VIDEO: Personhood USA is modern civil rights movement, supporters say

Personhood USA co-founder Keith Mason (Pic via personhoodusa.com)

Personhood USA, the group behind ballot initiatives that aim to define life as beginning at the moment of conception, has unveiled a new video, comparing its efforts to ban abortion to the civil rights movement.

Fresh off the sound defeat of Mississippi’s “fetal personhood” amendment, Personhood supporters remain undeterred. But their attempts to grant legal status to human embryos have been controversial, with even ardent anti-abortion activists opposing personhood initiatives.

According to a voiceover in Personhood USA’s new video, personhood is “the recognition that all human life is precious, that every person has the right to life, from their earliest biological creation to natural death.”

Though it may sound simply like another attempt to ban abortion, personhood initiatives would ban much more, including some forms of birth control, intra-uterine devices and, potentially, in-vitro fertilization procedures.

Like many groups in the anti-abortion community, personhood often makes allusions to slavery and civil rights. The group’s new video shows footage of Martin Luther King Jr. while declaring personhood to be “the new civil rights movement of the 21st century.”

In a recent interview with The Florida Independent, Personhood Florida’s Bryan Longworth made a similar comparison, opining that, just like William Wilberforce, he and other Personhood supporters would remain steadfast in their quest to see an amendment on the state’s 2014 ballot.

“We’re not deterred by [defeat in Mississippi.] We’re following the William Wilberforce pattern,” said Longworth. “He didn’t win the first time, didn’t win the second time, the third time … but he kept trying.”

Watch the newly released video from Personhood USA:

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