American Life League unsure about collaborating with Personhood Florida: News. Politics. Media

The American Life League, a national anti-abortion group that has supported fetal personhood amendments in the past, tells The Florida Independent it is not sure how extensively it will involve itself in the campaign being mounted now by Personhood Florida

With members of the Florida legislature distancing themselves from the state’s so-called “Personhood Amendment,” and so far no valid signatures to speak of, Personhood Florida will need help to land its anti-abortion initiative on the 2012 ballot.

Thus far, the group is relying on grassroots efforts and has planed a “big push” to reach out to Florida churches for signatures. But Personhood Florida (an arm of Personhood USA) could potentially seek help from national anti-abortion groups, such as the American Life League. The league is a Catholic nonprofit that has an arm devoted entirely to denouncing the birth control pill called “The Pill Kills.” The group’s website tells horror stories of women who have died of blood clots and pulmonary embolisms — deaths they say resulted from using some form of birth control.

American Life League founder Judie Brown has raised eyebrows with her extreme views regarding abortion. In a recent article for LifeSiteNews.com, she lashed out at The View‘s Joy Behar, arguing against abortion for economic reasons: “Trees, plants, and animals do not contribute to economic growth, but killing children prior to birth has countless long-term negative consequences.”

In a Dec. 21 article on conservative blog Red State, titled “Five Great Reasons Why Personhood Will End Abortion,” writer Shaun Kenney pointed out that Brown has supported the personhood movement “for years.” So will Brown’s American Life League lend a helping hand to Personhood Florida?

Johanna DaSteel, the American Life League’s senior legislative liaison, won’t detail how much her group plans to involve itself with Personhood Florida, saying only that the league has supported the movement in the past: “I cannot specify at this time how much we intend to be involved in the Florida personhood initiative at this time. But I can say that we’ve been involved in the past and we expect to continue our involvement in states pursuing personhood across the nation.” #

DaSteel did elaborate on the initiative itself, however, saying that birth control does constitute a chemical abortion, according to the American Life League, and would therefore be illegal if the personhood amendment passes.

“As you are aware,” she says, “a personhood initiative seeks to amend a state’s constitution to define the term ‘person’ as applicable to every human being. Some forms of birth control — namely, hormonal contraceptives — prevent the implantation of a human being in his or her mother’s uterus. This is a chemical abortion and is an intended mode of action of the pill, RU-486 and other hormonal contraceptives.”