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The Michigan Messenger going forward

By Staff Report | 11.16.11

I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]

Colorado-based abstinence program provided false and misleading information to Michigan students

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.16.11

An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.

Class action lawsuit filed against MERS over unpaid taxes

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By Todd A. Heywood | 11.15.11

Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.

Schuette fights important mercury regulations

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By Eartha Jane Melzer | 11.14.11

Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.

House anti-abortion activists introduce ‘fertilized egg is person’ amendment

By Todd A. Heywood | 10.23.09 | 7:50 am

LANSING — While the state is coming down from its second temporary shut down in two years, ever increasing unemployment and unresolved budget issues, Michigan House Republicans this week introduced legislation to amend the state constitution to define life as beginning at fertilization.

The resolution to amend the constitution was introduced by Democratic Rep. Jim Slezak of Davison and Republican Rep. Paul Scott of Grand Blanc. There were a total of 23 co-sponsors for the bill.

That bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee which is controlled by East Lansing Democrat Mark Meadows, a staunch supporter of abortion rights. So it’s unlikely it will be rushed onto any legislative agendas or to the floor of the Democratic-controlled House.

In order for the state constitution to be amended, lawmakers must approve a ballot measure or voters must circulate a petition to gather enough signatures to put it on the ballot.

Scott has recently been urged by a faction of GOP activists to run for secretary of state.

The life begins at fertilization amendment would certainly play well to the right to life crowd, a core constituency in the Michigan GOP.

The so-called egg-as-person movement has been making appearances across the country. Last Nov. Colorado voters soundly defeated an amendment to its constitution. But as Ernest Luning over at Michigan Messenger’s sibling site in Colorado reported last November, that defeat, at 3-to-1 margin, was not a bad thing to organizers. They announced they would seek similar amendments in other states.

Comments

  • txherbert

    All fetuses should be given social security numbers and granted citizenship even though their mothers are illegal aliens.

  • suzisun1shine

    this is the most important issue for MI as it circles the drain. You got a friend in the gop. I hope MI wises up and never votes in another repug ever again.

  • alizen

    Does this mean that the child tax exemption begins at conception?

  • GunTotinLiberal

    Someone with no heartbeat, no brain wave activity, no respiration and no functioning organs is not alive. A fertilized egg is no different. It is not a living entity.

    • elmcc

      So is the zygote dead? Is it in the same category as a toe nail, a hair folical? Let your toe nails grow and they become a person?

  • mariezzz

    It's clear the lawmaker is unaware of basic biology. A fertilized egg can eventually lead to one person, or twins, or even triplets (identical twins, for example, result from the complete splitting of a fertilized egg; identical triplet require a second complete splitting). A fertilized egg can eventually lead to no people, when it fails to implant in the uterine wall (within the first 7 days or so after fertilization) or if it successfully implants but miscarriage results at some point after that. Exactly what makes a fertilized egg more special than, for example, an unfertilized egg or sperm alone, or an embryo, for that matter, is unclear. Slezak & Scott are defining a boundary based on political and religious arguments, rather than any scientific or medical arguments.

    • elmcc

      A fertilized egg is a misnomer. There is an egg and there is sperm. Once united, they are a whole new entity with it's own DNA. It is alive; whether it survives is up to nature, and the health of the mother. In either case, this is all of us at that stage of our development. We didn't start out as fully functioning humans, And how or rather how well we function is not what makes us human, Conception is the beginning of life.This “fertilized egg” is as human as a new born baby, The only difference is location and time. the “fertilized egg ” is the embryo, the fetus, the newborn, the child, the adolescent, the adult and the senior citizen, at no point in time is it something or someone different.

  • elmcc

    So is the zygote dead? Is it in the same category as a toe nail, a hair folical? Let your toe nails grow and they become a person?

  • elmcc

    A fertilized egg is a misnomer. There is an egg and there is sperm. Once united, they are a whole new entity with it's own DNA. It is alive; whether it survives is up to nature, and the health of the mother. In either case, this is all of us at that stage of our development. We didn't start out as fully functioning humans, And how or rather how well we function is not what makes us human, Conception is the beginning of life.This “fertilized egg” is as human as a new born baby, The only difference is location and time. the “fertilized egg ” is the embryo, the fetus, the newborn, the child, the adolescent, the adult and the senior citizen, at no point in time is it something or someone different.

  • elmcc

    So is the zygote dead? Is it in the same category as a toe nail, a hair folical? Let your toe nails grow and they become a person?

  • elmcc

    A fertilized egg is a misnomer. There is an egg and there is sperm. Once united, they are a whole new entity with it's own DNA. It is alive; whether it survives is up to nature, and the health of the mother. In either case, this is all of us at that stage of our development. We didn't start out as fully functioning humans, And how or rather how well we function is not what makes us human, Conception is the beginning of life.This “fertilized egg” is as human as a new born baby, The only difference is location and time. the “fertilized egg ” is the embryo, the fetus, the newborn, the child, the adolescent, the adult and the senior citizen, at no point in time is it something or someone different.

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