

And to that I say Amen!

For more information or to interview Gregory Thompson he may be contacted by calling (417) 754-8774 or (417) 894-5768 or via email at personhoodmo@yahoo.com. Pastor Mark Kiser may be reached by calling (417) 773-4840. For more information about Personhood USA, please visit their website at www.personhoodusa.com.