Pro-Life Advocates Launch Abortion-Personhood Campaigns in Colorado, Montana

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 30, 2009
http://www.lifenews.com/state4267.html

Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) -- Although they were not successful in getting their
states to sign off on state constitution amendments for personhood for unborn
children, pro-life advocates in Colorado and Montana are giving the effort
another try.

A large majority of Colorado voters rejected one amendment while Montana voters
never had a chance to vote on the proposal there.

Backers of the amendments will host kickoffs in both states on measures they say
will recognize the rights of all citizens, including children who haven't been
born.

In Montana, pro-life state Rep. Wendy Warburton is working with the Montana Pro
Life Coalition and Personhood USA to organize a petition gathering campaign. The
groups plan a rally on the steps of Montana's state capitol on Wednesday
morning.

"This effort is about loving mothers, loving babies, and building a society
where every single one of us is valued, no matter how young," she said.

Dr. Annie Bukacek, the head of the coalition, added, "Based on their intrinsic
value and dignity, every human being, from the moment life begins, deserves
equal protection under the law. This is the principle of personhood. It's high
time the people of Montana had an opportunity to vote on this fundamental human
rights issue."

On Thursday, in Colorado, Colorado Right to Life and Personhood USA will
introduce a similar amendment for Colorado's constitution. They plan a press
conference on the steps of the state capitol.

Keith Mason of Personhood USA talked about the effort, which pro-life advocates
are duplicating in Oregon, Mississippi and several other states this year or
next.

"This question should have been settled in 1865. There should be no
'three-fifths of a person' - not in Montana, not in Colorado, not anywhere. All
humans are people," he told LifeNews.com.

Last election, Colorado voters were decidedly opposed to Amendment 48, the
ballot proposal that would have amended the state constitution to define the
beginning of human life as occurring at conception.

The measure could have affected the status of legal abortions in Colorado and
could also have played a role in affecting bioethics laws related to human
cloning and stem cell research.

In the end, Colorado voters defeated Amendment 48 by nearly a 3-1 margin.

Last June, the groups sponsoring the Montana personhood amendment announced that
they did not have enough signatures to get it on the November ballot.

In order for CI-100 to make it on the November 2008 ballot, it needed 44,000
signatures from registered Montana voters. Friday, June 20 was the deadline for
the backers of the initiative to present enough signatures to the Secretary of
State.