Urbandale’s Zaun Backs Fetal ‘Personhood’ Amendment

An Urbandale Republican is one of 21 state senators backing a fetal “personhood” amendment to the Iowa Constitution.

The bill, Senate Joint Resolution 10, would give human embryos a right to life at the beginning of conception, the Des Moines Register reported. The proposed amendment, which has little chance of passage in the Democrat-controlled Iowa Senate, states:

“This inalienable right to life of every person at any stage of development shall be recognized and protected.”

The proposed amendment is part of an effort among its supporters to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, the newspaper reported.

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A similar personhood amendment was recently approved by the North Dakota Legislature and will go before voters in 2014. Personhood amendments in Mississippi and Colorado failed when they went before voters in those states. In Colorado, the proposed amendments failed in 2008 and 2010.

The lead sponsor of the effort is Sen. Dennis Guth, a Klemme Republican, who caused a firestorm at the Capitol earlier this month when he compared the dangers of homosexuality to second-hand smoke.

Besides Zaun, other state senators backing the amendment are Sens. Ken Rozenboom of Oskaloosa, Kent Sorenson of Milo, Amy Sinclair of Allerton, Nancy Boettger of Harlan, David Johnson of Ocheyedan, Jake Chapman of Adel, Mark Segebart of Vail, Bill Anderson of Pierson, Joni Ernst of Red Oak, Rick Bertrand of Sioux City, Tim Kapucian of Keystone, Hubert Houser of Carson, Jack Whitver of Ankeny, Mark Chelgren of Ottumwa, Michael Breitbach of Strawberry Point, Jerry Behn of Boone, Randy Feenstra of Hull, Roby Smith of Davenport, and Joe Seng of Davenport.

Seng is the sole Democrat supporting the amendment.