Oregon
2011
Kelly Le Claire has submitted 1500 signatures. She awaits approval and title language from the Secretary of State and Attorney General. The proposed petition says the following:
Section 46. Right to Life
(1) No person shall be denied the right to life.
(2) With respect to the right to life guaranteed in this section of the Constitution, the word “person” applies to all human beings, irrespective of age, race, gender, health, function, or condition of dependency, including their unborn offspring at every stage of their biological development, including fertilization.
(3) The right to life guaranteed in this section of the Constitution does not apply to any person sentenced to the penalty of death for aggravated murder as set forth in section 40 of this Article.
(4) The Legislative Assembly shall enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this section.
2008
Kelly Le Claire submitted to the Secretary of State and Attorney General the following amendment to the Oregon Constitution (initiative petition #30):
Section 46. Right to Life
(1) The rights of all people shall be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life. The right to life is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person.
(2) With respect to the fundamental and inalienable right to life guaranteed in this section of the Constitution, the words “people” and “person” apply to all human beings, irrespective of age, race, gender, health, function, or condition of dependency, including their unborn offspring at every stage of their biological development, including fertilization.
(3) The Legislative Assembly shall enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this section.
Kelly Le Claire, represented by the Thomas More Law Center, filed a lawsuit claiming that the Attorney General’s ballot title and description did not fairly represent the amendment. Without oral argument, the Oregon Supreme Court let the Attorney General’s language stand. An additional lawsuit stopped the petition drive.
2007
Kelly Le Claire submitted to the Secretary of State and Attorney General the following amendment to the Oregon Constitution (initiative petition #117):
Section 46. Right to Life
(1) The rights of all people shall be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life. The right to life is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person.
(2) With respect to the fundamental and inalienable right to life guaranteed in this Constitution, the words “men”, “person”, “citizen” and “people” apply to all human beings, irrespective of age, race, gender, health, function, or condition of dependency, including their unborn offspring at every stage of their biological development, including fertilization.
(3) The Legislative Assembly shall enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this section.
The Secretary of State stopped the petition process from going forward.
2001
Pastors Rick Livingston and Darrel A Arneson proposed the following ballot initiative (initiative petition #34) to amend Article 1, Section 1 of the Oregon Constitution:
(1) God Almighty gives Human Life. In the womb, He forms a Human Being. At the beginning of that process, it is God, not man, who establishes Human Personhood. Therefore, we the People of the state of Oregon, in humility and obedience to Nature's God, the Lord of Heaven and earth, shall keep safe from mortal harm all innocent Human Life, acknowledging and protecting the Human Person from the moment of fertilization until natural death, so help us God.
You can help with Personhood efforts in your state by doing the following 3 things.
The Petition
Dear Oregon Lawmaker: Every year that goes by, over one million children in the womb are brutally murdered through abortion.
The key to unraveling this tragedy is a simple one and it has been known since before Roe v. Wade.
It is Personhood.
During oral argument of Roe, Chief Justice Warren Burger explained to pro-abortion attorney Sarah Weddington that by declaring "by statute that a fetus is a person for all constitutional purposes” a state could outlaw abortion. By stripping personhood from the unborn, their right to life was revoked.
By returning personhood to the weak and the powerless, we can restore their dignity and right to life as human beings. It really is that simple.
African slaves were denied their personhood and were therefore treated as property, bought, sold, and bred as animals. Jews were not considered full persons, so their property could be confiscated and their people eliminated. When Spanish conquistadors colonized America, many wealthy landowners fought to convince the Spanish crown that non-Christian “indians” were not legal persons and could therefore be enslaved.
Personhood is the key to all human rights.
That is why at the heart of the Roe v. Wade opinion is the following heartless pronouncement, written by Justice Blackmun, “the word ‘person’ ... does not include the unborn.” Not once, since 1973, has the Supreme Court been challenged to reconsider Blackmun’s terrible words. With federal and judicial tyranny at its apex, we the undersigned request that our Oregon legislators stand up for life in a bold and principled way. We, the undersigned urge you to support a personhood measure that recognizes that the preborn child is a person with the unalienable right to life.
We, the undersigned expect you to stand up for the values of the people of Oregon by no longer cowering to a federal and judicial tyranny that mandates the destruction of our morals, our families, and our posterity. We, the undersigned will hold you accountable for your action or inaction in bringing about and supporting a personhood measure, and we will vote accordingly.
Share the Petition by using the social networks below or by downloading the printable petition and circulating it.
