Downfall of Personhood Laws

Personhood.
What does it mean?

The dictionary defines personhood as
"the quality or condition of being an individual person."

It really is a simple explanation. There are not multiple explanations. There are not confusing details that the layman would not be qualified to decipher. At least at this moment in time.

Unfortunately for American women, the "pro-life" movement is on a mission to make an embryo have equal rights, or more rights, than the woman carrying it. This is of course in a mission to eliminate abortion rights but in the mean time women all over America with very much wanted pregnancies are falling victim to these same laws.

Personhood USA is a anti-abortion group working on getting a constitutional amendment passed that would be virtually devastating for women. Not because our rights for abortion would be stripped, but because our rights to simply make choices in our own maternity care would also be heavily violated.

In fact, across America, in states with some type of personhood laws currently passed the battle is already beginning.

Want to use a midwife for your pre-natal care? Some states may say you are endangering your baby and involve child protective services! Want to have a vaginal birth after a previous c-section, they may just drag you into the hospital with a Sheriff to force you to have a repeat c-section against your will. Don't think this is actually happening?


These women, most staunchly pro-life advocates, were violated by the same laws their cause wants put in place to force all women into carrying pregnancies to term. Losing their own rights to informed decision making in their own medical care. Losing the right to control what happens to their own body. Losing the right to make their own pre-natal care decisions and losing the right to make their birth the special experience it should be.

No matter how you want to cut it, and what your cause is, there are two very distinct flaws with these personhood laws, and the proposed amendment.

1.) These are sexist. They will only impact women in our country. Men will be able to make their own medical choices whether it is for their Viagra or diabetes treatment. Which proposes the question of "Are these laws saying women aren't fit to make their own informed decisions?"

2.) Pregnancy is delicate. Especially in the first trimester. Will women be arrested if they miscarry? Will mother's be charged with murder for a stillbirth? Will the rights of a non-viable fetus trump the rights and decisions of a 30 year old woman? It is too slippery of a slope.

In the end, all we can do is fight back and hope rational prevails over extremist stupidity. Which is exactly what any form of personhood laws are. Irrational, dangerous, and stupid!

Extremists, Not Republicans

The Tea Party.

Where do I even start?

I could focus on the fact that most American citizens that identify themselves as Tea Party supporters are of retirement age now, or will be in a few short years.  In a Gallup poll, those citizens who identify as Tea Party supporters fall into these following statistics:

20% - 65 and Older
29% - 50 - 64 Years of age
Over the younger generations which account for 51% of the Tea Party supporter population. Those age groups break down as so:

16% - 18 - 29 Years of age
34% - 30 - 49 Years of age.

Let us also not forget that the majority of these supporters are men. Breaking down to a 55:45 split. But the real kicker in the pants is how they identify themselves politically. Because if we are being honest here, The Tea Party is not a political affiliation.

49% identify as Republicans. (Are we really surprised?) 43% identify as Independents, and a whole 8% identify as Democrats.

Lastly, they are prominently white. While personally watching some of these Tea Party protests, I have noticed the serious lack of diversity as well as the noticeable racist undertones. That is a whole subject in its own though. The amount of Non-Hispanic Whites in the movement is 79%. With 6% Hispanic or Hispanic Whites, and a whopping 15% in the "other" category.

Now that all the statistical mumbo jumbo is out of the way, I want to really get to my point. Because this isn't about the numbers or who the Tea Party is, it is about how they package and present themselves. The title of my post is Extremists, Not Republicans. Which is what this movement is.

These are white, male, Republicans using a new cloak of history to promote their right wing, racist, Christian viewpoints. Pro-Life, Anti-Health Care Reform, Wealthy, Christian bigots who want the country run on their own personal beliefs.

While The Newsroom is a fictional show, it based its incredibly accurate assessment of The Tea Party on facts, real news clips, and what the country has been dealing with since these geriatrics bust out of the nursing home.



Jeff Daniels, or Will MacEvoy as his character is named in The Newsroom, hits the nail right on the head. These Tea Party leaders are not concerned about the state of the American people but instead concerned about their own personal agenda. They are the American Taliban. They are everything they hate about other countries, right here on our home front.

My personal assessment of this group of people is simple. They are stuck in the past. It is a generational thing. They want to see America exactly like it was in the early 1950's, when to them life was perfect.

Women stayed at home with the kids and listened to their husbands. Mainly for fear or society or being backhanded if they got out of line. Families were one man, one woman, and 1.5 children with a white picket fence and a dog. Women didn't have higher education or careers making them dependent upon men. Men were the lawmakers and had the final say in most of everything.

Unfortunately for this dated group, this is not what America is nor stands for in the year 2012. Women have careers and rights. Women make more than their husbands, and have the lovely legal right to choose their own course of medical care when it comes to the privacy of their uterus. We no longer have to ask our husband's for permission to drive or leave the house.

Women are lawmakers. Women are teachers. Women are doctors. Women are independent. We will not take a step back into the dark ages of American history when our rights were limited to "keep us under control".

Why don't we just go ahead and admit what we all already know. The Tea Party is a group of misogynistic extremists, stuck in 1950.

We are the ones with the power.
Vote these assholes out!