Here is an encouraging note from Bryan Longworth, Director of Personhood Florida ...
The anniversary of Roe v. Wade was a very successful time of reaching out with the Personhood message all across the state of Florida! We are being asked to speak in churches, schools and to come petition in our local Care Net Walk for Life's. Glory to God for the saints working together to build the Kingdom of God and in the words of Florida's state constitution, "...to enjoy and defend life..." and extend that to the pre-born, disabled and elderly.
Soon to be published will be the nine divisions of the state of Florida with Division Contacts for each area. These will be posted on a map of Florida with the counties in each area and the cities in each county. It is now our task to find county liaisons and city liaisons. It is time to step forward and Take Your City! You need no experience -- just a burning desire to see abortion ended and for the right to life to be extended to every person in Florida! We will be posting the maps and the goals in our next email!
Over the last week and a half, Personhood Florida has received approximately 2,000 petitions in 55 large envelopes from churches across the state of Florida and many more smaller envelopes from individuals. The churches were from many denominations, including Missionary Alliance, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Roman Catholic, Nondenominational, Pentecostal and Presbyterian. We now have collected over 15,000 petitions and will be contacting the churches who responded to recruit more Personhood liaisons in cities and regions across Florida. I want to thank all who have worked to make this possible. With your help, we’re going to make history in Florida by defending all innocent human life through the Personhood Amendment.
We are now well on our way to reaching the 10 percent threshold needed for the Florida Supreme Court to review the Personhood Amendment language, but we have much work to do. Our goal is to average 1,500 petitions per day for a period of about two years to reach our 1,000,000 petition goal. (We intend to overshoot the 676,811 signatures needed by a wide margin in order to counter any challenge.) To do this, we will need to have Personhood liaisons in each region, city, and church. We will also need more volunteers for various tasks, including data entry. I look forward to working with you as we build the most comprehensive pro-life network ever assembled across the state of Florida.
- Pastor Bryan Longworth
Director, Personhood Florida
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Friday, October 16, 2009
Personhood Florida hits the ground running!
We cannot affirm the right to life by sanctioning legal child murder only in some circumstances. The way to affirm a culture of life is to legally define the personhood of a human being from the beginning of biological development. We must do this through constant discussion, debate and education. Advocating for a Personhood Amendment is an excellent way to do this.
Furthermore, incremental measures may be seen to be counterproductive in our attemp. Every law that places a restriction on abortion is in fact a legal precedent that affirms Roe v. Wade. Even if Roe were struck down tomorrow, these incremental measures would stand even in states that had a ban or restriction on abortion prior to Roe.
"You must have parental consent, a five day waiting period, and an ultra-sound, then you have the legal right to kill your baby!"
Advocating for a Personhood Amendment is an incremental step in that direction.
We can legally define "the beginning of biological development" as constituting a human life, a legal "person" and a "natural person." That will change the culture.
To get 60 percent of the voters to agree to this, first we must ask eight percent to think about it and agree with their signatures that such an amendment is needed. Even if we fail to get the signatures needed, we are actively engaging in evangelism, getting the hearts and minds of people lined up with truth. People who have never evangelized before will lead people to Christ through their petitioning. That will change the culture.
When we get the amendment on the ballot, there will be a huge fight. A debate over abortion and when life begins has never occurred in our culture at large. Legalized abortion for any reason through all nine months of pregancy was enforced from the top down in most states by a Supreme Court decision. Even in states that had legal abortion, there were restrictions that were knocked down by Roe and Doe v. Bolton. For the first time in 37 years, we will be calling on the free will of the people to decide for themselves. That will change the culture.
If the measure fails in Florida, we will keep trying in other states until one passes. Within 24 hours there will be a legal injunction by a higher court that calls on the state to not enforce laws regulating or banning abortion. At that point, the Supreme Court will decide whether to hear the case. Even if we lose, we win. It will be establish a clear cut division between the will of the courts and the will of the people. That will change the culture.
Then we will seek to pass such amendments and resolutions in other states. That will change the culture.
We will eventually get such an intitative passed in 34 of the so-called "red states" -- enough for a United States Constitutional Amendment that will protect the life of a person from the beginning of biological development. Roe will be moot. Now longer will it be the fiat "law of the land" enforced by judicial tyranny. It will only apply to Roe and Wade. And I hear Jane Roe is now pro-life!
We can change the culture, but it must come from the will of the people, not through the courts. It must come through the states.
Key facts
1. Through 2008, there were 24 voter petition initiatives on the Florida ballot since the process began in 1978 (in addition to legislative initiatives).
2. Of those 24, 20 were approved by voters.
3. Florida voters have approved a higher percentage of their statewide ballot measures than voters in any other state.
This position paper is not copyrighted and may be forwarded and distributed to anyone without prior permission.
- Jay Rogers
Furthermore, incremental measures may be seen to be counterproductive in our attemp. Every law that places a restriction on abortion is in fact a legal precedent that affirms Roe v. Wade. Even if Roe were struck down tomorrow, these incremental measures would stand even in states that had a ban or restriction on abortion prior to Roe.
"You must have parental consent, a five day waiting period, and an ultra-sound, then you have the legal right to kill your baby!"
Advocating for a Personhood Amendment is an incremental step in that direction.
We can legally define "the beginning of biological development" as constituting a human life, a legal "person" and a "natural person." That will change the culture.
To get 60 percent of the voters to agree to this, first we must ask eight percent to think about it and agree with their signatures that such an amendment is needed. Even if we fail to get the signatures needed, we are actively engaging in evangelism, getting the hearts and minds of people lined up with truth. People who have never evangelized before will lead people to Christ through their petitioning. That will change the culture.
When we get the amendment on the ballot, there will be a huge fight. A debate over abortion and when life begins has never occurred in our culture at large. Legalized abortion for any reason through all nine months of pregancy was enforced from the top down in most states by a Supreme Court decision. Even in states that had legal abortion, there were restrictions that were knocked down by Roe and Doe v. Bolton. For the first time in 37 years, we will be calling on the free will of the people to decide for themselves. That will change the culture.
If the measure fails in Florida, we will keep trying in other states until one passes. Within 24 hours there will be a legal injunction by a higher court that calls on the state to not enforce laws regulating or banning abortion. At that point, the Supreme Court will decide whether to hear the case. Even if we lose, we win. It will be establish a clear cut division between the will of the courts and the will of the people. That will change the culture.
Then we will seek to pass such amendments and resolutions in other states. That will change the culture.
We will eventually get such an intitative passed in 34 of the so-called "red states" -- enough for a United States Constitutional Amendment that will protect the life of a person from the beginning of biological development. Roe will be moot. Now longer will it be the fiat "law of the land" enforced by judicial tyranny. It will only apply to Roe and Wade. And I hear Jane Roe is now pro-life!
We can change the culture, but it must come from the will of the people, not through the courts. It must come through the states.
Key facts
1. Through 2008, there were 24 voter petition initiatives on the Florida ballot since the process began in 1978 (in addition to legislative initiatives).
2. Of those 24, 20 were approved by voters.
3. Florida voters have approved a higher percentage of their statewide ballot measures than voters in any other state.
This position paper is not copyrighted and may be forwarded and distributed to anyone without prior permission.
- Jay Rogers
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