Amidst a Budget Crisis and Record Unemployment, What Concerns Michigan's Republican Lawmakers? Eggs-As-People, Of Course!!!
by Jodi Jacobson, Editor-in-Chief, RH Reality Check
October 21, 2009 - 11:04am (Print)
Amidst a serious fiscal crisis and record unemployment, Republican lawmakers in Michigan had not much better to do than to propose a to amend the state's constitution to recognize fertilized eggs as people. Thanks to our colleague Todd Heywood of Michigan Independent for the document.
According to the State of Michigan official website, the state's unemployment rate in September 2009 was 15.3 percent, not counting those who have stopped looking for work altogether. Cuts to education, health services, and other social safety nets not to mention in other areas of the state are being made regularly. In fact, the legislature recently cut funding for family planning services.
So, while women now face increasing difficulties gaining access to contraceptives to prevent unintended pregnancies at a time when millions are less able to actually afford an unplanned pregnancy right now, the helpful Republicans of the Michigan legislature want to make sure that they are unable not only to obtain abortions, but also to use any form of birth control that might interfere with this bill's definition of "life."
As Wendy Norris and others have regularly reported here (see links below), the implications of these so-called "personhood" amendments, which are spreading like the swine-flu in state legislatures, such laws would also outlaw any activity or medical treatment required by a woman--radiation or chemotherapy for breast cancer, say--that might interfere with the "personhood" of fertilized eggs, or the possibility that a fertilized egg might be present in the carrier of said egg-people.
It is hard to believe that proponents of these laws can actually take themselves seriously when untold numbers of people, including live born children, in Michigan and across the country are finding it difficult to afford food if they need medicine, or shelter if they need food, or clothing when money is short for shelter....
But no: We will make sure that every fertilized egg has its day in court.
Let the rest of them eat cake.
Other articles on RHRC about egg-as-person laws...
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/08/17/eggasperson-crusade-drives-big-money-antichoice-groups
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/07/07/antiabortion-activists-push-new-more-radical-personhood-measures
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/09/16/eggasaperson-state-law-campaigns-attract-new-faces-old-radicals
Follow Jodi Jacobson on Twitter, @jljacobson
It's always funny to see RHRC call these measures Egg as People law. Take a basic science class. Eggs are not people. But after fertilization or conception takes places, there is a unique human being formed. I know that is hard to accept but it is basic embryological science. Quit putting politics over science.
Science also demonstrates that some of those zygotes are definitely NOT people, but instead 'molar pregnancies' and that others are definitely NOT people but instead genetic mistakes that are inadequate to form a 'person'. I haven't seen any recognition of that fact in this laws. Go back to your embryological science books and study up on "aberrant genomic imprinting disorders" or "gestational trophoblastic disease" or "chromosonal abnormalities".
Then the laws can be rewritten to include the necessary qualifier "normally the zygote spontaneously aborts but less than half the time there might be the necessary DNA present to create a person". Until then it is you who is subverting science in the service of politics.
It is true that some products of sperm-egg fusion are not human organisms (such as hydatiform moles, teranomas, or choricarcinoma). However, this merely shows that fertilization is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for a human organism to exist. Appealing to the deathrate of embryos is insufficent evidence against their humanity. After all, infant/child mortality is some parts of the world is as high as 27%, but that doesn't mean those children aren't human. The same is true for zygotes, at least those zygotes that succesfully fertilize without fatal genetic aberration. Zygotes are still human even with some genetic malady. For example zygotes with Trisomy 21 are still human organisms, they simply will be diagnosed later as having Downs Syndrome (some of whom are my friends). BTW, Personhood is not a scientific concept and therefore science is incapable of commenting on the alleged personhood of any human organism, born or unborn.
These laws seek to declare zygotes as people with full rights under the law....indeed with rights that supercede their "host"...known in some circles as women or sentient human beings.
These are "egg-as-people" laws. You might not like it, but that's what it is and that is how ludicrous the reality.
Jodi Jacobson
Technically zygotes are fertilized eggs, but that is tantamount to saying newborn infants are "born fetuses." Just as birth changes the circumstances of fetuses and they are reclassified as infants, fertilization changes the nature and circumstance of eggs from haploid cells to diploid cells that are reclassified as a zygote or a one-celled human organism.
For evidence that human organisms begin their existence after the process of fertilization see this embryology book on Amazon (click to page 8). Anyone who claims there are embryology books that dispute when a human organism begins its existence should post evidence, not assertions. Science tell us what is, not what should be. It gives facts but not moral guidance in the abortion debate.
For evidence that human organisms begin their existence after the process of fertilization
You're once again missing the point that although "human organisms begin their existence after the process of fertilization", the reverse is NOT true. The process of human reproductive fertilization does not ALWAYS result in a 'human organism'. A law which asserts what is known to be scientifically inaccurate shouldn't be passed.
I never said it always did. All human organisms you see today (except identical twins) began their existence as the result of a succesful fertilization of a male and female human gamete, or sex-cell. Just because some products of fertilization are not organisms doesn't mean they all aren't.
All human organisms you see today (except identical twins) began their existence as the result of a succesful fertilization of a male and female human gamete, or sex-cell.
Back to that textbook for a refresher -- actually identical twins ALSO begin their existence after successful fertilization!
The converse is true - just because some products of fertilization are organisms doesn't mean they all are. That was my point. It is not possible to change scientific/medical fact by passing legislation. That's why the law is dumb.
Well, we'll see how far it gets. News outlets are silent thus far...hopefully, it never gets out of commitee.
If a fertilized egg is a person... does that mean identical twins or triplets are only one person?
Clearly there is more to a person than just a fertilized egg.
I myself believe we are our brain, not our chromosomes. We consider ourselves dead when our brain dies, even though we still have all our dna, and our body may even still be alive. I consider us "alive" when our brain is alive. That is why twins are separate... even conjoined twins are considered separate people if they only have one body but two heads!
conjoined twins are considered separate people if they only have one body but two heads!
You're right, and that's an excellent point. An infant born with four legs or even almost two bodies is NOT considered 'conjoined twins' but instead just grossly malformed.
http://blog.mlive.com/flint-city-beat/2009/10/abortion_would_be_outlawed...
Bill Ballenger, a respected political analyst here in Michigan, weighs in...
Looks like this effort is as much a matter of political ambition as any concern for Team Zygote.
"In just five short years, the primary movers and shakers in the absolutist anti-abortion/anti-choice movement seeking to promote the "personhood" of zygotes (the single cell that forms after a sperm fertilizes an egg) have amassed nearly $58 million in tax-deductible contributions for their cause.
...
Personhood USA, founded by long-time Operation Rescue activists Keith Mason and Cal Zastrow, was awarded charitable status in 2009 and has yet to file its financials."
http://www.truthout.org/081909E?n
