Paul Ryan and Todd Akin Partnered On Radical ‘Personhood’ Bill

[Synthaholic]

Paul Ryan and Todd Akin Partnered On Radical ‘Personhood’ Bill Outlawing Abortion And Many Birth Control Pills


Yesterday, ThinkProgress reported that Rep. Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin (R-MO) and GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan both cosponsored the bill that introduced America to the despicable term “forcible rape.” As it turns out, this may only be the second most sweeping attack on reproductive freedom that both men partnered on. Ryan and Akin also cosponsored a federal personhood bill, the Sanctity of Human Life Act of 2009, which declares that a fertilized egg is entitled to the exact same legal rights as a human being:

(1) the Congress declares that–

(A) the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being, and is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person; and

(B) the life of each human being begins with fertilization, cloning, or its functional equivalent, irrespective of sex, health, function or disability, defect, stage of biological development, or condition of dependency, at which time every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood; and

(2) the Congress affirms that the Congress, each State, the District of Columbia, and all United States territories have the authority to protect the lives of all human beings residing in its respective jurisdictions.

Lest there be any doubt, this bill is unconstitutional. Congress does not have the power to overrule Roe v. Wade by an ordinary statue, only a constitutional amendment could serve that purpose. Moreover, even if Roe were overruled by the Supreme Court, Ryan and Akin’s bill still attempts to redefine who “the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution” applies to. Again, changing the meaning of the Constitution can only be done through an amendment, not through an ordinary Act of Congress.

Should Ryan and Akin’s personhood agenda take effect, however, it would drastically reduce women’s reproductive choice.


*snip*

 

[beretta304]

Now we're going to try the guilt by association route. Odd how this didn't bother you until after the news broke about his comments.

 

[Synthaholic]

Now we're going to try the guilt by association route. Odd how this didn't bother you until after the news broke about his comments.

Never heard of Todd Akin prior to his monumental fuck-up.

But now we learn that he and Ryan are two peas in a pod, working together to deprive women of their rights.

Good choice, Mitt!

 

[beretta304]

Now we're going to try the guilt by association route. Odd how this didn't bother you until after the news broke about his comments.

Never heard of Todd Akin prior to his monumental fuck-up.

But now we learn that he and Ryan are two peas in a pod, working together to deprive women of their rights.

Good choice, Mitt!

But you made sure you went and looked for a way to bring Ryan into it. It certainly didn't fall into your computer screen. Yeah, so is the whole Republican Party right? You guys are as predictable as yesterday's weather.

 

[Synthaholic]

Now we're going to try the guilt by association route. Odd how this didn't bother you until after the news broke about his comments.

Never heard of Todd Akin prior to his monumental fuck-up.

But now we learn that he and Ryan are two peas in a pod, working together to deprive women of their rights.

Good choice, Mitt!

But you made sure you went an looked for a way to bring Ryan into it. Yeah, so is the whole Republican Party right?

Monumental fuck-ups? Yeah, for the most part.

 

[beretta304]

Never heard of Todd Akin prior to his monumental fuck-up.

But now we learn that he and Ryan are two peas in a pod, working together to deprive women of their rights.

Good choice, Mitt!

But you made sure you went an looked for a way to bring Ryan into it. Yeah, so is the whole Republican Party right?

Monumental fuck-ups? Yeah, for the most part.

Do me a favor. Put me on your ignore list.

 

[Greenbeard]

Now we're going to try the guilt by association route. Odd how this didn't bother you until after the news broke about his comments.

Ryan isn't just "associated" with the Sanctity of Human Life Act, he co-sponsored it.

 

[squeeze berry]

I doubt very much if the OP is concerned about Obama's association with the hate whitey church

 

[Greenbeard]

An interesting question: How bad is the Ryan-Akin anti-abortion bill?

The national battle over Todd Akin’s comments about “legitimate rape” has shed light on a “personhood” bill, co-sponsored by Akin and Paul Ryan, called the Sanctity of Life Act. Much of the chatter today has focused on whether Ryan opposes abortion in cases of rape. The Romney campaign confirmed today that Ryan does personally oppose it, while clarifying that a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose it.

But what about the other legal implications of the bill Ryan and Akin co-sponsored? In an interview just now, Dem Rep. Louise Slaughter, one of the leading pro-choice voices in Congress, raised two startling possibilities.

“One of the questions around this legislation is, Could a rapist who impregnated a victim sue that victim if she decided not to carry that baby and to have an abortion?” Slaughter said. “Another question: Could in vitro fertilization be outlawed?”

It’s unclear how this legislation would work. The bill affirms that from the moment of fertilization onward, “every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.” It then says that Congress and the states have the “authority” to protect all human beings — again, defined as human life from fertilization onward — residing in their juristictions.

Slaughter’s suggestion is that this affirms the authority of Congress or the states to pass laws outlawing IVF, since that procedure requires the destruction of embryos, or that it could give legal weight to a rapist’s insistence that his victim not abort her baby — though again, it’s unclear how this would work.

“What it says is that a single cell can achieve all the protections the Constitution of the United States bestows on persons,” Slaughter said of the bill. “Scientifically the law is crazy.”

 

[Stephanie]

I bet the op wasn't concerned with the rapes happening in the OWS camps either...NOW they are all concerned...

two faced hypocrites

 

[Moonglow]

So the GOP has an extremist, who would have thunk it?

 

[beretta304]

Never heard of Todd Akin prior to his monumental fuck-up.

But now we learn that he and Ryan are two peas in a pod, working together to deprive women of their rights.

Good choice, Mitt!

But you made sure you went an looked for a way to bring Ryan into it. Yeah, so is the whole Republican Party right?

Monumental fuck-ups? Yeah, for the most part.

That's about as smart as saying all Dems are baby killers.

 

[Stephanie]

An interesting question: How bad is the Ryan-Akin anti-abortion bill?

The national battle over Todd Akin’s comments about “legitimate rape” has shed light on a “personhood” bill, co-sponsored by Akin and Paul Ryan, called the Sanctity of Life Act. Much of the chatter today has focused on whether Ryan opposes abortion in cases of rape. The Romney campaign confirmed today that Ryan does personally oppose it, while clarifying that a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose it.

But what about the other legal implications of the bill Ryan and Akin co-sponsored? In an interview just now, Dem Rep. Louise Slaughter, one of the leading pro-choice voices in Congress, raised two startling possibilities.

“One of the questions around this legislation is, Could a rapist who impregnated a victim sue that victim if she decided not to carry that baby and to have an abortion?” Slaughter said. “Another question: Could in vitro fertilization be outlawed?”

It’s unclear how this legislation would work. The bill affirms that from the moment of fertilization onward, “every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood.” It then says that Congress and the states have the “authority” to protect all human beings — again, defined as human life from fertilization onward — residing in their juristictions.

Slaughter’s suggestion is that this affirms the authority of Congress or the states to pass laws outlawing IVF, since that procedure requires the destruction of embryos, or that it could give legal weight to a rapist’s insistence that his victim not abort her baby — though again, it’s unclear how this would work.

“What it says is that a single cell can achieve all the protections the Constitution of the United States bestows on persons,” Slaughter said of the bill. “Scientifically the law is crazy.”

the compost BLOG?

 

[beretta304]

I bet the op wasn't concerned with the rapes happening in the OWS camps either...NOW they are all concerned...

two faced hypocrites

Only because they can link Ryan's name to something they perceive as a negative.

 

[beretta304]

ThinkProgress=Progressive Horseshit!

ThinkProgress

 

[Stephanie]

How sick a society or people when they call it RADICAL when to recognize a fetus/child as a person?

 

[Mac1958]

.

Yikes.

Ryan was risky on his budget alone, the fact that he's hardcore pro-life is just another target that this opens up.

Hey, if the GOP is confident in the public's opinion of the party's stance on this issue, they won't worry about this or Ryan.

.

 

[Dissent]

To bad bill didn't get through I agree with all of it except the BC part.

 

[Lakhota]

 

[Lakhota]