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A GOP-proposed state constitutional amendment in North Carolina is seeking to make abortion completely illegal, adding in “protections” for people who commit murder in order to stop a person from obtaining the procedure.

Currently, abortion is banned in North Carolina beyond 12 weeks of pregnancy. The proposed amendment, sponsored by Republican state Reps. Keith Kidwell and Ben Moss, Jr., declares that “a distinct and separate human life begins at the moment of fertilization,” defining personhood as beginning at that point.

Despite the amendment dubiously saying that its definitions are based on “indisputable scientific fact,” the document’s authors provide no evidence backing their claims. Indeed, the scientific consensus is that a pregnancy does not begin until implantation, and, even then, defining an embryo as a legal “person” with protections that outweigh the pregnant individual’s rights is factually disputed, a far right talking point that threatens not just abortion rights, but also reproductive care in general.

But the proposal by Kidwell and Moss goes further. By defining a fertilized egg as a person, the amendment includes additional language that would essentially legalize the murder of someone........

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