Media Release: August 31, 2010

'Personhood' Movement Is Anti-Life: Amendment 62 Destructive and Flawed, New Paper Shows

Coalition for Secular Government / Sedalia, Colorado / August 31, 2010

Contact:

• Diana Hsieh, co-author of "Amendment 48 Is Anti-Life" and Founder of the Coalition for Secular Government, diana@SecularGovernment.us
• Ari Armstrong, co-author of "Amendment 48 Is Anti-Life" and editor of FreeColorado.com, ari@freecolorado.com

In a comprehensive new paper to be released Sept. 1, political writer Ari Armstrong and moral philosopher Diana Hsieh, PhD, show why Amendment 62, the "personhood" measure, should be defeated.

"Amendment 62 is ideologically flawed and horribly destructive in its consequences," Armstrong said. "If passed and enforced, the measure would ban abortion, the birth control pill, common fertility treatments, and embryonic stem cell research. It would threaten women, their partners, and their doctors with severe criminal penalties for terminating a pregnancy, even in cases of rape, incest, terminal fetal deformity, and risks to the woman's health."

Hsieh added, "Even though voters defeated 2008's measure by wide margins, 'personhood' advocates are persistent and consistent, and they take advantage of the weak arguments offered by many abortion-rights activists. The new paper shows why women have the right to get an abortion, why rights begin at birth, not conception, and why the case for 'personhood' is fundamentally flawed."

To obtain a copy of the paper, see http://seculargovernment.us/ on Sept. 1, or contact Ari Armstrong or Diana Hsieh.