The inalienable right to life possessed by every human being is present from the moment of initial formation, and all human beings shall be entitled to the equal protection of persons under the law.
An Open Letter to Senator Phil Williams
Senator Williams:
I recently read an article on your proposed Personhood legislation for next year, and I must say that I am extremely disappointed. I am particularly troubled by your attempt to redefine personhood as beginning at implantation instead of fertilization.
There is no legitimate reason for defining personhood in this way. According to your own testimony in the article, this definition was chosen purely for political reasons. Every single line of evidence that can be presented from the Bible, the law, the judiciary and from science clearly affirms that life begins at fertilization. Compromise on this fact simply cannot be accepted. If this bill were to succeed, it would cause our state to sanction the deaths of thousands of people for no other reason than that they were too small to fit within your arbitrary definition of what constitutes a person.
Your proposed legislation is both dangerous and erroneous, and I will do everything within my power to defeat it. The Declaration of Independence states “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This bill violates that Declaration by defining one class of human beings as inferior to another and unworthy of the unalienable rights granted to them by God. The Declaration also states that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” In its current form, your proposed bill actively promotes the destruction of an entire class of human beings, and I will make every effort to either alter or abolish it.
I implore you to reconsider the language which I have proposed to you on multiple occasions. I have solidly researched and documented answers to every objection which our opponents could raise against this language, and I have defended my proposed legislation in open debates on several occasions. I am confident that I can defend it against every opponent in both the Senate and the House, and I have no doubt that this language would allow the state of Alabama to become the first state in 40 years to outlaw abortions. Please consider changing your legislation to read as follows:
“The inalienable right to life possessed by every human being is present from the moment of initial formation, and all human beings shall be entitled to the equal protection of persons under the law.”
I have posted this letter to the Personhood Initiative website, and I am circulating it throughout the state. Please respond quickly so that I may share your answer as well.
Yours in Christ,
Bill Fortenberry
The Personhood Initiative
www.personhoodinitiative.com
For a detailed explanation of why personhood should not be established as being from implantation, see our article on "Incremental Personhood."
______________________________________________________________
Senator Williams made the following response to this letter:
Hello Bill, I encourage you to work with Ben Dupre at the Personhood Alabama office. I’m concerned that you appear to be running a separate office of nearly the same name. We need cohesiveness for this fight, and not confusion or duplicative effort. You don’t know all the details of the fight that we carried last session and based on the fact that you are willing to chastise me based on assumptions I don’t feel the need to outline all of the details for you in writing. So far you have emailed three confrontational messages to me and called my secretary and stated that I was “supposed to have called you”. Suffice to say there is a work in progress and I encourage you to be a part of the team. Take care, Phil
_______________________________________________________________
Eleven days prior to sending the above letter, I submitted the following email to Senator Williams' office:
Senator Williams:
I just read an article about your proposed language for Personhood legislation to be introduced in the next session. I am particularly troubled by your decision to define personhood as beginning at implantation instead of fertilization. I would appreciate it if you would explain why you made that change.
Yours in Christ,
Bill Fortenberry
The Personhood Initiative
www.personhoodinitiative.com
I also made three phone calls to his office. The first call was answered by a voice mail system where I left a message nearly identical to this email. Senator Williams' secretary answered the second call. I gave her the same message, and she assured me that Senator Williams would call me back within two business days. She also told me to call back if I did not receive a call from the senator within that time frame. My third call was also answered by the secretary, and I reminded her that I was supposed to have received a phone call from the senator and asked when he would be able to get back in touch with me. She put me on hold while confirming a time frame with the senator, and when she returned to the line, she told me that Senator Williams would call me back the next day. Four days later, I still had not heard from the senator and I published the open letter above. It is indeed unfortunate that Senator Williams does not feel the need to discuss this issue with me.
I recently read an article on your proposed Personhood legislation for next year, and I must say that I am extremely disappointed. I am particularly troubled by your attempt to redefine personhood as beginning at implantation instead of fertilization.
There is no legitimate reason for defining personhood in this way. According to your own testimony in the article, this definition was chosen purely for political reasons. Every single line of evidence that can be presented from the Bible, the law, the judiciary and from science clearly affirms that life begins at fertilization. Compromise on this fact simply cannot be accepted. If this bill were to succeed, it would cause our state to sanction the deaths of thousands of people for no other reason than that they were too small to fit within your arbitrary definition of what constitutes a person.
Your proposed legislation is both dangerous and erroneous, and I will do everything within my power to defeat it. The Declaration of Independence states “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This bill violates that Declaration by defining one class of human beings as inferior to another and unworthy of the unalienable rights granted to them by God. The Declaration also states that “whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” In its current form, your proposed bill actively promotes the destruction of an entire class of human beings, and I will make every effort to either alter or abolish it.
I implore you to reconsider the language which I have proposed to you on multiple occasions. I have solidly researched and documented answers to every objection which our opponents could raise against this language, and I have defended my proposed legislation in open debates on several occasions. I am confident that I can defend it against every opponent in both the Senate and the House, and I have no doubt that this language would allow the state of Alabama to become the first state in 40 years to outlaw abortions. Please consider changing your legislation to read as follows:
“The inalienable right to life possessed by every human being is present from the moment of initial formation, and all human beings shall be entitled to the equal protection of persons under the law.”
I have posted this letter to the Personhood Initiative website, and I am circulating it throughout the state. Please respond quickly so that I may share your answer as well.
Yours in Christ,
Bill Fortenberry
The Personhood Initiative
www.personhoodinitiative.com
For a detailed explanation of why personhood should not be established as being from implantation, see our article on "Incremental Personhood."
______________________________________________________________
Senator Williams made the following response to this letter:
Hello Bill, I encourage you to work with Ben Dupre at the Personhood Alabama office. I’m concerned that you appear to be running a separate office of nearly the same name. We need cohesiveness for this fight, and not confusion or duplicative effort. You don’t know all the details of the fight that we carried last session and based on the fact that you are willing to chastise me based on assumptions I don’t feel the need to outline all of the details for you in writing. So far you have emailed three confrontational messages to me and called my secretary and stated that I was “supposed to have called you”. Suffice to say there is a work in progress and I encourage you to be a part of the team. Take care, Phil
_______________________________________________________________
Eleven days prior to sending the above letter, I submitted the following email to Senator Williams' office:
Senator Williams:
I just read an article about your proposed language for Personhood legislation to be introduced in the next session. I am particularly troubled by your decision to define personhood as beginning at implantation instead of fertilization. I would appreciate it if you would explain why you made that change.
Yours in Christ,
Bill Fortenberry
The Personhood Initiative
www.personhoodinitiative.com
I also made three phone calls to his office. The first call was answered by a voice mail system where I left a message nearly identical to this email. Senator Williams' secretary answered the second call. I gave her the same message, and she assured me that Senator Williams would call me back within two business days. She also told me to call back if I did not receive a call from the senator within that time frame. My third call was also answered by the secretary, and I reminded her that I was supposed to have received a phone call from the senator and asked when he would be able to get back in touch with me. She put me on hold while confirming a time frame with the senator, and when she returned to the line, she told me that Senator Williams would call me back the next day. Four days later, I still had not heard from the senator and I published the open letter above. It is indeed unfortunate that Senator Williams does not feel the need to discuss this issue with me.