Personhood on the March Nationwide!

In the past two weeks, the North Dakota House passed HB 1572 by a 51-41 vote. This Personhood bill will establish any unborn child of the human genome to be a person under N. Dakota law. HB 1572 will go to the Senate, where passage seems likely, perhaps as early as this week, and Gov. John Hoeven has reportedly said that he will sign it!

Furthermore, the Montana Senate has passed two bills, SB 46, which declares in the Montana Constitution that the state has a compelling interest in protecting unborn children, and so they are not meant by the legislature to be covered by the state's "privacy" clause (a common defense for abortion), and SB 406, also written by State Senate President Dan McGee, which declares "All persons are born free and have certain inalienable rights," and later says, "Person means a human being at all stages of human development of life, including the state of fertilization or conception, regardless of age, health, level of functioning, or condition of dependency." SB 406 passed 26-24 on the 26th. The Montana House is Democrat-controlled, and so is not seen as a hospitable environment for this legislation, but it seems that if the House were to pass it, it would automatically become an amendment to the state Constitution.

Please pray that at least 74 Montana House members will support this legislation when it comes to them!

Please also pray for God's support for Personhood USA, an organization founded by friends of Colorado Right to Life (Cal Zastrow and Keith Mason), which is busy organizing Personhood legislation and new Personhood ballot initiatives in several states. By the end of the summer, we may see one form or another of Personhood legislation under consideration in as many as 15 states!

Colorado Right to Life is working on getting Personhood legislation in Colorado this year or next, and we intend to continue to educate the public through all possible means -- Internet, public demonstrations, mailings, radio, TV, etc. Of course, this is a follow-on effort to Colorado Right to Life's 2008 support for Amendment 48, the Colorado Personhood Initiative, which garnered the support of almost 600,000 Colorado voters in November!

If you would like to help Colorado Right to Life perform this important work, please visit http://www.coloradorighttolife.org/donate and make a donation!

Keep in mind that other pro-life groups across the country have different, and less far-reaching strategies for protecting children. Colorado Right to Life (and its national organization, American Right to Life) remains one of the central organizers of Personhood efforts nationwide, and much of the work in favor of Personhood that has been occurring is an outgrowth of the work of Colorado Right to Life's and American Right to Life's Nov 2007 Personhood Summit, which brought together the nation's leading supporters of Personhood into a concerted campaign.