Many of you are passionate about the topic of abortion. And those who are have definitive views on the subject.
Some know exactly when life begins – at fertilization. Others are positive that the fetus is an appendage to the mother until some obscure time during the pregnancy when, you know, it isn’t.
For me, and I suspect for many of you, the abortion issue is a tad more complex. So it’s regrettable that Coloradans may soon be forced to make a simplistic choice on the issue.
Kristine Burton, a 19-year-old student, is the brainchild behind a proposed 2008 Colorado ballot initiative that would effectively ban abortion in the state.
The language, approved this week by the title board, states that a person will be defined as a human being “from the moment of fertilization.” And once identified this way, that person will enjoy “inalienable rights, equality of justice and due process of law.”
Colorado Equal Rights (which shouldn’t be confused with the gay and lesbian outfit Equal Rights Colorado – really, it shouldn’t) has crafted this unambiguous wording as a challenge to Roe vs. Wade. It seems that Justice Harry Blackmun, author of the 1973 opinion, noted then that once “personhood” is established, the case for Roe vs. Wade “collapses.”
So you’re going to be hearing the word “personhood” a lot. And, as you can imagine, this sets up an extraordinary political battle in Colorado.
Colorado Equal Rights will need 76,000 valid signatures from registered voters to have its spot on the ballot. They can get those by hanging around Colorado Springs for a couple of hours this Sunday.
What are the chances of an abortion ban passing? I can’t imagine they are very good. Especially when the amendment offers such inflexible language. It’s likely to leave even those sympathetic to challenging the overreach of Roe vs. Wade concerned about the implications.
Mark Meuser, lawyer for Colorado Equal Rights, dismisses those concerns.
“One of the biggest things you hear is the ‘life of the mother exception,”‘ he tells me. “Our position is that this amendment would create a personhood of the pre-born baby. And because of that, the doctor must try and save both lives in the case of an emergency. So if the pre-born baby ends up dying, it’s not an abortion. The doctors have done the best they can. If we educate the public on how this affects the cases and the health of the mother – which is a real tough issue, I admit – those arguments will fall away.”
No. They won’t.
If pre-born baby/fetus/person has a right to a lawyer – similar to a comatose patient or a child – just as the mother does, we’re going to be opening up a litigious nightmare of bloodcurdling consequences.
If it ever gets that far.
On the political front, the allies of this amendment are sure to pay the price long before any legal battle has been decided.
Overturning Roe vs. Wade is tantamount to high treason on the Left. And rest assured, money will pour into Colorado from the four corners of the Earth to defeat any initiative that leads to a constitutional challenge of Roe vs. Wade.
Surely the last remaining social conservatives will be washed away in the ensuing political storm. Just what Republicans need in Colorado.
“Oh, I am sure,” says Meuser. “Knowing politics, I realize that people on both sides of the issue will be giving money from outside the state. But right now the money that we’ve been seeing has been coming – the majority of it, at least – from local sources. In any event, we’re confident that support for this issue will be strong.”
For one-issue advocacy groups, broader political implications are of secondary concern. Colorado Equal Rights is no different. The prize is a Supreme Court challenge.
“We want to define a fetus as a person. That’s exactly what we’re planning to do here in Colorado,” Meuser explains. “We realize this will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court. But by then this issue will become the issue of personhood. And we hope that the Supreme Court will then show humanity to the pre-born.”
Sooner or later, the Supremes will indeed hear the “personhood” argument. Will it come from Colorado? Highly unlikely. But man, is it going to get ugly around here.
David Harsanyi’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
