In November, Coloradans will be asked whether they favor amending the state constitution to include a provision that defines a “person” as “any human being from the moment of fertilization.”

Colorado for Equal Rights, the grassroots group seeking a measure to extend constitutional protections to the earliest individuals, fertilized eggs, succeeded in submitting more than enough valid voter signatures, the secretary of state said Thursday morning.

Not surprisingly, the group believes this amendment could result in legislation reversing Roe v. Wade:

The amendment would not make abortion illegal, but supporters and opponents alike believe it could lay the legal framework to legislate against abortion.

Opponents, including a broad coalition called “Protect Families, Protect Choices,” say the amendment, which it called “vague and deceptive,” could encroach on everything from abortion rights to contraception and in vitro fertilization.

I’m generally opposed to all proposals to amend the Constitution. It is not a “rough draft” to be edited at the whim of political might. It’s the job of the legislature to make new laws. This is nothing but an attempt to make an end run around that process.

Posted 5/29/2008 at 4:28 pm by Jeralyn Merritt
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