CARNAL NATION

Michigan state Representative Jim Slezak (Dem., Davison Township), has decided to start tilting at windmills in his very first term in office—if by "windmills" you mean women's wombs. Slezak has proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would functionally make abortion illegal in Michigan. Slezak's amendment asserts that every person has a right to life with personhood defined as beginning at conception. Slezak introduced a resolution in support of the amendment last week which was suported by 22 of the 110 members of the House. Representative Paul Scott (Rep., Grand Blanc), who backs the resolution and the amendment with Slezak, said "A lot of people campaign on Right to Life, but when they get to the Legislature don't do anything to further that cause. Jim and I felt it was the right time."

Most political analysts say that the amendment, which would need to pass by a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, doesn't have a chance and is strictly a symbolic effort. But as a symbol, it's part of a larger, national movement led by anti-abortion group Personhood USA, which is campaigning for state amendments and initiatives declaring legal personhood to begin at conception, essentially enshrining the principle that abortion is murder in the law. Yesterday, Personhood USA posted a press release about a new initiative to amend the Nevada state constitution to read "In the great state of Nevada, the term 'person' applies to every human being." Presumably, the organization means to apply "human being" to zygotes and fetuses. "Currently," the release states, "some Nevadans are deprived of their inalienable civil rights, specifically their fundamental right to live, due to an arbitrary and discriminatory distinction between person and human being."