Kansas Constitutional Amendment Will Recognize the Rights of Every Human Person

 Kansas State Representative Randy Garber of Sabetha has confirmed plans to introduce an amendment to Section 1 of the Kansas Bill of Rights. Section 1 ensures the "equal and inalienable natural rights" including "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The amendment language, recently approved by the Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes, will recognize the personhood of every human being by incorporating into the text a guarantee of "the inalienable rights, equal protection and due process of law of every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being, including fertilization."

Garber's Personhood Amendment is the only proposal in the new legislature that would end the practice of abortion throughout the state and recognize "the right to life of every human being irrespective of age, race, gender, health, function, condition of dependency, including physical or mental dependency, or method of reproduction."

"I am proud to carry the personhood banner in the Kansas Legislature, and I feel that God has put me here to take a stand for the unborn. If we do not speak for them, who will?" said Garber. "I will continue to work with any organization attempting to end abortion. I hope churches will unite under personhood and make their collective voices heard."

If approved by the legislature, Kansas residents would have an opportunity to vote the measure into law in a referendum to be held during the next general election. Similar measures are being pursued in all 50 states. Amendments in Colorado have reached the ballot in both 2008 and 2010. Residents of Mississippi are set to vote on personhood this year.

A Personhood Amendment could trigger a constitutional challenge to Roe v. Wade. In the majority opinion, Justice Harry Blackmun famously wrote, "If this suggestion of personhood is established, the appellant's case [decriminalized abortion], of course, collapses, for the fetus' right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.” The Supreme Court has also asserted on numerous occasions that states have a "sovereign right to adopt in [their] Constitution[s] individual liberties more expansive than those conferred by the Federal Constitution.”

"The Kansas pro-life community applauds Rep. Garber for his courageous stand that every human being, no matter their age, is a person, inherently possessed with the God-given right to live and be free," said Keith Ashley of Personhood Kansas, a coalition of local pro-life organizations and citizens campaigning for the amendment. "The urgent need to act cannot be overstated. The lives and futures of countless Kansas children hang in the balance. The time has come for the good people of Kansas to stand up, be a voice for the voiceless, and end the deadly discrimination against the preborn."


For more information: www.PersonhoodKansas.com
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