Personhood

Personhood amendment in Mississippi fails

Jared Yee | 12 November 2011

Voters in Mississippi have decided that a fertilised egg should not be granted the legal rights and privileges of a child or adult human.

Mississippi debates personhood in abortion battle

Michael Cook | 29 October 2011

A ballot initiative in Mississippi could raise the stakes in the acrimonious American abortion debate. Proposition 26 affirms that personhood begins at conception. It seeks to add the following sentence to the state constitution: “The term ‘person’ or ‘persons’ shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning, or the functional equivalent thereof”

Mississippi voters can decide on personhood of the unborn: ruling

Jared Yee | 16 September 2011

Voters in Mississippi will have the chance to decide on the personhood of the unborn in November.

Approach Frankenstein experiments gingerly, says UK report

Michael Cook | 23 July 2011

Mixing human and animal material should be approached with great caution, says the UK Academy of Medical Sciences in a report issued yesterday. But it recommends that some highly controversial experiments should be allowed to proceed, including modifying an animal’s brain to make it more human-like and the generation or propagation of functional human germ cells in animals.

Transhumanist sets goalposts for the future

Michael Cook | 23 July 2011

American political science commentator Francis Fukuyama once called transhumanism the world’s most dangerous idea. Whether this is true depends on your aspirations for society. But a brief article in Discover by a staffer with the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, a transhumanist thinktank, Kyle Munkittrick, at least shows that society will be very different if transhumanism gets traction.

US pets get better shot at treatment than people

Jared Yee | 07 August 2010

Stem cells for dogs?

Embryos not human, rules Korean high court

Michael Cook | 04 June 2010

Upholds mandatory disposal after 5 years

Swiss decide their animals don’t need lawyers

Michael Cook | 08 March 2010

Overwhelmingly rejected in referendum

Practical problems of ape personhood

Michael Cook | 06 March 2010

Who will police them?

Are dolphins persons?

Michael Cook | 07 January 2010

Call for interspecies ethic

Alaska personhood ballot initiative incites opposition

Jared Yee | 12 December 2009

Lawsuit over ballot to extend personhood prior to birth