You have to hand it to the American Life League’s Katy Walker. Despite the fact that the every one of the anti-choice movements ballot initiatives went down in defeat in the last election by wide margins, Walker says that they are going to press forward, especially with their “personhood” efforts:
With a pro-abortion president soon taking the helm in Washington, the pro-life movement will stay focused while also pursuing new ideas.
Katy Walker of the American Life League (ALL) says old approaches will continue, but a relatively new method will be pursued. “The idea of personhood in this movement is really the only thing, the only option left to us, and it’s one of the best options and one of the most beautiful concepts I’ve heard in a long time,” she contends. “We’re very excited about it.”
She defines the term. “Personhood is the idea. It’s cultural change and legislative change, working towards defining all human beings as persons,” Walker explains. “It’s the last frontier of the civil rights movement — that every human being deserves his rights under the law.”Walker adds that life begins at fertilization and ends at natural death. Colorado’s pro-life movement was able to put a personhood amendment on the November 2008 ballot, but it failed to pass. “The fact that they got 27 percent of Colorado, which is historically a liberal state, is very hopeful, I think,” she notes.
It seems as if Walker isn’t just being naïve here, but down right delusional. Seeing the personhood amendment get trounced in Colorado by a 3 to 1 margin is certainly not cause for optimism, and playing that loss off as a victory because Colorado is a “liberal state” is ridiculous, considering that it went for George W. Bush in both 2000 and 2004.
On top of that, as Laura Chapin pointed out, the personhood amendment even lost in El Paso County – which is the home of Colorado Springs, Focus on the Family, and Dr. James Dobson – 65% to 35%.
If the anti-choice movement’s “personhood” efforts can’t even win in Focus on the Family’s backyard and can muster only 27% in a state that twice went for President Bush, there is not much cause for being “hopeful” … especially if, as Walker says, “the idea of personhood … is really the only option left to us.”
