Personhood movement
Encyclopedia
The personhood movement is an effort to establish who has the status of a person
within a society
. The concept of personhood is closely tied to legal and political concepts of citizenship
, equality
, and liberty
. According to law
, only a natural person
or legal personality
has rights
, protections, privileges, responsibilities, and legal liability
.
Personhood continues to be a topic of international debate. Historically, personhood was questioned during the abolition of slavery
, the fight for women's rights
, debates about abortion
, fetal rights
and reproductive rights
as well as debates about corporate personhood
.
, women got the right to vote. In 1971, US Supreme Court ruled in Reed v. Reed
that the 14th amendment
applies to women, as "people" according to the US Constitution. In 2011, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
argued that women do not have equal protection under the 14th amendment as "people" because men's rights
are guaranteed by specific language in the Constitution, but women's rights
are not mentioned.
determined that slavery
was unsupported by law in England
and Wales
, but not elsewhere in the British Empire
. In 1868, under the 14th Amendment, black males in the United States became citizens. In 1870, under the 15th Amendment
, black males got the right to vote.
, that corporations have the same rights as natural persons to enforce contracts.
seeks to define the beginning of human personhood
as starting from the moment of fertilization
, with the consequence that abortion
, as well as forms of birth control that prevent implantation of the embryo
, could become illegal. Supporters of the movement also state that it would have effects on the practice of in-vitro fertilization.
Opponents of the movement regard it as an attempt by the pro-life movement to circumvent the Roe v. Wade
U.S. Supreme Court decision by indirect means, without exceptions even in the case of rape
or incest
. Some medical organizations have described the potential effects of personhood legislation as potentially harmful to patients and the practice of medicine, particularly in the cases of ectopic
and molar pregnancy.
The principal organization within this movement is Personhood USA, a Colorado
-based umbrella group with a number of state-level affiliates which describes itself as a nonprofit Christian ministry and seeks to ban abortion, embryonic stem cell
research and human cloning
. Personhood USA was founded by the anti-abortion campaigner Keith Mason
in 2008 following the failure of an attempt by the Colorado for Equal Rights campaign to establish a state constitutional personhood amendment.
Several attempts to enact the from-fertilization definition of personhood into U.S. state constitutions
via referenda have failed. Following two failures to enact similar changes in Colorado
in 2008 and 2010, a 2011 initiative to amend the state constitution by referendum in the highly conservative state of Mississippi
also failed to gain approval with around 58% of voters disapproving. In an interview after the referendum, Mason ascribed the failure of the initiative to a campaign run by Planned Parenthood
.
Other similar initiatives are being planned for 2012 by supporters in California
, Florida
, Montana
, Nevada
and Ohio
.
, an autonomous province of Spain
, passed the world's first legislation granting legal rights to all great apes
. In 1992, Switzerland
amended its constitution to recognize animals as beings and not things. However, in 1999 the Swiss constitution was completely rewritten. A decade later, Germany
guaranteed rights to animals in a 2002 amendment to its constitution, becoming the first European Union
member to do so. New Zealand
granted basic rights to five great ape species in 1999. Their use is now forbidden in research, testing or teaching.
Person
A person is a human being, or an entity that has certain capacities or attributes strongly associated with being human , for example in a particular moral or legal context...
within a society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
. The concept of personhood is closely tied to legal and political concepts of citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
, equality
Equality before the law
Equality before the law or equality under the law or legal egalitarianism is the principle under which each individual is subject to the same laws....
, and liberty
Liberty
Liberty is a moral and political principle, or Right, that identifies the condition in which human beings are able to govern themselves, to behave according to their own free will, and take responsibility for their actions...
. According to law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, only a natural person
Natural person
Variously, in jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being, as opposed to an artificial, legal or juristic person, i.e., an organization that the law treats for some purposes as if it were a person distinct from its members or owner...
or legal personality
Legal personality
Legal personality is the characteristic of a non-human entity regarded by law to have the status of a person....
has rights
Rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
, protections, privileges, responsibilities, and legal liability
Legal liability
Legal liability is the legal bound obligation to pay debts.* In law a person is said to be legally liable when they are financially and legally responsible for something. Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law. See Strict liability. Under English law, with the passing of the Theft...
.
Personhood continues to be a topic of international debate. Historically, personhood was questioned during the abolition of slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, the fight for women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
, debates about abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, fetal rights
Fetal rights
Fetal rights is a term used in some countries in reference to legislation that grants legal rights to fetuses. The term is used most often in the context of the abortion debate, as the basis for an argument in support of the pro-life stance....
and reproductive rights
Reproductive rights
Reproductive rights are legal rights and freedoms relating to reproduction and reproductive health. The World Health Organization defines reproductive rights as follows:...
as well as debates about corporate personhood
Corporate personhood
Corporate personhood is the status conferred upon corporations under the law, which allows corporations to have rights and responsibilities similar to those of a natural person. There is a question about which subset of rights that are afforded to natural persons should also be afforded to...
.
Personhood of women in the US
In 1920, with the 19th AmendmentNineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
, women got the right to vote. In 1971, US Supreme Court ruled in Reed v. Reed
Reed v. Reed
Reed v. Reed, , was an Equal Protection case in the United States in which the Supreme Court ruled that the administrators of estates cannot be named in a way that discriminates between sexes. After the death of their adopted son, Sally and Cecil Reed sought to be named the administrator of their...
that the 14th amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
applies to women, as "people" according to the US Constitution. In 2011, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
argued that women do not have equal protection under the 14th amendment as "people" because men's rights
Men's rights
Men's rights is an umbrella term, encompassing the political rights, entitlements, and freedoms given or denied to males within a nation or culture....
are guaranteed by specific language in the Constitution, but women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
are not mentioned.
Personhood of slaves
In 1772, Somersett's CaseSomersett's Case
R v Knowles, ex parte Somersett 20 State Tr 1 is a famous judgment of the English Court of King's Bench in 1772 which held that slavery was unsupported by law in England and Wales...
determined that slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
was unsupported by law in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, but not elsewhere in the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. In 1868, under the 14th Amendment, black males in the United States became citizens. In 1870, under the 15th Amendment
Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude"...
, black males got the right to vote.
Corporate personhood in the US
In 1819, the US Supreme Court ruled in Dartmouth College v. WoodwardDartmouth College v. Woodward
Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 U.S. 518 , was a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with the application of the Contract Clause of the United States Constitution to private corporations...
, that corporations have the same rights as natural persons to enforce contracts.
Beginning of personhood in the US
A political movement in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
seeks to define the beginning of human personhood
Beginning of human personhood
The beginning of human personhood is the period in an individual's life when he or she is recognized, or begins to be recognized, as a person. The precise timing and nature of this occurrence is not universally agreed upon, and has been the subject of discussion and debate in science, religion and...
as starting from the moment of fertilization
Fertilisation
Fertilisation is the fusion of gametes to produce a new organism. In animals, the process involves the fusion of an ovum with a sperm, which eventually leads to the development of an embryo...
, with the consequence that abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, as well as forms of birth control that prevent implantation of the embryo
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
, could become illegal. Supporters of the movement also state that it would have effects on the practice of in-vitro fertilization.
Opponents of the movement regard it as an attempt by the pro-life movement to circumvent the Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
U.S. Supreme Court decision by indirect means, without exceptions even in the case of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
or incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
. Some medical organizations have described the potential effects of personhood legislation as potentially harmful to patients and the practice of medicine, particularly in the cases of ectopic
Ectopic pregnancy
An ectopic pregnancy, or eccysis , is a complication of pregnancy in which the embryo implants outside the uterine cavity. With rare exceptions, ectopic pregnancies are not viable. Furthermore, they are dangerous for the parent, since internal haemorrhage is a life threatening complication...
and molar pregnancy.
The principal organization within this movement is Personhood USA, a Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
-based umbrella group with a number of state-level affiliates which describes itself as a nonprofit Christian ministry and seeks to ban abortion, embryonic stem cell
Embryonic stem cell
Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent stem cells derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst, an early-stage embryo. Human embryos reach the blastocyst stage 4–5 days post fertilization, at which time they consist of 50–150 cells...
research and human cloning
Human cloning
Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. It does not usually refer to monozygotic multiple births nor the reproduction of human cells or tissue. The ethics of cloning is an extremely controversial issue...
. Personhood USA was founded by the anti-abortion campaigner Keith Mason
Keith Mason (activist)
Keith Mason is the founder of Personhood USA which was launched following the 2008 Colorado for Equal Rights Campaign. The intent of this campaign was to define the term "Person" as used in the Colorado Constitution as starting from the moment of conception, thus in theory outlawing...
in 2008 following the failure of an attempt by the Colorado for Equal Rights campaign to establish a state constitutional personhood amendment.
Several attempts to enact the from-fertilization definition of personhood into U.S. state constitutions
State constitution (United States)
In the United States, each state has its own constitution.Usually, they are longer than the 7,500-word federal Constitution and are more detailed regarding the day-to-day relationships between government and the people. The shortest is the Constitution of Vermont, adopted in 1793 and currently...
via referenda have failed. Following two failures to enact similar changes in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
in 2008 and 2010, a 2011 initiative to amend the state constitution by referendum in the highly conservative state of Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
also failed to gain approval with around 58% of voters disapproving. In an interview after the referendum, Mason ascribed the failure of the initiative to a campaign run by Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood Federation of America , commonly shortened to Planned Parenthood, is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation and one of its larger members. PPFA is a non-profit organization providing reproductive health and maternal and child health services. The...
.
Other similar initiatives are being planned for 2012 by supporters in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
and Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
.
Personhood of animals
In 2007 the parliament of the Balearic IslandsBalearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, an autonomous province of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, passed the world's first legislation granting legal rights to all great apes
Great Apes
Great Apes may refer to*Great apes, species in the biological family Hominidae, including humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans*Great Apes , a 1997 novel by Will Self...
. In 1992, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
amended its constitution to recognize animals as beings and not things. However, in 1999 the Swiss constitution was completely rewritten. A decade later, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
guaranteed rights to animals in a 2002 amendment to its constitution, becoming the first European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
member to do so. New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
granted basic rights to five great ape species in 1999. Their use is now forbidden in research, testing or teaching.
See also
- SpeciesismSpeciesismSpeciesism is the assigning of different values or rights to beings on the basis of their species membership. The term was created by British psychologist Richard D...
- Abortion debateAbortion debateThe abortion debate refers to discussion and controversy surrounding the moral and legal status of abortion. The two main groups involved in the abortion debate are the self-described "pro-choice" movement and the "pro-life" movement...
- Beginning of human personhoodBeginning of human personhoodThe beginning of human personhood is the period in an individual's life when he or she is recognized, or begins to be recognized, as a person. The precise timing and nature of this occurrence is not universally agreed upon, and has been the subject of discussion and debate in science, religion and...
- Colorado Right to LifeColorado Right to LifeColorado Right to Life is an American pro-life advocacy group based in the state of Colorado. CRTL believes all human beings not convicted of a capital crime have a right to life from the moment of fertilization until natural death...