Pro-life campaigner: Term fertilized egg is like using N-word
‘Personhood amendment’ campaigners had previously compared embryos to slaves
Using the term “fertilized egg” is “the same thing as using the N-word,” says the pro-life minister behind a Colorado campaign to have fertilized eggs declared legal persons.
Colorado’s Amendment 62, which will appear on the ballot this November, is the second attempt by pro-life groups in the state to have fertilized eggs declared legal persons. The campaign is seen as a direct challenge to pro-choice rights, as a declaration that fertilized eggs are persons would potentially make any case of abortion a homicide.
At a rally in Colorado Springs last week, Keith Mason, the head of Personhood USA, compared the struggle for a “personhood amendment” to the struggles for equal rights for women and African Americans.
“Amendment 62 gives the rights of a person to every human being, no matter their age, their race, their sex,” Mason said, as quoted at KRDO Channel 13.
Mason continued: “I think it’s important to note with the term fertilized egg, that’s the same thing as using the N-word for an African American. Because it’s a dehumanizing term and it’s not based in science. The term would be a zygote, or an embryo, speaking of a unique individual.”
Mason was involved in the previous “personhood” effort in Colorado, which lost in the 2008 ballot by a margin of 73 percent to 27 percent.
But, as the Baptist Press notes, the amendment’s failure hasn’t discouraged pro-life activists from attempting similar amendments in other states.