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Because a teratoma contains the homo sapiens genome it could get personhood rights: "Embryos that develop abnormalities are not normally implanted, Dahl said. However, under Ruby's bill, they would have the same rights as human beings, she said. Women can develop a type of ovarian tumor, called a teratoma, that has some human features, including bone and teeth. The tumors will not develop into a baby, but they ''contain the genome of homo sapien,'' Dahl said. ''They are tumors that contain recognizable parts of humans,'' Dahl said. ''There can be teeth, cartilage, bone, tissue, fat, hair ... An abnormal tumor of the ovary would be protected as a person under this bill.'' Senate panel hears arguments personhood POSTED: March 17, 2009 Save | Print | Email Email: "Senate panel hears arguments on personhood egg bill" BIISMARCK (AP) - Dr. Stephanie Dahl spends most of her time treating women who want to have children, and she believes legislation to give a fertilized egg the same rights as a human being could put some of her patients in peril. Should a woman's developing embryo be considered equal to the woman's own life, some medical treatments, including chemotherapy for cancer, could be questioned because they would put another ''person'' at risk, Dahl told the North Dakota Senate's Judiciary Committee on Monday. Dahl spoke at a committee hearing on legislation, sponsored by Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, that seeks to define a person in North Dakota law as ''any organism with the genome of homo sapiens.'' Ruby believes that by treating a fertilized egg as a person, North Dakota would gain a strategy for arguing in the federal courts that states should have the right to define when life begins. North Dakota and other states then would regain the authority to regulate abortion, Ruby said. His said his legislation ''applies the protections of our existing laws to babies who are irrefutably distinguishable from the mothers carrying them.'' Senate committee members said they were wary of the bill's implications. Sens. Curtis Olafson, R-Edinburg, and Tom Fiebiger, D-Fargo, asked whether it would influence doctors to avoid treatment of problem pregnancies because of the possible legal ramifications. The Judiciary Committee will make a recommendation on the bill later, followed by a vote in the full Senate. The panel's chairman, Sen. David Nething, R-Jamestown, said Monday he was not sure when the recommendation would be made. Dahl and Dr. Steffen Christensen, reproductive endocrinologists at MeritCare Health System's Reproductive Medicine Institute in Fargo, said the bill could affect in vitro fertilization treatments in which a woman's egg is fertilized with a man's sperm outside the woman's body. The egg is then implanted in the woman's uterus. Embryos that develop abnormalities are not normally implanted, Dahl said. However, under Ruby's bill, they would have the same rights as human beings, she said. Women can develop a type of ovarian tumor, called a teratoma, that has some human features, including bone and teeth. The tumors will not develop into a baby, but they ''contain the genome of homo sapien,'' Dahl said. ''They are tumors that contain recognizable parts of humans,'' Dahl said. ''There can be teeth, cartilage, bone, tissue, fat, hair ... An abnormal tumor of the ovary would be protected as a person under this bill.'' Christine Hogan, a Bismarck attorney, said the bill's definition of a person was imprecise and difficult to interpret. ''What exactly is an organism? It has been defined as anything from an amoeba to a cell to a being with organs,'' Hogan said. ''How do we know when an organism is a person?'' Defending the legislation in court would be a certain loser, and would cost the state millions of dollars to boot, Hogan said. Gualberto Garcia Jones, a former attorney for the American Life League in Washington, D.C., argued the legislation offers a new angle in the legal struggle over abortion rights. It attempts to avoid existing U.S. Supreme Court decisions, which have focused on the right to privacy, in favor of asserting that the Constitution's 10th Amendment gives states the right to regulate abortion, Jones said. The strength of Ruby's bill is that it does not directly mention abortion, embryonic stem-cell research ''or any other hot-button issue,'' Jones said. ''Instead, it asserts the fundamental right of a state to govern itself.'' Rayilyn Brown Director AZNPF Arizona Chapter National Parkinson Foundation [log in to unmask] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn