Does A Fertilized Egg In Wisconsin Have Second Amendment Rights?

I am not sure how to respond to the news that made the top of the fold in the Wisconsin State Journal.  Part of me is laughing, and part of me is thinking that perhaps protestors this past spring were correct in carrying signs that read “Walkersippi”.  Maybe we are on more of a slippery slope than I want to think possible.

The news article states that  Rep. Andre Jacque, a Republican from Bellevue–and this is where the name pun started me laughing–is championing legislation that would amend the Wisconsin Constitution to extend personhood to the moment an egg is fertilized.

I have no way of knowing if this is merely a headline grabbing moment for Jacque or if he truly thinks this is in any way a viable piece of legislation that has a groundswell of support around the state.

What makes the bill so laughable (apart from the legal nightmare) is that  this measure would ban all forms of hormonal contraception, including birth control pills and  intrauterine devices.  That is great news for the puritans as we head into Thanksgiving, but what about everyone else?

While I am no pollster on political matters I am most confident that more state residents are interested in having sex than they are about changing the legal definition of a person to include a fertilized egg.  When voters become aware that the government wants to reduce the ways not to get pregnant I suspect many a phone call will start to be made to Madison.

Mississippi had a very similar proposal forcefully rejected with 58% of that state voting against the draconian language and side-effects of personhood.  Yet Jacque seems determined to make headlines and stir the pot over an issue that will create lots of tension, and (thankfully) little result in Wisconsin.

I am just betting that the residents of Bellevue–I could not resist–would be far more pleased with their state representative if job creation were more of the focus of his legislative day in Madison.

Given what we have seen this year with state politics can anyone honestly tell me that if this nutty idea were to proceed that the NRA would not somehow find a way to prove that an egg also has gun rights?

After all this year’s news from Madison I count nothing as being impossible.