Search Results for: personhood

A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a 2015 Tennessee law that required women seeking an abortion to wait for at least 48 hours before undergoing the procedure. This law, Tenn. Code § 39-15-202, effectively required women to make two trips to the clinic: the first one for in-person counseling with the doctor, and the second one—taking place at least 48 [...]

The nation has watched aghast as, over and over again, police have killed or maimed unarmed persons of color. Each time, the police have acted with impunity under a quiescent criminal justice system. The charges filed against officers involved in the death of George Floyd are the exception, not the rule, and the charges just [...]

The US Supreme Court Monday denied a petition for a writ of certiorari  filed by a former Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk who was sued for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. In the petition, Kim Davis’s lawyers argued that her refusal [...]

“Personhood” laws seek to classify fetuses as “persons” and grant them full legal protection under the US Constitution. These laws purport to protect the rights of a pregnant person, should they be involved in any sort of incident that terminates the pregnancy. Pro-choice individuals vehemently oppose Personhood laws because they broadly restrict an individual’s choice [...]

Introduction A legal personality or a juristic personality is an entity other than a natural being which the law deems capable of holding such rights and duties which are normally accorded to human beings exclusively. The rights accorded can range from a few legal rights which the according authority conceives to be cardinal to the [...]

Red River Women’s Clinic, the only remaining abortion clinic in North Dakota, filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday challenging two state laws that they claim compel health care professionals to provide “false, misleading, non-medical” information about reproductive health. The suit was filed alongside the American Medical Association (AMA) with help from the Center for Reproductive [...]

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on Tuesday signed the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, which prevents an abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected. The bill uses the term “‘detectable human heartbeat’ means embryonic or fetal cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the heart within the gestational sac.” Fetal heartbeats are [...]

The Tennessee House of Representatives approved an abortion bill 93-73 on Thursday that would ban abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat. The bill provides an exception for medical emergencies that may require an abortion. The bill also states that when the fetal heartbeat is detected, the person who discovers the heartbeat must “ecord [...]

Two “Personhood Acts” were introduced in the South Carolina legislature this week that would criminalize receiving or performing an abortion. State Senator Richard Cash introduced the bill in the Senate on Wednesday, and State Representative Josiah Magnuson introduced a similar bill on Thursday. The Senate bill reads, “The General Assembly acknowledges that personhood is God-given rather than an endowment of [...]

Fifteen states on Tuesday held 20 ballot initiatives related to voting and elections, including statewide measures for new redistributing systems, voting requirements and ballot access, voting rights of felons, and campaign finance initiatives. Voting rights activists saw expansion to voting access, including Florida restoring voting access to felons who have served their sentences and “motor [...]