McCaskill campaign: Todd Akin supports constitutional amendment banning common forms of birth control

(From the Claire McCaskill campaign)

At a Republican primary debate in April, Todd Akin voiced his support for a“Personhood” amendment to the Constitution. This amendment would define life as beginning at conception and would outlaw common forms of birth control, including the Pill.

Akin Said That He Would Support a “Personhood” Amendment to the Constitution. Speaking at a Republican debate in Columbia in April 2012, Akin said that he would support a “personhood” amendment to the constitution.  As reported by Politicmo, “The three Republicans hoping to challenge U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill later this year said they could support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining life as beginning at conception.  U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, a social conservative from St. Louis, offered the most explicit endorsement of a so-called ‘personhood’ amendment on Saturday, during a debate hosted by PoliticMo and the University of Missouri-Columbia College Republicans.  ‘I believe life does begin at conception, that’s a foundational belief I have,’ Akin said.  ‘I would support a constitutional amendment.’” [Politicmo, 4/23/12]

“Todd Akin’s beliefs are so extreme that he would support amending the U.S. Constitution to ban common forms of birth control, including the Pill,” said Caitlin Legacki, McCaskill for Missouri spokeswoman. “Supporting extreme policies that go so far as criminalizing birth control is just one more example where Todd Akin is simply too extreme for Missouri.”

Chicago Tribune: "Personhood" Amendment Would Define Birth Control As Murder. In November 2011, the Chicago Tribune reported that a "personhood" amendment defining life as beginning at conception would define some forms of birth control as murder. "At the same time, Mississippi voters firmly rejected an anti-abortion Initiative 26, as the measure was known, that would have effectively defined birth control methods like IUDs and the morning-after pill as murder," wrote the Tribune. [Chicago Tribune, 11/9/11]

New York Times: "Personhood" Amendment Would Ban Birth Control Pills. In October 2011, the New York Times wrote that an amendment defining life as beginning at conception, also known as a "personhood" amendment, would ban birth control pills. "Besides outlawing all abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest or when a woman's life is in danger, and banning any contraception that may prevent implantation of a fertilized egg, including birth control pills, the amendment carries many implications, some quite serious," wrote the Times. [New York Times,10/27/11]