The North Dakota Senate ruled against the so-called "Personhood Amendment" just moments ago and it wasn't even close (29-16).
According to Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota (an organization which has been tirelessly working to defeat this bill so thank you!),
If passed, HB 1572 could have outlawed contraception as well as medical procedures used to treat tubal pregnancies and infertility, impacting thousands of laws in the North Dakota Century Code.
We know from the failed personhood ballot measure in Colorado last year, pushed by a state group that expanded into Personhood USA behind the North Dakota bill, that these types of bills are so poorly constructed, so vague, that if passed, the law had the potential to empower the government to gain control over almost all of a woman's reproductive and sexual health care.
“This poorly constructed legislation would have had a profound impact on the state, affecting everything from when property rights are granted, to inheritance rights, to access to the courts,” said Tim Stanley, Senior Director of Government and Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota (PPMNS).
“This bill would have put the government in charge of personal health care decisions best left to women, their doctors and families--not politicians,” said Stanley.
Unfortunately, they also passed (by voice vote) a resolution rejecting the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) for their state (h/t Kay Steiger!).
