Copio de Bioedge una noticia interesante porque pone de manifiesto que todo puede cambiar no solo a peor, sino también a mejor:
One of the most contentious issues in modern philosophy is «what is a person»? Are all humans persons? Are all persons human? But for Colorado voters this is not going to be a cob-webbed academic question, but a box to be ticked in November’s ballot. A local anti-abortion group has succeeded in placing «the Human Life Amendment» on the ballot by garnering 103,000 signatures on a petition. The proposed amendment says that the words «person» or «persons» in the state constitution should «include any human being from the moment of fertilization.» If successful, it would give embryos the same legal rights and protections to which people are entitled.
Somewhat surprisingly, the measure is not supported by larger organisations opposed to abortion, National Right to Life and Focus on the Family. The sponsors of the personhood amendment, Colorado Right to Life, are at loggerheads with both, seeing them as too soft on abortion. The other groups regard Colorado RTL as a «rogue and divisive» organisation.
«The goal is to restore legal protection to preborn babies from the moment they are conceived, which is the only way we’re going to stop abortion,» said Leslie Hanks, vice president of Colorado RTL. Not only abortion, say abortion supporters, but embryo research and certain means of contraception. «Because this amendment would define a person in a given way and expand the universe of who persons are, it expands the reach of laws that deal with persons,» said Bill Araiza, a law professor at Loyola University in Los Angeles.
It is hard to know how successful the measure will be in November. Even if it fails, it will at least test-drive the tactic in other states. «This is just the first round,» says Robert Muise, a lawyer with the Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center, public interest firm that has drafted language for similar efforts in Oregon, Montana and Georgia. ~ Washington Post, July 13
