Georgia RTL: Majority support personhood amendment

Georgia Right to Life approached county chapters of the Democratic and Republican parties asking them to include a vote on support for a state personhood amendment in their primary ballots. A personhood amendment is a law which recognizes the unborn as legal persons who are entitled to equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment. This would ban abortion except when the mother’s life is in danger. (Laws allowing people to kill in self-defense are very common and do not violate the Equal Protection Clause.) The resolution passed by overwhelming majorities in every Republican Party. In one county, they even got a majority of Democrats on board!

Georgia Right to life chapters began work this spring in requesting that their local county parties place this non-binding “party” question on their local party ballots. Both Democrat and Republican parties were approached. Butts county was the only county to succeed in getting both parties to cooperate and approve the measure (Republicans 79% and the Democrats 72%). “There is no question that the people of Georgia would pass a Personhood Amendment IF given the chance!”, says Dan Becker, President of Georgia Right to Life. “The ball is now in the Legislature’s hands to allow the people a voice on the most pressing human rights issue of the 21st century . . . deny them at your own peril.”

In 2011, GRTL will use the results of the ballot to lobby the Georgia Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the 2012 general election ballot.

So far, no state has been able to pass a personhood amendment, forcing pro-lifers to focus on measures that provide only partial protection to the unborn.