Blank Check for Government Intrusion? North Dakota's Amendment One Is Disguised Personhood Law

The "Life Begins at Conception" Amendment is first and foremost intended to criminalize all abortions, at any stage: removing American women's Constitutionally-protected reproductive rights. Do they admit this? Usually not. But in a moment of candor...
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But a "yes" vote on Amendment 1, the personhood amendment, could bring a veritable flood of government intrusion into those same folks' lives.

"The inalienable right to life of every human being at any stage of development must be recognized and protected."

But those words are like the small print in a contract. Their meaning may not be clear, but it can come back and bite you just the same.

What is the amendment's purpose?

The "Life Begins at Conception" Amendment is first and foremost intended to criminalize all abortions, at any stage: removing American women's Constitutionally-protected reproductive rights.

Do they admit this? Usually not. But in a moment of candor...

These are not spelled out, which makes the matter even worse.

If asked, does the Amendment criminalize embryonic stem cell research, or the In Vitro Fertilization procedure, or the birth control pill, the authors of the amendment can say no. These side effects are not mentioned.

But once this Amendment is put into the state constitution, sheer common sense suggests there will be problems. The Amendment does not mention a blatant attack on women's rights, but any thoughtful analysis makes clear the threat.

And there is a lot more.

Similarly, there will be (perhaps unintended) side effects to Amendment One.

Consider just three:

Should we criminalize stem cell research, birth control pills, the IVF procedure -- and a woman's right to choose -- without even directly discussing them?

Amendment One , the "Life Begins at Conception" Amendment, is a blank check for government intrusion into North Dakotans' private lives.

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