Personhood Bills Are Not About Abortion

I’ve started and re-started this post at least ten times because I just can’t figure out the best way to put all of my thoughts and emotions in writing. And the topic is political and I hate political rants. I hate discussing politics, and I believe that everyone has a right to their opinion so I typically keep my political opinions to myself. But I’m so emotionally tied up in this topic that I haven’t been able to sleep. I’ve cried about it and I just feel like I wish people knew the whole truth instead of what the media and politicians are choosing to share.

Here’s the background: Earlier this week the Virginia House of Delegates passed bill HB 1, loosely known as a “Personhood Bill”. This bill states that human life begins at fertilization. The first thing everyone thinks of is abortion and the topic of abortion holds a strong emotional charge in this country. The pro-choice people obviously hate this bill and the pro-life people love it. The rest of the population falls into this wishy-washy middle group who have an opinion about abortions but don’t feel strongly enough about the topic to pay much attention to this legislation. But please pay attention.

Because this isn’t an abortion bill. It’s 133 pages of verbiage that gives the government the right to intervene and possibly bring criminal charges against anyone who puts an embryo at risk. “Defining an embryo as a person will ultimately undermine access to safe and reliable infertility medical treatment, including IVF.”

In addition to severely restricting my access to fertility treatments this bill gives the government the ability to outlaw certain types of birth control (like those IUD’s so many women use), it allows doctors to be held criminally responsible for ending an ectopic pregnancy that could end up killing the woman, and it will severely compromise the level of reproductive medical care women have access to in the state of Virginia.

This Personhood bill isn’t about abortion. It’s about women having a right to make decisions about their bodies. It’s about the 7.3 million Americans suffering from infertility who should have the right to the medical care they need to have children. And it’s about the government stepping into every single woman’s reproductive system and controlling what she can and cannot do.  I fought for years to have children. My embryo’s don’t need the government to step in to protect them because no one fought harder for my embryo’s then my husband and I.

If this legislation had been in place when I was going through IVF there is a very real possibility that my two little men wouldn’t be here today. And if these laws pass through the state Senate there is a very good chance that I will not be able to have children in the future if I live in the state of Virginia.

I have so much more to say about this Personhood Bill but I’m going to break my thoughts up into smaller posts. For now, please just understand that when you hear the government talking about making abortion illegal they’re only giving you a piece of the story. They’re hiding the truth behind a topic that they know polarizes people because it’s the only way they can win the right to enter our exam rooms and control our reproductive decisions. It’s a dangerous and slippery slope.

If you’re against this Personhood Bill and live in the state of Virginia click on this link and within two minutes you can have a letter sent to your Senator letting him/her know that you want them to vote NO to this bill.