The irony would be comical if the subject matter weren’t so serious and the outcome so tragic: the irony of a Human Rights Network aggressively promoting the destruction of innocent, defenseless human life.

      Travis McAdam is the executive director of Montana’s Human Rights Network. In his 10/16/09 letter to the Great Falls Tribune against Personhood Amendment efforts, he says “right wing ideologues” want to insert their “religious views” into the Montana Constitution. He again uses the term “right wing” “activists” when he describes Montana ProLife Coalition leading the charge and wanting to base “civil law on right wing biblical doctrine” and pander “to the militia movement’s hatred of established government.” Note the language he uses when he talks about “due process” and “legal counsel” for a “fertilized egg.” Note the venom he injects into his descriptions of the leaders of Montana ProLife Coalition. He uses the same tawdry phrases we have been hearing for years to dehumanize unborn children and disparage his opponents while he avoids addressing the issues.

      In addition, he makes statements about MPLC leadership that aren’t true such as our standing up for biblical principles means we have “hatred for reproductive freedom, gays and lesbians, and public schools.” My letters to the editor can be read in their entirety on www.hosannahealthcare.com, and I challenge anyone to find words of hatred. Hatred is not in them because hatred is not in me.

      Mr. McAdam states there’s an inconsistency in MPLC “activists’ political framework. He sees it inconsistent that we want government out of healthcare and government leftist ideology kept out of our schools while we adamantly promote government protection of the lives of unborn children. He thinks it inconsistent that the government should intrude on the rights of people who would destroy innocent human life.

      I refer you to the role and rules of government as laid out in the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and its Amendments. These documents do not support government run schools and government run health care, but in them--protection of human life is paramount. The protection of the right to life is primary and human life is not to be taken without due process of law. So no, those of us who continue to uphold the U.S. Constitution as the law of the land, we are some of the most politically consistent individuals you will find.

      Regarding the Montana Catholic Bishops not throwing their weight behind our state personhood initiative, know that we have the support of the largest US Catholic prolife organization (American Life League), the largest Catholic international prolife organization (Human Life International), other large Catholic legal organizations (Thomas More Law Center), and in my experience, the majority of rank-and-file Montana Catholics. There is a new prolife group, Montana Catholics for Life which enthusiastically supports CI 102. Further more, numerous Protestant and nonsectarian groups support this effort, including the Montana Assemblies of God and Lutheran Missouri-Synod, Personhood USA, Central Montana Right to Life, and American Right to Life, to name just a few.

      Why this support? Because the designation of personhood to the unborn is obvious to anyone who is clear-thinking. It is not ideology but science that human life begins at conception, and there is no other logical basis for personhood than being a member of the human race. Personhood is gripping to the tender-hearted, and compelling to true advocates of human rights.

      Mr. McAdam says by fighting for the rights of defenseless unborn humans that we are wanting to insert religious views into Montana’s constitution. It is true governments and cultures that place supreme value on human rights and the dignity of each and every person are generally of the Judeo Christian ethic. We make no apology for that. However, you don’t have to be of that ethic to want innocent human lives protected. That is common decency, not religious dogma, and any “human rights” organization that doesn’t recognize this need operates at a pinnacle of hypocrisy.

      Mr. McAdam got it right on one item: We will continue to push personhood constitutional initiatives until they are successful. As long as the slaughter of innocents continues, we will be their voice and fight for their rights.

Annie Bukacek MD